Perek bet, halacha aleph. איזו היא תשובה גמורה? זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשות ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כוח.
Keitzad? הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה לאחר זמן נתייחד עמה והוא עומד באהבתו בה ובכוח גופו ובמדינה שעבר בה פירש ולא עבר זהו בעל תשובה גמורה. הוא ששלמה אומר: וזכור את בוראך בימי בחורותיך עד אשר לא יבואו ימי הרעה והגיעו שנים אשר תאמר אין לי בהם חפץ.
So the Rambam understands the pasuk in Kohelet, Uzchor et borecha, as speaking of teshuva. And then the Rambam adopts that frame of reference subsequently in speaking about teshuva. So at the end of the halacha, when he speaks about teshuva biyom moto, מכלל שאם זכר בוראו ושב קודם שימות נסלח לו. Again, zachar boro, in the famous Rambam in perek gimmel, halacha daled about tkias shofar, רמז יש בו כלומר עורו עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם.
So in different halachos in Mishneh Torah, the Rambam refers to Hakadosh Baruch Hu differently. In perek aleph, halacha aleph, חייב להתוודות לפני האל. When it comes to mechikas hashem, he refers to the שמות שנקרא בהם הקדוש ברוך הוא. And here, clearly taking his cue from a pasuk in Kohelet, the Rambam refers to Hakadosh Baruch Hu as the borei. So in each context obviously the Rambam has his reason for why that shem hashem or that kinui is the appropriate one. And it's interesting here in teshuva, so the Rambam refers again to Hakadosh Baruch Hu michlal, he could have said im zachar hashem, im zachar hakeil, im zachar elokav, im zachar boro. Interestingly, maybe independently, maybe following the Rambam, you find something similar in Rabbeinu Yonah, in ha'ikar hashishi here in sha'ar harishon: הנה החוטא יבוש מאוד לבוא עבירות לפני בני אדם ויכלם אם ירגישו ויכירו בעבירותיו ואיך לא יבוש מן הבורא יתברך.
Again, that same referring to Hakadosh Baruch Hu in context of teshuva as the borei. So u'v'chen the pshat is like this. Kemidumeh that when we think about mitzvos, we think about mitzvos as, you know, this sort of there's me, there's my life, and then there are obligations that the mitzvos impose upon me. There are mitzvos that are incumbent upon me. But משל למה הדבר דומה, lechora that's not the correct understanding. משל למה הדבר דומה is as follows. Let's say someone is approached and someone's making a pitch that he should invest in a business. And he's presenting all these arguments about why it's a sound investment, why it's a good investment, and it's likely to pay a good dividend. Or maybe the person's being approached to contribute to some tzedaka and the arguments are being presented why it's such a worthy cause. So if the money is his own, so he can hear out the arguments and then decide. Does he want to invest, doesn't he want to invest? Does he want to contribute, doesn't he want to contribute? But if the money is not his, there's nothing to talk about, right? I can't do anything with this money, it's not my money. I was a shliach and I was told to do a, b, or c. It's not my money. I have no discretion, I have no ba'alus, it's not my money. Our life is not our own. Our existence... Our existence is not our own. The pshat in mitzvos is not it's something layered on top of our life. No, those are the conditions. Hashem gives us life and we're told, we're given the gift of life, the blessing and gift of life under these conditions. It's not ours. It's not that there's me, that there's my life, and then layered upon that there's an obligation which is incumbent upon me, there's a restriction which is placed upon me. No, it's these are the tnai hachayim, the life is not my own. The mechayev in teshuvah is that the Rambam like many other meforshim, the Rambam has this idea in the Moreh as well, that what the verb borei expresses is yesh me'ayin. So nothing emphasizes and accentuates that point more than the Ribono Shel Olam is borecha, zechor borecha, בכלל אם זכר בוראך, zechor borecha, a person literally, literally doesn't exist without Hashem. Hashem, zechor borecha, that's the ultimate mechayev of teshuvah is that again, all mitzvos and dinim, they're the life is not ours and these are the conditions under which we are given the blessing and the gift of life and that's the mechayev in teshuvah and that's why the Rambam in this context again, al pi the pasuk in Koheles, refers to Hashem in this context as the borei.