In our last post, we listed a few questions with respect to the repentance experienced by Edmund and suggested that perhaps a Jewish perspective on teshuva would help us interpret the story. In this post, we start that interpretation.
The Talmud (Pesachim 54a) tells us that there are seven ideas or concepts that precede Creation. These are: Torah, Repentance (Teshuva), the Garden of Eden, Hell, God’s Throne of Honor, the Temple and the name of the Messiah. All of these are integral to God’s plan for the universe. A universe in which humans have guidance from God but free will enables reward and punishment. However, none of these concepts arise from cosmology and the laws of nature.
The White Witch understood the laws of nature. Not just the physical laws, but she also understood the principles of sociology and civilization. A traitor, one who rebels against his master or his clan, must be expelled. What other option is there? How could anyone look such a person in the eye and again accept him as a fellow? How could a civilization take the risk of not punishing such a breach?
God, however, peers back before Creation where He has formulated the concept of repentance, teshuva. A regretted action can be nullified and the breach can be repaired as if it never occurred. The Stone Table, the tablets on which the laws of nature are recorded, cracks under the divine mandate: man’s ability to violate the arrow of time, to go back and erase an action.
Edmund experienced all of this. His sin was wiped away so thoroughly that he did not even comprehend that the discussion of the traitor centered on him. But he clearly had help: he was saved from the clutches of the White Witch by Aslan’s search and rescue party and was then brought to understanding via a conversation with Aslan himself. However, this too has its sources in Jewish lore as we will discuss in our next.
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