Every journey begins with a single step. Every step we take propels us in a particular direction. However, the Torah recognizes that not path, no matter how seemingly entrenched it may be, no path is ever permanent, and we can always return to a path of righteousness. We can always change directions.
Every journey begins with a single step. And today, we've all stepped into here; into a House of Worship. It is a beginning, a way in which we can begin to get our life back on track.
In fact, our High Holiday vocabulary reinforces this idea. The Hebrew word that we usually translate as "sin," Het, (חטא) is actually an archer's term, meaning, "to miss the mark" or as we would say today, "to slip up." And the term for "repentance," t'shuvah (תשובה) means "to return" or "to rebound." Judaism recognizes the difficulty in living life the way we would like to (or more precisely the way God would like us to). "For there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good and never sins" says Kohelet. Yes, it is "only human" to make mistakes, but God demands that we make every effort to return to the path of righteousness; that once we've "missed the mark," we are obligated to take aim anew. Even if we walk along the path of righteousness, we should not relax our vigilance, because all it takes is one misstep to take us off course.
Every journey begins with a single step. It's funny how it happens too. Often times we are half way along a xertain path, before we even realize where we are. The rabbis recognized this ""truth" and stress the needto be aware of this. Mishne Pirke Avot, The Sayings of the Fathers, says, (מצווה גוררת מצווה; עברה גוררת עברה.) "Mitsvah goreret mitsvah; averah goreret averah." A Mitsvah causes another Mitsvah; and a transgression causes another transgression.
Our first step in our journey of "course correction," is to recognize our mistakes, our "slip ups." That can be the hardest step of course.
Most of us live fairly good lives and we are generally decent people, however it is important each year to try and improve all the more. We should never be satisfied with "good enough," for stagnation is itself a step backwards. For those of us who haven't robbed a bank or perpetuated some similar offense, it is often very to difficult to recognize our missteps.
We have to recognize how often times we do take little steps in those directions that are not the best path to God and completeness. We often justify to ourselves, as much as to others, our little slipups, suggesting that they're not really wrong. "Okay, so I cheat on my taxes, or I steal cable or a million other things, BUT it didn't really hurt anybody, did it?" we ask. Judaism's answer is clear. Yes, it hurts our community, our relationship with G-d and most importantly it hurts ourselves.
Every journey begins with a single step. When we miss the mark - and for the most part we know when we do, - we only take ourselves further off course when we try and justify our aim. We would do much better if we readjusted our sights and took aim anew.
Every journey, great and small, begins with a single step. Life is the most important journey we travel. God and His Torah is our map. May it keep us on the path of righteousness and when we do stray, may it lead us back in peace. May your journey of this year, 5761, start off on the right step.
Shabbat Shalom!
Shanah Tovah!
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