Renew Our Days

The תוכחה of פרשת בחוקותי ends with words of consolation. The Torah says that even after all of the punishments, Hashem will remember His earlier covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yakov. He will never forsake the Jewish people.

There is a story told in the name of Rav Yisrael of Vishnitz, of a woman who complained to the Rav that her husband wanted to divorce her. Sadly, she explained that her husband no longer found her attractive after many years of marriage.

Upon hearing the woman’s story, the Rav cried bitterly. He prayed fervently and said the following: “Master of the Universe, please do not look at your people as they are today, with all of their blemishes and shortcomings. Just as this woman’s husband should continue to see his wife as the young attractive Kallah he married, so, too, should you, Hashem see us as we were when we became a nation. Remember our youthfulness and simple faith as we followed You into a barren desert. Remember that innocence and purity that we once had. This special bond should be renewed as You redeem us, and bring us closer to You as in days gone by.”

This is implied by the reference to the covenant of the Patriarchs. And this is what we say when we put the Torah in the Ark. חדש ימינו כקדם, “Renew our days as in days gone by.”