This shiur is brought to you by TorahWeb.org. Shalom aleichem, rabosai. The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah ארבעה פרקים העולם נידון. At four junctions in the year, the world is judged. B'Pesach al hatvuah, there's a judgment on the grain crop that happens on Chag haPesach. בעצרת על פירות האילן, on Shavuos the fruit of the tree. בראש השנה כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון שנאמר היוצר יחד לבם המבין אל כל מעשיהם.
On Rosh Hashanah all of humanity is judged and finally the fourth time of din is ובחג נידונים על המים. And on Chag haSukkot Hakadosh Baruch Hu judges the world with regard to water. There's something which is very conspicuously asymmetrical here in the Mishnah. B'Pesach the Mishnah says is nidon al hatvuah, בעצרת על פירות האילן, ובחג נידונים על המים, and then the Tanna very conspicuously diverges and instead of saying b'nei adam nidonim, instead provides this very graphic description of כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. If we can understand, if we can unravel that very rich phrase, we'll gain insight into din, into teshuva, into our avodah. But let's begin with the phrase kol ba'ei olam. It's an interesting way to describe humanity. We find many phrases such as b'nei adam and yet here the Mishnah in particular chooses a lashon ba'ei olam. Interestingly, the Rambam maintains that. In the Rambam in פרק ג הלכות תשובה tells us about the din of Rosh Hashanah, he also says בכל שנה ושנה שוקלין עונות כל אחד ואחד מבאי העולם.
There's something vitally important which is compressed into that phrase ba'ei ha'olam. But let's leave that question aside for a minute. The Rambam in Perek Aleph of Hilchos Teshuva says that when a person does teshuva, he's obligated to then present himself before Hakadosh Baruch Hu and articulate his teshuva. A person has to be misvadeh, he has to say vidui. Says the Rambam, keitzad misvadeh? What's the quintessential nusach havidui? אומר אנא השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך, asisi kach ve'kach. Ribono shel olam, I've sinned unintentionally, intentionally, rebelliously. In particular I'm guilty of such and such an infraction. והרי ניחמתי ובושתי במעשי, I experience a sense of remorse and humiliation ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר הזה. And I've resolved to never ever Repeat this infraction and then the Rambam says זהו עיקרו של וידוי. These elements when they converge, when a person combines all these elements, the chatasi avis pashasi, the asisiy kach vekach, the nichamti uvoshti, לעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה, those elements together cumulatively, they constitute the ikaro shel vidui. We continue learning in Hilchos Teshuva. We come to Perek Beis. The Rambam tells us יום הכפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל ליחיד ולרבים. Yom Kippur is a time for individual teshuva as well as collective teshuva, והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל. It's the time that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has designated to forgive our sins. לפיכך חייבין הכל לעשות תשובה ולהתודות ביום הכפורים. And because this is the time designated for forgiveness, this is the deadline for our chiyuv teshuva. It's now that we have to respond to that invitation, that we have to take advantage of that opportunity to do teshuva. Then the Rambam, skipping a little bit to the next halacha, the Rambam says based on the Gemara in Yoma הוידוי שנהגו בו כל ישראל אבל חטאנו והוא עיקר הוידוי.
The simple statement of chatanu, maybe the Rambam means chatanu avinu pashanu, but either way that simple, stark confession in truth, I have sinned, we have sinned, זהו עיקרו של וידוי, hu ikar havidui. Lest we perhaps be asleep at the wheel and maybe miss this glaring stira, apparent stira in the Rambam as to what constitutes ikaro shel vidui, so the Rambam waves a red flag for us. He labels each of them ikaro shel vidui. ואמר השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך עשיתי כך וכך ונחמתי ובושתי במעשי ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה.
