Rabbi Glenn Ettman
Teshuvah as Answer
We’ve been taught that teshuvah means “return.” And it does. But that’s only half the story.
In Hebrew, teshuvah also means “answer.” Same word, same root. Israelis drop it into conversation all the time — Mah ha’teshuvah? “What’s the answer?” It’s not a liturgical phrase. It’s just how people talk.
That changes what we’re doing on these Days.
“Return” implies a fixed point behind you; the person you used to be, before you drifted. Somewhere back there is a truer self and teshuvah just means finding your way to it.
“Answer” implies something in front of you. A question still open. Still waiting. And here’s the part that matters: you don’t know what the answer is until you give it.
You are not retrieving an old self. You are being asked something you haven’t answered yet.
God has asked something of us. Our conscience has asked something of us. The person we are capable of becoming has asked something of us. And no one else can give the response.
That is teshuvah. Not nostalgia for who we once were, but responsibility for who we are becoming.
The High Holy Days are not an invitation to recover an earlier self. They are an invitation to offer an answer that has never existed before.
The question has already been asked.
Now comes the only part that belongs to us.
Our teshuvah.