פרק ב' הלכה ב' ומאי היא התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד שנאמר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו וכן ינחם על שעבר שנאמר כי אחרי שובי נחמתי ואחרי הודעי ספקתי על ירך ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם.
The Avodas HaMelech points out that the Rambam here is disagreeing with Rabbeinu Yonah. Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuva distinguishes in terms of when in the teshuva process a person experiences the charata, distinguishes between if a chet happens as an aberration or if a person was habitually involved with chet. He says when a person, when the chet happens as an aberration, a person is so careful in whatever area of halacha it is, and somehow or other he was just ambushed by a yetzer hara, somehow or other he was nichshal, so right away the person's immediate visceral reaction is he's so upset and he's so distraught at the chet. So then the charata, the remorse, comes first, and if anything that's the catalyst for the teshuva. But if a person is, no, it's a chet that a person is, unfortunately, has been, it's part of his way of life, it's something habitual, so then first the person has to distance himself from the chet, he has to just behaviorally change, and then the charata, the remorse, will come later. And the Rambam doesn't draw that distinction, the Avodas HaMelech comments, and the Rambam sees, no, that the pasuk of acharei shuvi nichamti, so that pasuk is paradigmatic for all teshuva, acharei shuvi, after I did the teshuva, the azivas hachet, after the ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד, after I did that, so then I supplement it with the nichamti. Ad kan devarav. What's not clear in the Rambam though was the following: the Rambam seems to repeat himself again, just if you have it take a look: ומאי היא התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד.
The kabbala le-haba, ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד. That's it, I'm finished with it. Then the Rambam, as the Avodas HaMelech highlights, now and only now, וכן ינחם על שעבר שנאמר כי אחרי שובי נחמתי. But now the Rambam comes back and he repeats the kabbala le-haba: ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם. The meforshei ha-Rambam explain that ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות means like ואעידה בם את השמים ואת הארץ. The person invites Hakadosh Baruch Hu to serve as a witness as to the depth of his conviction and his resolve not to repeat the chet. So why does the Rambam circle back and talk about the kabbala le-haba a second time? So if you look, though, the Rambam says it differently. The first time when the Rambam says it initially, it's ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד. I'm not going to do it again. I'm not going to do it again. The second time the Rambam says ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם. I'm never ever going to do it again. Right? What's the difference between 'I'm not going to do it again' and 'I'm never ever going to do it again'? The difference is what we spoke about yesterday, the difference that the Pachad Yitzchak highlights between the Sha'arei Teshuva and the Rambam. That for the Rambam, teshuva has to mean that even if there would be a strong, intense, extreme provocation, the person will not repeat the chet. So the first, the initial kabbala le-haba is lo ya'asehu od, I won't do it. It doesn't say le-olam. The second is ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם, never ever, doesn't matter what the circumstances, doesn't matter what the provocation, never ever. And apparently what the Rambam is telling us is that in order to go from that initial kabbala le-haba to the stronger, more encompassing kabbalah l'haba, that's only possible if a person is building on the charata after the person experiences that sense of remorse and that sense of anguish at having been nichshal in the aveira, that's a basis for the person to experience a resolve that he's able to say שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם. And that's why the Rambam has it; he's not repeating, but the Rambam says the kabbalah l'haba happens incrementally. It happens in two stages. The initial one is shelo ya'asehu od. Then building on the charata, the person is able to have an even stronger sense of resolve of שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם.