The teshuva tunnel
Kohelet Rabbah 7:15
אֶת הַכֹּל רָאִיתִי בִּימֵי הֶבְלִי. שָׁאֲלוּ אֶת שְׁמוּאֵל הַקָּטָן מַהוּ דִּכְתִיב: יֵשׁ צַדִּיק אֹבֵד בְּצִדְקוֹ, אָמַר לָהֶם גָּלוּי וְיָדוּעַ לִפְנֵי מִי שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהַצַּדִּיק עָתִיד לָבוֹא לִידֵי מָיֵיט, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַד שֶׁהוּא בְּצִדְקוֹ אֲסַלְּקֶנּוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: יֵשׁ צַדִּיק אֹבֵד בְּצִדְקוֹ. וְיֵשׁ רָשָׁע מַאֲרִיךְ בְּרָעָתוֹ, כָּל זְמַן שֶׁאָדָם חַי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מְצַפֶּה לוֹ לִתְשׁוּבָה, מֵת אָבְדָה תִקְוָתוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי יא, ז): בְּמוֹת אָדָם רָשָׁע תֹּאבַד תִּקְוָה. לְכַת אַחַת לִסְטִין שֶׁהָיְתָה חֲבוּשָׁה בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִין, חָתַר אֶחָד מֵהֶם חֲתִירָה אַחַת וּבָרְחוּ כֻּלָּן, נִשְׁתַּיֵּר שָׁם אֶחָד מֵהֶן וְלֹא בָרַח, כֵּיוָן שֶׁבָּא הַשִּׁלְטוֹן, הִתְחִיל לְחָבְטוֹ בְּמַקֵּל, אֲמַר לֵיהּ בִּישׁ גַּדָּא וּטְמִיעַ מַזְלָא, חֲתִירְתָּא קוֹמָךְ לָא הֲוֵית עָרֵיק. כָּךְ לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אוֹמֵר לָרְשָׁעִים, הַתְּשׁוּבָה לִפְנֵיכֶם וְלֹא שַׁבְתֶּם, אֶלָּא (איוב יא, כ): וְעֵינֵי רְשָׁעִים תִּכְלֶינָה.
I have seen everything in the days of my vanity; there is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked person who endures in his wickedness” (Ecclesiastes 7:15).
“I have seen everything in the days of my vanity.” They asked Shmuel HaKatan, what is the meaning of what is written: “There is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness”? He said to them: ‘It is revealed and known before the One Who spoke and the world came into being that this righteous person is destined to be corrupted. The Holy One blessed be He says: I will remove him [from the world] while he is still in his state of righteousness, as it is stated: “There is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness.”’
“And there is a wicked person who endures in his wickedness.” As long as a person is alive, the Holy One blessed be He anticipates his repentance; once he dies the hope for his [repentance] is lost, as it is stated: “When a wicked person dies, hope is lost” (Proverbs 11:7). It's like a group of robbers who were incarcerated in prison. One of them dug a tunnel and they all fled. One of them remained there and did not flee. When the jailer came, he began striking him with a stick. He said to him: ‘Luckless and unfortunate one, you had a tunnel before you and you did not flee?’ So too, in the future, the Holy One blessed be He will say to the wicked: ‘You had [the opportunity for] repentance before you, and you did not repent?’ Consequently, “the eyes of the wicked will fail” (Job 11:20).
“I have seen everything in the days of my vanity.” They asked Shmuel HaKatan, what is the meaning of what is written: “There is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness”? He said to them: ‘It is revealed and known before the One Who spoke and the world came into being that this righteous person is destined to be corrupted. The Holy One blessed be He says: I will remove him [from the world] while he is still in his state of righteousness, as it is stated: “There is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness.”’
“And there is a wicked person who endures in his wickedness.” As long as a person is alive, the Holy One blessed be He anticipates his repentance; once he dies the hope for his [repentance] is lost, as it is stated: “When a wicked person dies, hope is lost” (Proverbs 11:7). It's like a group of robbers who were incarcerated in prison. One of them dug a tunnel and they all fled. One of them remained there and did not flee. When the jailer came, he began striking him with a stick. He said to him: ‘Luckless and unfortunate one, you had a tunnel before you and you did not flee?’ So too, in the future, the Holy One blessed be He will say to the wicked: ‘You had [the opportunity for] repentance before you, and you did not repent?’ Consequently, “the eyes of the wicked will fail” (Job 11:20).
