Rachav’s Rope – A Ladder to Success

The Jewish People crossed the Jordan after forty years of wandering in the desert. Now, the critical task of conquering their holy homeland would begin. At the outset, they were met with stiff resistance from the fortified city of Jericho.

Joshua sent two spies on a dangerous reconnaissance to Jericho. Rachav, a local harlot who lived in a dwelling that was built in the massive outside wall of the city, lowered a rope from her outside window and enabled the two Israelite spies scale the wall and hide on the roof of her living quarters.[1] Rashi explains that she used the same rope that her clients would use to climb up to her apartment. Rachav said, “Master of the World, with this rope I sinned and with this rope forgive me.”

In several places throughout the Gemara, “rope” symbolizes a person’s sins, which bind him like a prisoner and drag him into the Heavenly Court on his day of judgment. One of the most difficult tasks of a baal teshuva, a penitent Jew who is returning to Hashem, is to free himself of these ropes of the past that tie him down. Just like a dog on a leash, one’s sins that have not yet been atoned for are strapped to him.[2] In similar imagery, Rachav’s clients connected to her by way of the rope, for she engaged in harlotry the entire duration of the forty years that Israel sojourned in the desert.

There’s always room for hope in Judaism, for our sages promised that he who comes to purify himself merits assistance from Above.[3] Since one mitzva leads to another mitzva, Rachav’s dedicated assistance to the two Israelite spies while exposing herself to grave danger triggered a spiritual awakening within her. Indeed, she merited a holy spirit whereby she took the very agent of her sin and used it to perform a mitzva of unfathomable magnitude. The same rope that was tied to the worst filth for forty years now became an agent of holiness and a catalyst whereby the Jewish People would conquer Jericho and ultimately the entire Land of Israel.

Rachav’s rope is a classic example of the loftiest form of teshuva, known in Hebrew as teshuvat hamishkal, or “equivalent teshuva.” Not only are past sins atoned for, not only are the damages of those sins rectified, but the absolute weight of the sin becomes the absolute weight of the mitzva, for the agent of sin itself becomes the agent of the mitzva. In mathematics, the -100 becomes a +100.

This is an important lesson for a new baal teshuva (BT). Don’t throw away your past – bring it into holiness. Everything in creation has an absolute value; for example, with nuclear power, one can illuminate a city or destroy a city. A person has free choice to utilize his or her tools for good or for otherwise. This is the secret of many mitzvot in the Torah: take a crass material like the hide of a bull and you can turn it into tefillin. The same human eyes can look at the words of Torah or gaze at everything that walks down the street, Heaven forbid. Take the dedication that you learned in the military, the perseverance that you learned in athletics, and the diligence that you learned in university and bring them all into the world of Torah. They are part of you so don’t throw then away! Indeed, these are your “ropes” that will enable you to scale tremendous spiritual mountains and to meet the greatest challenges head-on.

Rachav turned her life completely around. Her dedication in helping the spies was so tremendous that she merited to marry Joshua. She gave birth to eight daughters, all of whom married High Priests. She was the great grandmother of another eight Kohanim who all became leading prophets – Jeremiah, Chilkiya, Saria, Maasia, Baruch ben Neria, Chanamel, Shalum and Neria. Some say that Chulda the Prophetess was also Rachav’s offspring. What’s more, Rachav is considered one of the most righteous female converts of all time, together with Osnat (Joseph’s wife), Tzipporah (Moses’s wife), Batia (Pharaoh’s daughter), Ruth, and Yael (the wife of Hever the Kinnite).[4]

Don’t ever turn your nose up at the past. Thank Hashem for it, and channel it into your future success.