Teiku, Tikkun, and Teshuvah | Passover haggadah by Noraa Kaplan

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There are some questions so difficult that they can’t be answered with earthly wisdom alone. A beautiful word is said when this happens in the Talmud: תיקו, teiku. It denotes a stalemate, a situation where two or more people have made airtight cases for diverging opinions and no simple answer can be determined. According to popular legend, this word is an acronym for the phrase תִּשְׁבִּי יְתָרֵץ קוּשְׁיוֹת וּבְּעָיוֹת, Tishbi Yetaretz Kushiyot U-bayot, meaning ‘the Tishbite (i.e. Eliyahu) will solve these questions and puzzles.’ This is based in the popular belief that in the World to Come, everything will be “clarified beyond any shadow of a doubt, even those questions about which the great tzaddikim of the Talmud declared teiku.”

The idea that Eliyahu will ‘repair’ these unanswerable questions has sparked the imaginations of many Kabbalists and mystics. The Zohar writes that teiku is a manifestation of our world’s lack of tikkun. In other words, our world’s unresolved questions and uncertainties are symptoms of its fundamental need for repair. The brilliant Chassidic teacher Reb Nachman of Breslov wrote that תיקו, teiku, is just the word תיקון, tikkun, missing the letter nun. But why is its nun missing?

Psalm 145, recited three times a day by devout Jews as the core of the Ashrei prayer, is an acrostic poem. The first letters of its twenty-one lines spell out the Hebrew alphabet in order, with one notable exception: there is no line starting with נ, nun. In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan offers us an explanation: the letter nun is a reminder of the Jewish people’s נפלה, nafla, ‘fall,’ citing the verse “the maiden of Yisra’el has fallen, nafla, and she will rise no more.” (Amos 5:2) Obviously, this sounds far-fetched, but her real proof is in Psalm 145 itself. The psalmist, King David, skips over nun and goes to the line beginning with samech: “סומך יי לכל הנופלים” somech Adonai le-kol ha-noflim, “Hashem lifts up all who have fallen.” (Psalm 145:14) In other words, David avoids invoking our downfall, and reminds Hashem of their promise to raise us up when we’ve been brought low.

We are all noflim, people who have fallen. The fall we’re talking about is not The Fall of Christian theology—there is no original sin in Judaism. Our fall is the way this world degrades us and dehumanizes us. Capitalism commodifies our time, our labor, and ultimately our bodies. Through slave labor and institutional torture, prisons defile the worth of all human beings. And in this broken, oppressive world we do things we’re not proud of to survive. The Mishnah says that we should begin our story with disgrace, and end with glory.

According to gematria, Jewish numerology, the word תיקון, tikkun, has a value of 566. It just so happens that נופלת, nofelet, “fallen” also has a gematria of 566. Hashem promises us “אקים את־סכת דויד הנופלת” akeem et sukkat David ha-nofelet, “I will raise up David’s fallen sukkah.” (Amos 9:11) In the World to Come, Hashem will restore us to glory, and spread His canopy of peace over the world. This vision is comforting, but the question still stands: how do we bring this tikkun about?

As Reb Nachman taught us, teiku is just tikkun missing its nun. The numerical value of the letter nun is 50. The Talmud tells us that there are fifty gates of understanding. Moshe, our greatest teacher, was only able to go through 49. There were questions even he couldn’t answer. When we’re stuck and see no way out of our fallen world, we have to go through a different set of gates: the fifty gates of teshuvah, repentance. Reb Nachman wrote, “There are fifty gates of teshuvah. 49 of these gates can be entered and attained by anyone. But the fiftieth gate is Hashem’s own concept of teshuvah.” This fiftieth gate is where Hashem comes to meet us, as it is written, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” (Malachi 3:7)

The forty-nine gates that we can enter correspond with the days of the Omer, which we count from the second night of Pesach for seven weeks until Shavu’ot. On the night of Shavuot, the gates of heaven are said to be thrown open—many Jews have the tradition of staying up all night studying Torah, so that their prayers will be heard on this special occasion. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai fifty days after B’ney Yisra’el left Mitzrayim. Each one of the forty-nine days of the Omer is another gate of teshuvah that we can enter.

But even if we make it through the 50 gates of teshuvah, even if we transform our teiku into tikkun, won’t we still be נופלת, nofelet, fallen? There is a miraculous way of overcoming this too: we can become נפלאות, nifla’ot, wonders. The gematria of nifla’ot is one more than nofelet, so we need to pass through one more gate. On the second day of Shavuot (or isru chag) let us recite Psalm 51, David’s desperate plea for repentance after the prophet Natan admonished him for sending Uriah to his death to take Batsheva for himself. As Reb Nachman said, “The primary teaching of teshuvah came through King David, and the root of King David’s teshuvah was his psalms.” Then David’s fallen sukkah will be lifted up once again, and we will be returned to rejoicing in our deliverance.