That's ikaro shel vidui in Perek Aleph. And then the same Rambam turns around in Perek Beis and tells us that on Yom HaKippurim, aval anachnu chatanu, aval chatanu, hu ikar havidui. The Avodas HaMelech, Reb Menachem Krakowski, the Shtat Maggid in Vilna in his sefer asks this kasha. Let's leave aside the Rambam in Perek Beis for a moment, return to the Rambam in Perek Aleph. Chatasi, where the Rambam gives us that longer nusach havidui. The Mishna in Sanhedrin on mem gimmel where it says kol hamumasin mitvadin, that a person who's on the threshold of death, whether it's someone who Rachmana litzlan is receiving misas beis din, capital punishment in the hands of beis din, or whether it's someone who in a more natural way has reached the end of his journey, so a person is supposed to be misvade. And if a person doesn't know how to be misvade on his own, so then we coach him and we teach him to say תהא מיתתי כפרה על כל עונותי. May my death serve as an atonement for all my sins. That's all. That's all we prompt him to say, that's all we teach him to say. We don't have the nichamti uvoshti, we don't have that full-blown full-fledged vidui of Perek Aleph in Hilchos Teshuva. So how's the Rambam going to, how do we square the Rambam in perek alef with that mishna in Sanhedrin? The answer rabbosai is that it depends when a person is doing teshuva. When a person is doing teshuva at any point during the course of his lifetime, the governing, the operative nusach of viduy is that which the Rambam presents in perek alef. But when a person is at the end of his life, so then the nusach of viduy is the simple, heartfelt, heart-rending recognition and acknowledgment of chatonnu. When a person stands facing death rachmana litzlan, there's no need to embellish, there's no need to elaborate on the aval anachnu chatonnu. It encapsulates everything. That simple one-word confessional, contextually, when a person stands poised to leave this world, that encompasses everything. Not only is there no need to embellish or elaborate, at a certain point it would even detract. And that's how the Rambam in perek alef squares with the mishna in Sanhedrin. The Rambam in perek alef is not takeh talking about that scenario of teshuva b'shas misa. He's talking about teshuva during the course of a person's lifetime. His life is still divided into past and future. The person is still very much entrenched in olam hazeh, with all of its trials and tribulations and temptations. That warrants one type of viduy. But when a person is leaving this world, that arichus, that elaboration is superfluous. The heartfelt, simple, unadorned statement of chatonnu, חטאנו ותהא מיתתי כפרה על כל עוונותי. The Rambam in perek bais tells us that on Yom Kippur, the viduy that we recite is the viduy that a person would recite b'shas misa. Every year Hakadosh Baruch Hu renews our lease on life for a year. There's no long-term lease. משל למה הדבר דומה, a person rents an apartment, but the landlord's policy is he only gives out one-year leases. Every year you have to reapply to the landlord that he should renew the lease. The default position until one becomes aware of the renewal is that the lease is up. The viduy of Yom Kippur, the ikkar of So the vidui of Perek Beis is the ikar shevidui when the lease is about to be up. Va'aval anachnu chatanu parallels the תהא מיתתי כפרה על כל עונותי. And it's apparently not only the Rambam who sees this equation, but Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuva as well. There is a remarkable intentional parallelism in Sha'arei Teshuva. In Sha'ar Sheini of Sha'arei Teshuva, Rabbeinu Yonah discusses six different occasions or stages of life that should prompt, that should stir a person to do teshuva. The second of those six is כאשר יבואו ימי הזקנה ויגיעו ימי השיבה. When a person becomes elderly, sixty, seventy years old. In that context, Rabbeinu Yonah says uv'hagi'o liyemei haseiva, if a person is zoche to reach yemei seiva, seventy years old, יוסיף לגרש מלבו ענין העולם. A person should further extricate himself from mundane matters and mundane preoccupations. ולפי מעוט השנים הבאות, and commensurate to the dwindling number of years, now let's notice especially these next two phrases: yamit b'esek ha'olam, a person should minimize his mundane involvements, veyisyached tamid, he should seclude himself constantly, lehisbonen beyiras Hashem. So Rabbeinu Yonah's guidance for us if we're zoche to reach that age and stage of life is A, yamit b'esek ha'olam, B, יתייחד תמיד להתבונן ביראת השם. A person should be constantly looking for solitude to reflect. Fast forward in Sha'ar Sheini to the derech hachamishi, the fifth stage or occasion that should prompt a person, that should stir a person to do teshuva, ba'aseret yemei teshuva. During aseret yemei teshuva. Now listen to what Rabbeinu Yonah, the manual Rabbeinu Yonah provides for aseret yemei teshuva. וראוי לכל יראי אלהים, a person who has yiras shamayim or at least aspire, I don't know if I can accept that label, but at least aspires to yiras shamayim, וראוי לכל יראי אלהים למעט בעסקיו. I'm skipping one phrase. ולקבוע ביום ובלילה עתים להתבודד בחדריו. So extraordinary. The exact same directive that Rabbeinu Yonah provides for the end, for the latter stages of life, he provides the exact same guidance, the lema'et ba'asakav and the lehisboded. Remarkable parallel, remarkable symmetry, because the mindset in aseret yemei teshuva... Regardless of one's chronological age is that the lease given me last year is due to expire. The Ribbono Shel Olam doesn't owe us anything. A person is not entitled and therefore shouldn't necessarily expect to match or exceed the actuarial tables. And the mindset of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah is one of my lease is set to expire, I don't know if it's going to be renewed. בראש השנה כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. What what does the phrase Ba'ei Olam mean literally? So Ba'ei Olam is a smichus, right? It's a construct. That's the right grammatical form of a construct and it's short for Ba'im Lo'olam. Right? So then when you take the Ba'im and you put it b'smichus in that construct form so it becomes shortened into Ba'ei. But what what does the phrase Ba'ei Lo'olam mean? So we find Ba'im at least twice in Chumash. We find it once in Parshas Vayigash. ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה. Rashi there explains that Ba'im is the present tense. Right? Heim ba'im, right? Heim ba'u means they came. Heim ba'im means they are coming. Heim yavo'u they will come. So Ba'im means coming. So Rashi says that the Torah is written in a way that it's describing as it were the Torah's giving us the description as it happens and therefore the Torah is describing Yaakov and his family coming to Mitzrayim. So Ba'im is present tense. And and that's the simple pshat, right? Ba'u is past tense. Ba'im is present. Yavo is future tense. But we have the same phrase Ba'im and Ba'im Mitzraimah a second time. Beginning of Sefer Shemos. ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה את יעקב איש וביתו באו ראובן שמעון לוי ויהודה.