So what is going on here? Why is the person who didn't break out of jail punished? This is a question I've heard in a shiur in the past. Honestly, I don't recall the answer given then, though I believe it was that the prisoner who fails to take the escape fails to grasp the enormity of the sentence he faces for his crime. However, I'd suggest a different direction based on another reference to a tunnel in connection to the teshuva of Menashe related in Sanhedrin 10a:
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַי: מַאי דִּכְתִיב ״וַיִּשְׁמַע אֵלָיו וַיֵּחָתֶר לוֹ״? ״וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ״ מִיבְּעֵי לֵיהּ! מְלַמֵּד שֶׁעָשָׂה לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ
בָּרוּךְ הוּא כְּמִין מַחְתֶּרֶת בָּרָקִיעַ, כְּדֵי לְקַבְּלוֹ בִּתְשׁוּבָה, מִפְּנֵי מִדַּת הַדִּין.
Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: What is the meaning of “And he prayed to Him; and He made an opening for him” (II Chronicles 33:13)? Should it not have said, "And He received his entreaty"? Rather, this teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, crafted for him a type of opening in Heaven in order to accept his repentance to avert the barrier of the attribute of justice.
Hashem had to make a special tunnel opening to allow Menashe's expression of teshuva to reach Him -- so to speak through a back way because the gates of justice would not have let him through. Menashe was one of the most idolatrous and wicked kings in history. He even ordered the death of the Navia Yeshayahu, his maternal grandfather.
The question is: why did Menashe even make the effort, knowing how much he had sinned in his life? He received a tradition from his father. That was the righteous King Chizkiyahu who saw that he was destined to have an exceedingly wicked son and sought to avert that fate by not getting married. He was punished with a deathly illness, and Yeshayahu came to tell him that he had erred to such an extent that he was to die in this world and lose the next. Chizkiyahu's response was to suggest that the Navi give him his daughter to marry in the hope that the merit of such a grandfather would benefit his offspring.
As relayed in Berachos 10a, Yeshayahu's initial response was that it was pointless now because the decree was set. כְּבָר נִגְזְרָה עָלֶיךָ גְּזֵירָה
But Chizkiyahu refused to accept that.
. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: בֶּן אָמוֹץ, כַּלֵּה נְבוּאָתְךָ וָצֵא!
כָּךְ מְקּוּבְּלַנִי מִבֵּית אֲבִי אַבָּא, אֲפִילּוּ חֶרֶב חַדָּה מוּנַּחַת עַל צַוָּארוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם, אַל יִמְנַע עַצְמוֹ מִן הָרַחֲמִים.
Chizkiyahu said to him: "Son of Amoz, cease your prophecy and leave. I have received a tradition from the house of my father’s father, [King David] Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person’s neck, he should not prevent himself from [praying for] mercy."
It worked for Chikakiyahu who miraculously recovered from his illness gained another 15 years of life. It also worked for Menashe who was saved from what appeared to be certain death after being captured by enemies. What the Midrash on Kohelet teaches us is that it is not just for the kings and their descendants but for all of us.
I would hazard to say that the wording כָּךְ מְקּוּבְּלַנִי מִבֵּית אֲבִי אַבָּא gives us license to say that the tradition is not just about what Chizkiyahu's grandfather established but the universalized perspective of being part of בֵּית אֲבִי אַבָּא - the household of our father and father's Father. The King who passes judgement is also our Father who wants to find a way to circumvent strict justice and grant clemency to His children.
That is the gift of Yom Kippur to us a tunnel in time that bypasses strict din to grant us the direct access to our Divine Father. This is a time of year of peak closeness between the Creator and his children without obstacles to bar our way to to teshuva.
Related
https://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/10/at-fork-in-road.htmlhttp://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2015/09/scaling-mountain-thoughts-on-yom-kippur.html
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2014/09/transfigured-by-love-tshuva-mahava.html
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2015/09/new-beginnings-and-yom-hazikaron.html
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-sweet-new-beginning.html
http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2010/09/sarahs-laughter-and-tshuvah.html?spref=bl
http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2018/12/sins-sinners-and-mistranslation.html
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