Good morning and a gut voch, gmar chasima tova. I apologize for the delay. I think we left off here in Os Tes. We certainly want this week אם ירצה השם בלי נדר to see the Perek Hashaini about Aseret Yemei Teshuva, but for this morning, actually providentially, what we're up to sort of converges with the Rabbenu Yonah's discussion later in Sha'ar Hashaini about Aseret Yemei Teshuva. So for the moment, let's continue here. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה, ben shishim l'zikna, ben shivim l'seiva, ben shmonim l'gevura, ben tishim. It's clear from the hemshech in Rabbenu Yonah that the way he read the next word is not lashuach, lashon of being bent over, but rather lasuach. That becomes in the... בן מאה כאלו מת ועבר ובטל מן העולם. והיתה כונתם זכרונם לברכה בדברים האלה.
So what did Chazal, what were they conveying with this sort of labeling of the different stages of a person's life? והיתה כונתם זכרונם לברכה בדברים האלה להזהיר על התשובה ושיחשוב אדם על קצו בהגיע ימי זקנה אם לא זכה לעשות כן בימי בחורותיו.
So what's pshat in that line, rabbosai? Let's say a person was zoche to do teshuva b'yemei b'churotav. So then he's going to be perfect? He's never going to have to do teshuva again? Do teshuva when you're 20 and you'll be set for life, rabbosai. You'll never need to do it again. I don't know, mistama for, I don't know, forgive my projecting here, but mistama כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא.
I don't know if it refers to once in a person's lifetime. I think it might mean a little bit more often than that. So what does Rabbenu Yonah mean, שיחשוב אדם על קצו? להזהיר על התשובה ושיחשוב אדם על קצו בהגיע ימי זקנה אם לא זכה לעשות כן בימי בחורותיו.
So lechoira, what Rabbenu Yonah means, lechoira, what Rabbenu Yonah means is as follows: A person can embark on teshuva as a result of either of two stimuli. A person can embark on teshuva because a person is aware that he did a cheit. Or, alternatively... Even though a person isn't confronted with the knowledge of cheit, a person engages in a cheshbon hanefesh and that cheshbon hanefesh, a cheshbon hanefesh which is on the one hand exacting in its details, on the other hand also very much focuses on character traits, overarching principles of behavior, priorities, goals, values, etc. A person can engage in a cheshbon hanefesh even if even if the person is not again directly, immediately aware of a particular. A person reflects on his life. What Rabbeinu Yonah here is talking about lichora to have a certain perspective on life. That's what Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about here in these lines when when he says that Chazal by characterizing, classifying the decades in excuse me one second but by that when that Chazal when they characterize each of these decades are looking to focus our attention, it means on on the bigger questions of life. And that's what he means that halevai that the person doesn't need his 40th birthday to approach the bigger questions of life as to what's important, what isn't important, what should my priorities be, what should my goals be? Halevai that that's something that a person thought about, reflected upon and and gained clarity in in his youth. And and it's it's teshuva on on that level, again, teshuva in terms of of reflecting upon life, its opportunities, its blessings, what's meaningful, what isn't, what's important, what isn't, what one's priorities should be. That if a person was zocheh to bimei bachurosa, so of course אין אדם צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא the person is still gonna he's he's gonna he's gonna be nichshal, he's gonna have issues. ואחרי כי קרב לבוא עתו when one's time when it seems to be approaching that one's time in olam hazeh is up, יעזוב חפצי הגוף ותאותו ויתקן נפשו. ובהגיע לימי השיבה יוסיף לגרש מלבו ענין העולם ולפי מעט השנים הבאות יעמוד בעסק העולם ויתייחד תמיד להתבונן ביראת השם ולחשוב על נפשו לתקן מדותיו ולבקש תורה ומצות.
Rabbeinu Yonah clearly even in a person's youth is not recommending that a person be needlessly involved with cheftze ha-guf. Be-ma'aveh be-chovosav, he's not suggesting that a person should needlessly be encumbered by inyanei ha-olam. So where's the room? Where's the potential for a person to intensify his efforts, to take it to the next level as he reaches these later stages of life? So a couple of perspectives, not necessarily being comprehensive here. The right balance between the physical and the spiritual, a person should realize that that itself changes as he gets older. As a person gets older and physically he moves away from the peak of ben sheloshim la-ko'ach, so then both the cheftze ha-guf and the tzorchei ha-guf don't tax him as much. The demands they make are not as great. And a person should therefore be holding himself to a different standard. When a person is younger, there's more to think about in terms of inyanei ha-olam. When a person is younger, say he needs to think about his retirement account and he needs to think about how he's going to pay for his children's chinuch. A person is, by virtue of the stage of life at which he finds himself, appropriately more relatively speaking involved with inyanei ha-olam. And be-gil yemei seivah means that there's just less and less of that that needs to occupy a person's attention and preoccupy his time. And the person should recognize that and make that shift. Sometimes we develop certain habits as a result of a certain set of circumstances or as a result of being at a certain stage of life. And what Rabbeinu Yonah is telling us among other things, we shouldn't just sort of mindlessly allow those habits to continue by virtue of inertia. It could be that the habits that a person developed in his age and stage, appropriate in his teens, but not in his twenties. How much time does a person need to play ball as a healthy outlet? It's not necessarily the same amount. The fact that a person had a healthy balance when he was fifteen doesn't mean that when he's twenty-five that a healthy balance may translate differently. And that's true even, you know, at these stages of life which are in proximity to each other, which are close to each other. על אחת כמה וכמה that the amount of time a person spends thinking about his investments in the market, so whatever may be appropriate at age thirty is not appropriate at age seventy or at age eighty. And that's where even without assuming that a person has ever been unduly and needlessly involved with heftzei haguf and inyanei ha'olam, a person has to recognize that as the stage of life changes, the needs change, and because of that a person needs to adjust his schedule and his allocation of time accordingly. Okay, so maybe we'll pick up here B'ezrat Hashem tomorrow in terms of the Shaarei Teshuvah and I hope B'ezrat Hashem we're going to resume it at twelve with Pesachim. Okay Rabbosai, have a good productive morning, be well, be safe.