The purpose of ta'anis is לעורר הלבבות ולפתוח דרכי התשובה. יהיה זה זכרון מעשינו הרעים ומעשה אבותינו שהיו כמעשינו עתה עד שגרם להם ולנו אותן הצרות. שבזכרון דברים אלו נשוב להיטיב שנאמר והתודו את עונם ואת עון אבותם.
The purpose of ta'anis is לעורר הלבבות ולפתוח דרכי התשובה. Presumably the physical weakness and frailty which are engendered by the ta'anis also creates a certain mindset. פן תאכל ושבעת ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלהיך. The converse of that is the lack of achila, the lack of sevia, and the frailty which that engenders creates a mindset which is conducive for teshuva. And ultimately that's what the kiyum of a ta'anis is. It's not the abstention from achila v'shisiya per se, but it's the ta'anis, the abstention from achila v'shisiya as part of a hanhaga and focus on teshuva. The lashon HaRambam liftoach darkei hateshuva, he has the same phrase you'll recall from perek beis in Hilchos Teshuva, halacha daled: מדרכי התשובה להיות השב צועק תמיד לפני ה' בבכי ובתחנונים ועושה צדקה כפי כחו ומתרחק הרבה מן הדבר שחטא בו ומשנה שמו. ומשנה מעשיו כלם לטובה ולדרך ישרה וגולה ממקומו.
So the way the Rambam uses the phrase darkei hateshuva in Hilchos Teshuva, darkei hateshuva don't, are not contained, are not constricted to a moment or an hour or a day of teshuva, but darkei hateshuva comprise a lifestyle of teshuva. Tzo'eik tamid, ומשנה מעשיו כלם לטובה, means a lifestyle of teshuva. When you bring that association back and let it shed light on what the Rambam tells us in Hilchos Ta'anios, the Rambam is telling us something remarkable, that not only is the day of the ta'anis a day which should be earmarked, which is earmarked and should be devoted to teshuva, but it should result in insights, in resolve, and resolution that continue to reverberate. The point of the ta'anis is not only to focus for twenty-four hours on teshuva, not only to be inspired to spend a day which is devoted to teshuva, but that that day should continue to reverberate. It should be liftoach darkei hateshuva, which means that really to be mkayeim Asara B'Teves or any other ta'anis, it means that come Yud Aleph Teves, that there's been some upgrade in our lives, there's been some derech hateshuva which has been opened and that we've embarked upon that path. Bein adam l'chaveiro, bein adam l'Makom. And it's this context, this goal of teshuva which lets us again understand the Rav zikhrono livrakha used to comment and quote two proofs to the idea that contrary to what I think sometimes is our natural conventional association that the ta'anis encompasses the nighttime as well. And the two indications or the two proofs of that that he would adduce, number one, the sugya in Ta'anis and the dinim of Shulchan Aruch that if a person goes to sleep without stipulating, so then he's not allowed to according to the Rama just not allowed to eat but allowed to drink, according to the Mechaber neither allowed to eat nor drink. And that if one wants to get up early in the morning to eat, so it has to be done on the basis of a stipulation. So the Rav would say clearly the nighttime is part of the ta'anis otherwise where does that issur achila come from? But it's part of the ta'anis with a heter achila with a dispensation to eat. The other mareh makom he would cite is Rashi quotes the Teshuvos HaGeonim that they would say Aneinu at night. They'd say עננו ה' עננו ביום צום תעניתנו at night, not because they were necessarily all acting like the middas chasidus of the Shelah HaKadosh and depriving the ta'anis at night, but they would say Aneinu at night. So clearly the night is part of the ta'anis. Ad kan devarav. But what does it mean? What does it mean that it's part of the ta'anis but you can eat? It's Sukkos but you don't have to sit in the sukkah and you don't have to take a lulav and but other than that it's Sukkos. It's Pesach but you can eat chametz and you don't have to eat matzah and so it's a ta'anis but you can eat and drink. So the teretz is because the definition of the ta'anis hem hem hadevarim is not really the not eating and drinking. That's a nihug, that's a prat, but the larger klal is that it's a day of teshuva. And in that sense the night very much belongs to the ta'anis as an integral part of the ta'anis and again as manifest in those two halakhos. The example of the ta'anis without in any way detracting or minimizing what the Nefesh HaChaim explains how halakha is very much action oriented, even tefilla as he illustrates which is avoda shebalev, so he quotes the Magen Avraham who says that even by tefilla we pasken that hirhur lav kedibbur, that even again the ultimate inner experience has to be concretized, has to be translated. Without detracting from that an iota, the ta'anis is an unfortunately a good and sobering but hopefully instructive example how it's very easy to comply practically and technically and still miss the point. How one can comply practically and technically and really it's ikkar chaser. We focus on the fasting aspect of the ta'anis and And often the day can pass with repeated countdowns as to how many minutes until the taanis is over, but the day can pass without hirhurei teshuvah, without focusing. Torah is designed in so many different ways to uplift, but sometimes we short-circuit it. And a taanis is one example of that. Perhaps just to mention two other examples to think about, each one actually deserves its own moment and its own exclusive focus. