A similar concept is found in the comment of the Vilna Gaon (Mishlei 9:10) on the Gemara’s statement (Eruvin 18a) regarding the creation of Adam and Eve: “At first the thought was to create them as two beings, and in the end only one was created.”
The Vilna Gaon explains that this does not mean, Heaven forbid, that God changed His mind. Rather, in order for man and woman to reach the ultimate state of perfection, it was necessary for them to be created initially as a single being and only then to be separated. The fact that they were created in this manner made the union of marriage a truer, more permanent bond by virtue of the fact that marriage restores a man and woman to their origin as a single body.
It is for this reason that the Torah tells us that teshuvah “is very close to you, in your mouth and your heart to do it.” Even if a person becomes accustomed to sin and feels that it is impossible for him to change his nature, it is incumbent upon him to recognize that his history of transgressions and bad habits is merely an external layer of contamination, but his true inner essence remains pure despite his sin. The essence of every Jew’s soul is a Divine entity that can never be blemished or sullied by his misdeeds.
In this vein, Rambam writes (Hilchos Geirushin 2:2) that although a divorce is not legally effective when the husband grants it under coercion (as per Rambam ibid. 1:1), nevertheless, if the rabbis rule that a man must divorce his wife and he is beaten until he relents, the divorce is valid.
Such a divorce is considered to have been granted of the husband’s free will, since “He desires to be a member of the Jewish people, and therefore his desire is to perform all of the mitzvahs and desist from all transgressions, and it is only his Evil Inclination that has induced him to sin. Once he is beaten until his Evil Inclination has been subdued and he declares that he is willing to grant the divorce, he is considered to have done so willingly.”
This is why the Torah tells us that the mitzvah of teshuvah is so easy and close at hand. Repentance does not call for a person to disconnect from his roots and pull himself away from his essential nature. Rather, it calls for a “return,” for a person to divest himself of the impurity of sin that obscures his soul and to return to the true Jewish condition, in which the root of his soul is pure, unsullied, and attached to God.
Thus, we can interpret the verse “For the matter is very close to you” as a reference to the act of repentance, which constitutes a return “to you,” i.e., to every individual’s true inner essence. Teshuvah is close at hand because the pure soul that is bound to its Creator already exists within the person.
In fact, the Tanya states (ch. 25), “This is the meaning of the verse, ‘For the matter is very close to you.’ At every moment, a person has the ability to divest himself of the spirit of folly and forgetfulness that exists within him and to awaken the love that is certainly hidden in his heart, without any doubt.”
With this knowledge, every person should feel well equipped and strengthened to overcome his habitual sins. The knowledge that teshuvah is merely a return to his own true nature, a return to purity, should cause every person to rejoice over the possibilities of self-improvement in a very meaningful way.
