Connect before you speak, return to who you already are on Shabbat Shuva, and fill your life until it can smile.
One week · Shabbat Shuva · between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
✦ All insights are drawn from lessons by Rav Berg and the Kabbalah Centre published on kabbalah.com.
The portion Ha'azinu ("Give ear") is written, almost entirely, as a song, Moshe's final song to the people. Before saying a single word, Moshe calls the heavens and the earth to witness: "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth" (Devarim 32:1). Rav Berg taught that a song holds a power ordinary speech does not: it can exist without words, and so it is less limited. That is why this portion connects us to a level of clarity the kabbalists call Divine Inspiration.
This Shabbat has a name of its own, Shabbat Shuva, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The word teshuvah comes from the root shuv, "to return". It is not about becoming someone else through punishment. It is about returning to who we already are underneath the noise, the soul that was always whole. The portion even gives the image of stability to return to: "The Rock! His work is perfect" (Devarim 32:4).
Near the end of his song, Moshe gives a direct instruction: "For it is not an empty thing for you, it is your very life" (Devarim 32:47). Rashi asks why the Torah would need to say it is not empty, and answers with a classic teaching: if it seems empty, the emptiness comes from us, from our own insufficient effort, and not from the teaching.
The Zohar places one of its most moving scenes in this very portion, the Idra Zuta, the Small Assembly, describing the final moments of Rav Shimon bar Yochai surrounded by his students. At the instant his soul left, the text says something extraordinary: his face was smiling. A life so connected to the Light that even its end was received with a smile.
Rav Berg taught that a song holds a power speech does not, because it can exist without words and is therefore less limited.
Teshuvah comes from shuv, to return. The work is not punishment, it is returning to the soul that was always whole.
Rashi answers the question before it is asked: if the teaching seems empty, the emptiness is in our effort, not in the text.
In the Idra Zuta, Rav Shimon's face was smiling at the instant his soul left. A full life is not a life without error, it is a life that was filled.
Ha'azinu is almost entirely a song, Moshe's last one, and it arrives on the Shabbat that sits between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The name of that Shabbat already states the week's work: Shuva, return. It is not about becoming someone else, it is about returning to who we already are underneath the noise. And if at some point the path seems empty, Rashi has already answered where that emptiness comes from. The portion closes on Rav Shimon's smiling face, which is the image of what a life can be made into.
This is Shabbat Shuva, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Deepen your week by revisiting, honestly and without guilt, what "returning to who you already are" means for you this year.
Practice the pause before the word.
Before any important conversation today, breathe and connect for 10 seconds before speaking. Notice the difference in the tone of your words.
Feel beyond logic.
Listen to a piece of music, wordless or in a language you don't understand, with full attention. Notice what it awakens in you, beyond words.
Practice teshuvah as return.
Think of something you want to correct. Instead of criticizing yourself, ask: "Who do I already know I am, underneath this?" Return to that version of you.
Remember what does not change.
Write one truth about yourself that has never changed, even in the hardest moments. Reread that sentence whenever you need stability today.
Take responsibility without guilt.
Choose something that has felt "pointless" lately. Ask with curiosity: what extra effort is this asking of me? Take one step in that direction.
Fill the day with real connection.
Do one thing today purely for the connection it brings, no other reason. Enter Shabbat having consciously chosen to fill, not just fulfill.
Feel a full, connected life.
During Shabbat, sit quietly and picture your own life, full, not empty. Let a genuine smile appear, like the face described in the Idra Zuta.
"I connect before I speak. I return to who I already am. I fill my life until it can smile."
Find a full library of content on the portion of Ha'azinu here, articles, videos and meditations.
onehouse.kabbalah.com/en/collections/haazinuIf someone you love believes they must become another person to deserve a fresh start, this reading says the opposite.
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