When the Excuses Run Out - Ha’azinu, Rabbi Elazar ben Dordaya, and the Courage of Teshuvah

When the Excuses Run Out

We all have explanations for why we are the way we are. It was our parents. It was

the home we grew up in. It was our environment, our circumstances, our personality, perhaps even our DNA. And sometimes those explanations are

absolutely true. But somewhere between understanding where we came from and

deciding where we are going, explanation can quietly become excuse. In this

morning’s Breakfast and a Class, as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah through the

opening words of Ha’azinu, we meet one of the most unlikely heroes of teshuvah

in the entire Talmud: Rabbi Elazar ben Dordaya.

He first turns to the mountains, then Heaven and Earth, then the sun and moon, and

finally the stars, begging each of them to help him. Until suddenly there is

nowhere else to turn and no one else to blame. And then he speaks five words

that change his eternity: אֵין הַדָּבָר תָּלוּי אֶלָּא בִּי — “The matter depends on