לַמְנַצֵחַ מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד׃ בְּבוֹא־אֵלָיו נָתָן הַנָבִיא כַּאֲשֶׁר־בָּא אֶל־בַּת־שָׁבַע׃

חׇנֵנִי אֱלֹהִים כְּחַסְדֶךָ כְּרֹב רַחֲמֶיךָ מְחֵה פְשָׁעָי׃ הֶרֶב כַּבְּסֵנִי מֵעֲוֺנִי וּמֵחַטָאתִי טַהֲרֵנִי׃ כִּי־פְשָׁעַי אֲנִי אֵדָע וְחַטָאתִי נֶגְדִי תָמִיד׃ לְךָ לְבַדְךָ חָטָאתִי וְהָרַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ עָשִׂיתִי לְמַעַן תִּצְדַק בְּדׇבְרֶךָ תִּזְכֶּה בְשׇׁפְטֶךָ׃ הֵן־בְּעָווֹן חוֹלָלְתִּי וּבְחֵטְא יֶחֱמַתְנִי אִמִי׃ הֵן־אֱמֶת חָפַצְתָּ בַטֻחוֹת וּבְסָתֻם חׇכְמָה תוֹדִיעֵנִי׃ תְּחַטְאֵנִי בְאֵזוֹב וְאֶטְהָר תְּכַבְּסֵנִי וּמִשֶׁלֶג אַלְבִּין׃ תַּשְׁמִיעֵנִי שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה תָּגֵלְנָה עֲצָמוֹת דִכִּיתָ׃ הַסְתֵּר פָּנֶיךָ מֵחֲטָאָי וְכׇל־עֲוֺנֹתַי מְחֵה׃ לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי אֱלֹהִים וְרוּחַ נָכוֹן חַדֵשׁ בְּקִרְבִּי׃ אַל־תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי מִלְפָנֶיךָ וְרוּחַ קׇדְשְׁךָ אַל־תִּקׇח מִמֵנִי׃ הָשִׁיבָה לִי שְׂשׂוֹן יִשְׁעֶךָ וְרוּחַ נְדִיבָה תִסְמְכֵנִי׃ אֲלַמְדָה פֹשְׁעִים דְרָכֶיךָ וְחַטָאִים אֵלֶיךָ יָשׁוּבוּ׃ הַצִילֵנִי מִדָמִים אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי תְּשׁוּעָתִי תְּרַנֵן לְשׁוֹנִי צִדְקָתֶךָ׃ אֲדֹנָי שְׂפָתַי תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִיד תְּהִלָתֶךָ׃ כִּי לֹא־תַחְפֹּץ זֶבַח וְאֶתֵּנָה עוֹלָה לֹא תִרְצֶה׃ זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרָה לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶה׃

Lamnatzeach, mizmor le-David. Be-vo elav Natan ha-navi ka-asher ba el Batsheva.

Chaneini elohim ke-chasdecha ke-rov rachamecha me-chey fesha’ai. Herev kabseini me-avoni, oome-chatati tahareini. Ki fesha’ai ani eyda ve-chatati negedi tamid. Lecha levadcha chatati veha-ra be-einecha asiti, lema’an titzdak be-davrecha tizkeh be-shaftecha. Hen be-avon cholalti oove-cheit yechematni ani. Hen emet chofatzta ba-tuchot oove-satoom chochma todi’eini. Techateini be-eizov ve-ethar, techabseini oomi-sheleg albin. Tashmi’eini sasson ve-simcha tageilna atzmot dikita. Hasteir panecha me-chata’ai ve-chol avonotai me-chey. Lev tahor bera li elohim ve-ru’ach nachon chadesh be-kirbi. Al tashlicheini mil-fanecha, ve-ru’ach kodshecha al tikach mi-meini. Hashiva li seson yishecha ve-ru’ach nediva tismecheini. Alamda foshim derachecha ve-chata’im eilecha yashuvu. Hatzileini mi-damim elohim elohai teshu’ati, teranein leshoni tzidkatecha. Adonai s’fatai tiftach, oo-fi yagid tehilatecha. Ki lo tachpotz zevach ve-eteina ola lo tirtzeh. Zivchei elohim ru’ach nishbara, lev nishbar ve-nidkeh Elohim lo tivzeh.

To the director. A psalm of David,
when Natan the prophet came to him after he came to Batsheva.

Be gracious to me, God, as befits your kindness, in your expansive compassion blot out my wrongdoings. Thoroughly wash me of my transgressions, and purify me of my sins, for I know my wrongdoing and my mistakes are always on my mind. Alone, I have sinned and done what is evil in your eyes, therefore You are just in your decision and justified in your judgment. Yes, I was born to transgress, in sin I came to be. Indeed, you desire the truth of my innermost parts. Teach me wisdom about secret things. Cleanse me with hyssop until I am pure, wash me until I’m lighter than snow. Let me hear tidings of joy and jubilation, let my crushed bones rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, erase all of my mistakes. Create a pure heart for me, renew a steadfast spirit inside of me. Don’t cast me out of Your presence, and don’t take the spirit of holiness away from me. Return the joy of Your redemption to me, let a generous spirit lift me up. I will teach wrongdoers Your way and return the lost to you. Save me from bloodshed, my God, my salvation, so my mouth may sing of Your justice. Adonai, open my lips, and my mouth will speak Your praises. For You do not want me to bring sacrifices, You do not desire burnt offerings. My sacrifice is a broken spirit—God will not reject a crushed and broken heart.

haggadah Section: Bareich

Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan