“שובתו בבת ש” – Shabbos is a time for teshuvah. It says in Shir Hashirim 5:2 “אני ישנה ולבי ער” – “I am asleep, but my heart is awake.” “אני ישנה” – This refers to the weekdays, days on which one is considered sleeping. “ולבי ער” – This refers to Shabbos Kodesh, when one’s heart is wide open, completely awake. Just as a person’s heart is constantly beating, never taking a rest, so too, Shabbos Kodesh constantly awakens a Yid. The posuk continues and says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu knocks on the door on Shabbos Kodesh and says, “Open up for Me.”
Really, each and every day, Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us to wake up. Chazal tell us that there is a bas kol that comes from Har Chorev every day and tells us to wake up and return to Hashem. However, on Shabbos Kodesh, it is much greater than that. Hakadosh Baruch Hu speaks to us in terms of endearment, “אחותי, רעיתי, יונתי” and gives us the great opportunity to do teshuvah. “שבת” is a roshei taivos for שובתו בבת ש. On the day of Shabbos, you should do teshuvah.
It says in Bereishis Rabbah 22:13 that Adam Harishon saw Kayin after he killed Hevel and asked him what happened in his judgment. Kayin responded that he did teshuvah and reached a compromise with Hashem. Adam Harishon said, “This is the power of teshuvah, and I did not know it.” He immediately said מזמור שיר ליום השבת. We need to understand what Shabbos has to do with the teshuvah and what the compromise that was made was. After Kayin sinned, he degraded himself. He lost the da’as he was given and feared being killed by the animals of the world. Kayin did teshuvah, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him an os, a sign. That os was Shabbos Kodesh. That was the “compromise” that Hashem made with Kayin, that while during the week he would not be settled, on Shabbos Kodesh, he would be.
In truth, if one sins, teshuvah should not help. Teshuvah is really a great gift that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives to Klal Yisroel, that by doing a proper teshuvah, one becomes a new being, a new being that is once again whole and pure, as the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah 2:4 says, that one can say, “I am a different person; I am not that person who did those despicable acts.” Every Shabbos, new life is breathed into the world, and every Yid receives a neshamah yeseirah. Shabbos is when one can have a renewal and thus do teshuvah and achieve complete kapparah. (נתיבות שלום)
Shabbos is a semblance of what Olam Haba is. Shabbos is in a place that is hidden in the גן עדן העליון, a place where the neshomos are, and in His great chessed, Hakadosh Baruch Hu nurtures His flock, Klal Yisroel, from it. It is on Shabbos Kodesh that one can become a new person. Every Shabbos, new life is breathed into the world, and every Yid receives a neshamah yeseirah. Shabbos is a time when we are so close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu; He has such endearment for us, and thus, it is the best time to do teshuvah.
May we be zoche to truly connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu on Shabbos Kodesh and achieve a complete kapparah so that we are one with the Ribbono Shel Olam.
הרב בן ציון סנה
