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In a celebrated passage in massechet Yoma (86b) the gemara declares that teshuvah mei-ahavah (repentance out of love) has the almost miraculous capacity to transform zedonot into zechuyot (intentional halachic infractions into spiritual credits or merits). Much has been written and many different explanations have been posited in an effort to comprehend and explicate this astonishing facility of teshuvah to redeem and even revise the past. Teshuvah mei-ahavah is typically understood as referring either to the motivation or to the methodology of this ambitious, reality-changing repentance.
However, it is striking that the great codifier Jewish law, the Rambam, apparently omitted any mention of this most singular and far-reaching manifestation of teshuvah. This is particularly surprising considering that he devised and devoted an independent 10-chapter-section to the laws of teshuvah (though strewn throughout the Talmud without any cohesion) as the culmination of the first of the fourteen books of Yad haChazakah (Sefer Mada, which also accentuates the integration of philosophy and law, a critical linchpin theme for the Rambam!), his comprehensive and masterful halachic magnum opus. Ignoring an incredibly consequential though unusual dimension of repentance law is totally inconsistent with the fact that the Rambam particularly expanded, reorganized, and invested pioneering effort in the formulation of these laws. The neglect of this puzzling, yet singular and pivotal concept in the Rambam's extensive framework is both extraordinary and astounding. While it is conceivable that the Rambam perceived this rabbinic statement as aggadic hyperbole, it is noteworthy that he includes numerous other midrashic assessments of the consequential impact of repentance in these chapters.
Yet, a closer scrutiny of Hilchot Teshuvah provides a compelling solution to this riddle. Without explanation, the Rambam devotes the entire final chapter, the climax, of Hilchot Teshuvah, to the principle of avodat Hashem mei-ahavah (religious observance and growth through love of Hashem). Indeed, this chapter, which completes the first book of Jewish law, Sefer Mada, seamlessly transitions into the second book, entitled "Sefer Ahavah" and dominated by the theme of avodat Hashem mei-ahavah, pithily captured by the introductory citation that also emphasizes the comprehensiveness of this foundation and perspective of avodat Hashem: "mah ahavti toratecha kol ha-yom hi sichati"! It cannot be a coincidence that the Rambam chose the culmination of Hilchot Teshuvah to ruminate about the motivation and ambition of religious commitment that is suffused with and engenders ahavat Hashem. We may confidently speculate that the Rambam's unusual presentation reflects his profound if singular comprehension of the gemara Yoma's ambitious formulation of teshuvah mei-ahavah. Evidently, ahavat Hashem, a doctrine that the Rambam projects centrally at the very outset of Sefer ha-Mitzvot (aseh no. 3, immediately following only the theological axioms of Divine Belief and Divine Unity), that is the focus and title of his second section of halachic law, and which he revisits again and again (see also Hilchot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:1-1; 5:7, 11 [Yoma 86a]), is not merely the methodology or motivation for teshuvah, but its ultimate telos.
By focusing attention on ahavat Hashem as the climax of teshuvah, the Rambam expands and elevates the role of teshuvah and redefines its character, as well, thereby also justifying its presentation in and as the culmination of Sefer Mada. The Rambam depicts the idealism of avodah mei-ahavah that eschews any ulterior motive (Hilchot Teshuvah 10:2, "lo mipnei yirat ha-raah, ve-lo kedai lirash ha-tovah, ela oseh et ha-emet mipnei she-hu emet ve-sof ha-tovah lavo bichlal"). He dramatically formulates the required intensity of this all-encompassing relationship by comparing it with a passionate and comprehensive marital bond and by noting that Shir ha-Shirim aspires to capture this interaction. The implication of this subtle yet effective perspective-presentation is that teshuvah is not merely an instrument for change or a mechanism for renewal or the neutralization of sin, but a manifestation and dimension of avodat Hashem itself. Moreover, the capacity of the teshuvah process to neutralize transgression itself stems from its broader character and agenda.
The transition to daily mizvot, Sefer Ahavah, reinforces these broader themes and accentuates the broader relationship that is also addressed in the process of teshuvah. The initiation of Sefer Ahavah on the heels of the culmination of teshuvah-ahavah with the laws of keriyat Shema that encapsulate the comprehensiveness of ahavat Hashem - "bekol levavecha, bekol nafshecha, bekol meodecha" - infused with the mission of total religious and halachic commitment - kabalat ol malchut shamayim, further broadens the motif of teshuvah and integrates it with the other primary institutions of avodat Hashem.
The Rambam's perspective on teshuvah explains why he integrated these halachot specifically into Sefer Mada, in conjunction with other tenets - Yesodei ha-Torah, Deot, Talmud Torah etc., rather than assign these laws to a narrower if more obvious classification, like Hilchot Shegagot, or Sefer Zemanim. His doctrine of ahavat Hashem as the goal of teshuvah and his implied stance that teshuvah is itself an expression of avodat Hashem is particularly meaningful in connection with the teshuvah of Elul, whose acronym (Abudraham - ani le-dodi ve-dodi li) underscores the love relationship between Hashem and Am Yisrael. As we have noted elsewhere (see Ahavat Hashem: The Teshuvah of Chodesh Elul), the repentance of Elul and the Yamim Noraim particularly employ and facilitate teshuvah mei-ahavah. Indeed, the Rambam's unique, subtle, but compelling perspective on the profound and dynamic relationship between teshuvah and ahavat Hashem fully justifies the gemara's seemingly radical conclusion that the teshuvah process and perspective is constructively transformative and spiritually beneficial and meritorious (turning zedonot into zechuyot).