Shemoneh Esrei 22: Oh! To Be One Unified Family!

השיבנו אבינו לתורתך, וקרבנו מלכנו לעבודתך, והחזירנו בתשובה שלמה לפניך

 

Bring us back, our Father, to Your Torah, and bring us near, our King, to Your service, and influence us to return in perfect repentance before You.

 

We will briefly explain the first two phrases of this brachah while primarily focusing on the last phrase.

 

Why do we begin by asking Hashem, our Father (“Avinu”), to return us to His Torah?  We begin with the Torah because it is only through the Torah that one can know how to return to Hashem and to live according to His will.  The Tur (siman 115) writes that we make this request based upon the obligation of a father to teach his son Torah.

 

We then ask our King (“Malkeinu”) to bring us close to His “avodah” (service).  The Avudraham provides two understandings of the word “עבודתך.”  One is the service of performing Hashem’s mitzvos.  The other is tefilah, since tefilah is called “avodah she’ba’lev” – the service of the heart.  So we ask Hashem to help us perform His mitzvos and grow closer to Him through those mitzvos and through tefilah.

 

We then ask Hashem to cause us to return “בתשובה שלמה לפניך” – with a t’shuvah that is complete before You.  It seems like we are asking Hashem to do the work for us.  Are we really asking, “Please make us” return to Torah, mitzvos, and tefilah in such a complete way that You Hashem will be able to testify that we have returned completely (“לפניך”)?  There are two fundamental difficulties with understanding this brachah in this way:

 

1.  We know “הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים” – all is in the hands of Heaven except for yir’as Shamayim.  The ability to fear Hashem and come closer to Him seems to be the one thing that must be up to us.  How can we ask Hashem to simply grant us this privilege?

 

This difficulty is answered by the Maharsha in B’rachos 10a.  Our part in t’shuvah is the desire to return.  Once we truly achieve that level, we are allowed to ask Hashem to do the rest for us.  Chazal tell us (Yoma 38b) that “הבא לטהר מסייעין אותו.”  HaRav Shlomo Wolbe explains that our role lies primarily in the earnest desire to purify ourselves and in our effort to ask Hashem for help.  If we do our part – the “ha’ba” (coming) – then Hashem will enable us to succeed in our quest to return.

 

2.  Since all the brachos in Shemoneh Esrei are written in the plural, we are clearly davening not just for ourselves but for other individuals as well, and for the klal as a whole.  In fact, Sefer Chareidim states that we are obligated to daven for others to return, and points out that this is one of the 20 principles of t’shuvah that Rabbeinu Yonah formulated (Shaarei T’shuvah).  Part of our t’shuvah is to be concerned about others returning.

 

How can we ask Hashem to cause someone else to return when he may not even have the desire and may not be “coming” to ask for himself?

 

HaRav Moshe Feinstein answers that what we are really asking is that Hashem remove the obstacles and bring about favorable conditions that will help others make their own choice to want to return.

 

The Tzitz Eliezer answers that if we truly feel the pain of Hashem and of those who are currently distanced from Him, then we have the “right” to daven because we are personally affected.

 

The Chazon Ish states that if we daven for another to return to Hashem and our tefilos are answered and that person returns, the “kiruv” of that person (and all subsequent generations) is attributed to us.  They are our tefilos that facilitated the kiruv to occur, and therefore we are credited for the kiruv and all the Torah and mitzvos that follow.

 

Certainly we should make every physical effort within our capabilities to help others return.  Many of us are not capable of being on the “frontlines” of kiruv, but we can all feel concern and compassion and beg Hashem to help the 80-90% in klal Yisrael who are currently distanced from their Father in Heaven.  It is also highly likely that if we think for just a few seconds, we will think about individuals we know with children who are struggling or who have already strayed from their Father.  Unfortunately, they are likely to be children of our friends, neighbors, shul mates, and family.  Let us beg Hashem for them to return and experience the sweetness of Torah and of returning to Hashem.  Let us beg for their sake, for klal Yisrael’s sake, and perhaps most importantly for “Hashem’s sake” – to increase k’vod Shamayim and remove the “tzaar” that Hashem has, longing for His children to return.

 

It is important to remember that this brachah is the only one expressing the desire of Hashem: “הרוצה–ha’rotzeh.”  Hashem so very much desires, longs for, and waits for all of His children to return.

 

Our tefilos have the power to bring them back and “grant” Hashem His desire, because He gave us that ability and is waiting for us to use it.