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Brachos that Chazal were mesakein so many brachos, so whenever we're turning around, it doesn't require too much effort on a weekday to make meiah brachos. It's basically built in. Whenever you turn around, so then your cheshbon, how many hours was I sleeping, and so whenever you turn around we're making brachos. So the Rambam says that Chazal introduced it כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד. That in some ways the biggest challenge of avodas Hashem is not to be distracted, is not to be maseiach daas; it's easy for us to relate to the tangible and visible and it requires more effort and more training to relate to the invisible and intangible despite the fact that that's what's real and ultimate. So hesech hadaas is the biggest challenge that a person has in his avodas Hashem and therefore that means in life. And brachos were employed by Chazal as a central instrument to try to help us overcome that. But there's only one catch. And the catch is that when we say brachos we have to think about what we're saying. And we have to say the brachos thoughtfully and allow the brachos to register. But when we say brachos as too often we do, just on automatic pilot, so then it short-circuits the halachah. The halachah is a perfectly designed system which yields wonderful and remarkable results but as long as we don't short-circuit it. And the other example, again each one, each one we should go home and find time to think about individually, separately, not as an item on a list, but the third representative example is Shabbos. כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ את הים ואת כל אשר בם וינח ביום השביעי.
So the Chumash tells us that Shabbos is a day where our shvisah is supposed to remind us of maaseh bereishis. It's supposed to focus us on maaseh bereishis and all the implications that has for emunah. I don't know, I often spend more time thinking about cholent on Shabbos than maaseh bereishis. I don't know, I haven't found that in the posuk in Chumash yet, maybe there's a remez somewhere. The Ramban says, the Ramban says remarkably in the aseret hadibrot. Tam lekadsho. זכור את יום השבת לקדשו. זכור את יום השבת לקדשו שיהיה זכרוננו בו להיות קדוש בעינינו כמו שנאמר וקראת לשבת עונג לקדוש ה' מכובד והטעם שתהא השביתה בעינינו בעבור שהוא יום קדוש להיפנות בו מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים ולתת בו עונג לנפשנו בדרכי השם וללכת אל החכמים ואל הנביאים לשמוע דברי השם כמו שנאמר מדוע את הולכת אליו היום לא חודש ולא שבת
shehaya darkam kein וכן אמרו Chazal מכלל דבחודש ושבת בעו למיזל וזה טעם שביתת בהמה שלא תהא בלבנו מחשבה עליה.
And he says something remarkable. He says, why does the Torah care if if my shor does melacha on Shabbos? What is that what is that shtel? What what kind of din is that? Says the Ramban, the pshat in shevisas behema is that if my behema's doing melacha, so I'm going to be distracted. I'm going to, ich veis, I'm going to wonder how it's faring, I'm going to wonder whether it's whether it's working too hard, whether whether it's accomplishing what what it should be accomplishing. And the whole point of Shabbos, the whole point of shevisa on Shabbos is that we should be focused. The whole point of not doing melacha on Shabbos, and that's why the Torah extends it to shevisas behema. The Torah mentions shevisas behema in the same breath, as it were. לא תעשה מלאכה אתה ובנך ובתך ובנך ובתך in the same breath because the whole point of shevisa on Shabbos is not to be distracted. The whole point of shevisa on Shabbos is because if I'm being zoreiah and kotzer, I'm I'm distracted. The whole point of shevisa on Shabbos is to focus להיפנות מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים. Chazal have that lashon of כל משמר שבת כהלכתה. So how else can you how else can you keep Shabbos? So you have a similar problem by a similar type of phraseology. Chazal talk about דן דין אמת לאמיתו. Same same problem. So there Tosafos says that דן דין אמת לאמיתו means la'afukei a din ramai, la'afukei din merumeh. When everything technically formally seems to be right in the sense that the eidus withstand the drisha ve'chakira, the eidim are technically kasher and they withstand the drisha ve'chakira, and yet the dayan has this unshakable chush that something isn't right here. He can't prove it but something isn't right, so he's not allowed to say, look, the eidim... No, דן דין אמת לאמיתו means not just formally and technically, but essentially as well. So the pshat is that's what the phrase meshameir Shabbos ke'hilchasa also means. It means not just formally and technically but the same way a din emes is la'amito, so shemiras Shabbos is ke'hilchasa. For shemiras Shabbos to be ke'hilchasa, the same way a tanis, a tanis has to be not just skipping breakfast and lunch, but a tanis has to be לעורר הלבבות לפתוח דרכי התשובה. A bracha has to be lizkor es haborei. Shabbos has to be להיפנות מעסקי המחשבות בהבלי הזמנים.