Can Lance Armstrong Do Teshuvah?

Can Lance Armstrong Do Teshuvah? Should We Accept It?

January 18^th, 2013

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

While in my youth I used to bicycle extensively and still have the second bike that my parents bought for me, cycling as a sport never attracted me. It was enough to keep up with the four "big" sports, baseball, football, basketball and (ice) hockey. With the explosion of the numbers of leagues and teams, and alternative sports, I just couldn't keep up with it. But I instantly recognized the name Lance Armstrong. Who couldn't? Who wouldn't? He won so many races, beat cancer, and created a foundation, that his name was frequently and prominently in the public domain. Who could miss it?

 

His name was also prominent in the issue of drugs. Often he was accused of using one illegal and illicit means or another to win all those races, that otherwise seemed humanely impossible. Vehemently he denied every accusation, and as I have learned by following this sordid tale, embarrassed, humiliated and intimidated everyone and anyone who accused him of violating the laws, codes and ethics involved. Who could not know Lance Armstrong?

 

The past ten days have been most interesting in sports, not because of who won and lost games, especially in the run-up to the Super Bowl or the return of National League Hockey, a plague on their house for the greed, but because of the vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. No one got in! Mazal Tov! The names on the ballot included those so prominently mentioned in the record books for home runs and pitching: Roger Clemons, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds. I don't know how or why they were not convicted. Yet at every turn, they were linked to drug use to enhance their inhumane performances. Yes, we all loved the velocity of the pitch, the incapability of the batter to even come near the ball, and for the others, the arc of the ball as it splashed into McCovey's Cove or the avenue beyond Wrigley Field or into the St. Louis night sky. We were enraptured. Maybe we should say "Shame on us," for our admiration and fascination gave the media to keep the spotlight so bright and elevated the stimulation to keep hitting and keep pitching which need more and more drugs. We, in a sense, were willing co-conspirators. We collectively have sinned by enabling the sinners. We need to account for our behavior and atone.

 

These players have not made public confessions and I don't expect them to do so. And I urge the Baseball Writers Association to reject them time after time that they appear on the ballot. They should be permanently barred from the highest accolade that the sport can give. At least some forum will stand up for the righteousness, for their sinning changed the complexity of every game, and the destiny of the other players. It is no longer a "game, a sport." There is no honor.

 

But what do we do with Lance Armstrong? I have listened much too much to parts of his interview and their minute dissection by pundits high and low. Every news commentator has taken a whack at him. Me, too. I ask the quintessential Jewish question?

            Is this really teshuvah (repentance)?

            Can he do teshuvah at all?

            Do we have to accept what he said?

 

To respond to my questions in this brief format, I turn to Hilchot Teshuvah, Laws of Repentance, of Maimonides.

 

 

Chapter 1, section 1

…How does one confess? He says: "O Lord, I have sinned, I have done evil, I have rebelled against Thee and have done this….I regret now and am ashamed of my acts; I will never do this again."…Furthermore, one who has injured a person or damaged his property, even though he pays what he owes him, is not pardoned unless he confesses and resolves never to commit such an offense again.

 

Chapter 2, section 1

Perfect repentance is where an opportunity presents itself to the offender for repeating the offense and he refrains from committing it because of his repentance and not out o fear or physical inability. If, however, one repents only in his old age, when he is no longer able to do what he used to do, his repentance, though not the best, will nevertheless do him some good.

 

Chapter 2, section 3

Anyone who makes a verbal confession without resolving in his heart to abandon his sin is like one who takes a ritual bath while grasping a defiling reptile. The bath is useless unless he first casts the reptile away…

 

Chapter 2, section 9

…sins committed against a fellow man, as when a person either injured or cursed or robbed his neighbor, he is never pardoned unless he compensates his neighbor and makes an apology. Even though he has made the compensation, the wrongdoer must appease the injured person and ask his pardon. Even if he only annoyed him with words he must apologize and beg his forgiveness…

 

Chapter 4, section 1

Twenty-four things hinder repentance. Four of these are grievous offenses. If one commits any of them, God gives him no opportunity to repent because of the gravity of the offense. Offenders of this type are: (1) he who leads the people to sin; this includes one who prevents them from doing a good deed; (2) he who diverts another from the good to the evil, such as a seducer or enticer; …(4) he who says: "I will sin and then repent." This includes one who says: "I will sin and Yom Kippur will atone."

 

From this very small sampling of the Hilchot Teshuvah which is the tersest and most succinct version of Jewish law, it is clear that Lance Armstrong's mea culpa does not meet any minimum threshold to be accounted as teshuvah and for him to be forgiven. How many people has he injured, on his team, other competitors, to whom he has given nothing? Whose careers he has damaged, reputations marred forever?

Was there sincere repentance? I did not see even one tear in his eye, on his cheek as he answered Oprah's questions, one after the other? His countenance looked as hard hearted as when he was on a bike.

 

And lastly, this charade must be repudiated because our children and grandchildren must know that this was absolutely, unquestionable wrong. Not every wrong can be fixed. Not every sin can be undone. The core Jewish value is truth. Emet is the nickname for God Himself. Lance Armstrong can't possibly fathom that word. He was untrue to his wife, his children, his teammates, his fans, his donors, his opponents, and to all those who wanted to emulate him in cycling. All the donations by others for cancer research don't effect atonement for his sins. There are those of us who stand up in front of others, whether it is the pulpit, the podium, in politics, in the classroom, in the sports arena, to whom others turn and look up to. We bear the highest burden to represent the right, the true, honesty and fairness. We hold the trust of others, from young and old, in our hands.

 

To me, Lance Armstrong has not done teshuvah. He has betrayed everyone's trust. He has harmed and manipulated, distorted and destroyed. He has evinced no regret; demonstrated no sincerity; exhibited no remorse. Every punishment that he receives, he deserves. Cycling, for its honor and integrity should ban him forever. We need to affirm this for our own lives, our own integrity and our own honor. We need to hold the light of truth and honor to ourselves and to our children.

 

Shabbat Shalom