Hebrew Word Study – Renewal and Repentance – Teshuvah  תשובה Taw Shin Vav Beth Hei

Deuteronomy 30:20: “That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, 

Deuteronomy 4:30: “When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;”

As I write this we are entering into the time of the high Jewish holidays. The first holiday is Rosh Hashanah which many call the Jewish New Year.  It is a ceremonial/religious New Year for the Jews, but it is more than that it is literally the head of the year. The head is the source of your sight, hearing, speaking, and thinking, Rosh Hashanah sets in motion the year of seeing, hearing, speaking, and thinking about your relationship with God. Rosh Hashanah is also a time of teshuvah.  Teshuvah is often rendered as repentance and is indeed a Hebrew word for repentance but its literal meaning is to return.  It is also used for the English word to renew or renewal. Both represent one aspect of repentance, to return to God or be renewed in one’s relationship with God.  The high holidays of the Jewish people begin with seven days of teshuvah or repentance renewal with God.  This would be a mighty good practice for many Christians. 

Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli used the Letters of the Hebrew word teshuvah to explain the nature of this repentance or renewal.  The first letter in teshuvah is the Taw which is the letter for truth. This relates to Deuteronomy 18:13 which says “Tamin tiheyeh” meaning “Be wholehearted before God.”  You must repent with all your heart. Repentance must come from the heart and be of the heart and express your whole heart. You must be sincere with God, speaking only what is true.

The next letter in teshuvah is the Shin. This speaks of fiery love. We must repent out of a love for God. True repentance comes from the heart and out of love that has been wounded because of the wrong we did to the one we love. Repentance to avoid the consequences of our actions is not true repentance. True repentance is born out of the next letter in teshuvah.

The next letter is the Vav which is a picture of a tent peg, a connection.  Repentance will connect us to someone in some way. The Vav is the first letter in the command “Va’ahavta lere’akha” love your neighbor as yourself – Leviticus 19:18. Your neighbor is anyone that you have contact with. Just a momentary contact or recognition with another person creates your obligation to love that person. If you offend that person in any way we are obligated to repent of that offense.  The mere recognition that God exists as our creator, who sent His Son to die for our offenses is enough for us to recognize our offense against God and to repent.  

This leads to the next letter the Beth which is a picture of your home and heart. This follows the verse in Proverbs 3:6: “Bekhol derakekha” “In all our ways acknowledge Him.” Our repentance invites God into our home or hearts and when that happens we must acknowledge Him in all we do. This takes discipline, at least for me it does.  The Jews wear a skull cap, I wear a baseball hat to remind myself that I am always in the presence of God and whatever I do I do as unto God.  I heard where some Jews who have suffered physical attacks from antisemites will wear a baseball cap instead of a skull cap so they are not identified as a Jew. The point being they do not wear the skull caps to show off to everyone that they are Jews. The skull cap is a reminder to them personally to recognize that they are always in the presence of God and whatever they do they do as unto God.

I wear my baseball cap even inside a church. Some people are offended feeling I am being disrespectful to God for wearing a hat so for their sake I will remove it.  However, where I am allowed, I will wear it for I have an even greater reason to wear it inside a church and during a worship service so that I remember that I am worshipping God and not showing off to everyone how spiritual I am. This is especially true in a charismatic or full Gospel church where there is a demonstration of heartfelt worship such as lifted hands, clapping of hands, or dancing.  I feel it necessary to lift my hands or clap because I am concerned that others might think I am not very spiritual. Then I am worshipping as unto myself and not God so even during worship I will wear my cap to remind myself that it is God I am worshipping, lifting my hands too, clapping or even dancing and not to display before others so they will think highly of me. 

Finally, the last letter is the Hei which speaks of the presence of God and Micah 6:8: “Higid lekha” “Walk humbly with our God.”  When we repent we will experience that presence of God which will humble us and cause us to walk with him daily in humility.

Rosh Hashana is a time of repentance that renews our relationship with God. My parents were married 67 years.  Every year on their wedding anniversary they would travel to the Wisconsin Dells together where they spent their honeymoon. They would relive that moment and time when they were first married and so in love. It was a time that they would renew their love for each other once a year.

Rosh Hashanah is such a time each year to renew your relationship with God. The Mishnah in Law or Repentance 10:3 teaches that we are to love God with such great and powerful intensity that our soul is bound in His love and is constantly pursuing it as one.  We are to be smitten and lovesick as it says in Song of Solomon 5:8: “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.” We are to love God as one who is so obsessed with a carnal love that our mind is never free of desire.  Even more, so is the love of God in our hearts.  We are to be sick with love or lovesick as we often call it. 

Rosh Hashanah is one Jewish holiday that everyone is invited to celebrate as it applies to everyone. It is a time to renew that love between you and God.  

Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.

Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!