At this point, Yaakov and his children have long, long since come to Mitzrayim. Ba'im here clearly means not who are coming but the comers to Mitzrayim. Just like the word mechaber in sefer, in mechaber in Hebrew can mean he is writing, he is authoring or it can mean the author of, which means that he already authored, he already wrote. So Ba'im means present in Parshas Vayigash. Ba'im means past in Parshas Shemos. What what does it mean in the phrase Ba'ei Olam? It means both. Ba'ei Olam means those of us who have come to the world but who are hoping to emerge from this din to come to the world, who are coming now. כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. The Mishnah depicts us simultaneously. We've come to the world lashon avar. Each of us has been here so many years, whatever our chronological age is. And yet each of us lashon hoveh is coming, is approaching the world. We're beseeching Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Not just ba'im in the sense of Parshas Shemos, the past. But there is another layer of meaning which Chazal compressed into this phrase called ba'ei olam. The Rambam in פרק ג הלכות תשובה, basing himself on a brayta at the end of the first perek in Masechet Kiddushin, writes, again, the background to the excerpt based on the brayta is that individuals are judged individually, but then collectives are judged collectively. So countries are judged collectively, and then the world is judged collectively. There's individual din, there's collective din. And then the Rambam, based on the brayta in Masechet Kiddushin, writes as follows. Lefichach, because the din is determined by whether or not the person individually, the collective collectively, amasses more zchuyos or more avonos, more merits or demerits, rachmana litzlan. Lefichach writes the Rambam: צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב.
Whenever I have to do anything, whenever I stand at the existential crossroads of having to make a decision, yireh צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב.
A person should see himself as though the two sides of the balance are equal, the two sides of the scale, they're equally balanced, the merits and the demerits are equally balanced. V’chein, and not only should a person view himself that way, v’chein kol ha'olam. A person should see the entire world as hanging in the balance, חציו זכאי וחציו חייב. Not only the individual microcosm is taluy v'omeid, is hanging in the balance, but the macrocosm is hanging in the balance. חטא חטא אחד הרי הכריע עצמו והכריע את כל העולם כולו לכף חובה וגרם להן השחתה.
If the person will do one cheit, it's going to tip the scales. One cheit can bring about destruction, personal destruction, cosmic destruction. But conversely, asa mitzvah achas. If the person responds and does the mitzvah, not the aveira, הרי הכריע את עצמו והכריע את העולם כולו לכף זכות.
He's made the mitzvah scale will be weighed down, וגרם להן תשועה והצלה. And he brings about salvation. What does this mean? Does this really, I mean, how likely is it that this is really the case, that it's really an exact, an exact, exact the two sides of zchuyos and avonos, of merits and demerits are exactly weighted? Well when you have a race, how likely is it to have a dead heat? So shtei tshuvos badavar. One is we don't really know because the Rambam tells us that אין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של קל דעות. The calculations, the arithmetic is divine, it's divine, it's a divine arithmetic system of weighing zechuyos and avonos, so we have no sense whatsoever for how likely this scenario is. Maybe it is a likely scenario. In human accounting firms it's highly unlikely, but we have no sense for how divine accounting operates. But there is a presumably more fundamental answer, an answer, I'm not sure whether I'm directly quoting or adapting something that my son explained, but either way I'm certainly indebted on this point to him, is that Chazal's point, the Rambam's point, is not necessarily that that is likely to be the case, but conceptually, philosophically, when you see the significance because that could be the case, that tells us what the significance and what the importance of every action a person does, how much significance and importance there is to every action. When you look at that scenario, so that scenario is mochiach, that scenario clarifies for us and frames for us that what a person does is real, repercussive. And that's why a person has to always act with that sense of responsibility regardless of what the possibility or probability is that at this exact moment that precise balance exists. I read once a story in the seforim Hameian Vehamenachami from the Talner Rebbe in Yerushalayim. So he tells a story that he heard from the Pnei Menachem, one of the previous Gerrer Rebbes, I think maybe the uncle of the current Rebbe. So the Pnei Menachem was the ben zekunim of the Imrei Emes. The Imrei Emes was a very, very holy, incredibly erudite, and he was basically the king of Polish Jewry. The Pnei Menachem, who was the son of the Imrei Emes's second marriage, he was a widower and remarried, told this story that his father, the Imrei Emes, told his mother in the yichud room. He says, when I speak, איך וועלן רעדן זייער קורץ. I'm going to speak very tersely because for half a word of mine, I don't remember if he said tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of chasidim would jump into the fire, something to that effect. I may have added or subtracted from the quote, but that was the general thrust of what he said. But when he was talking to his wife, the chasidim weren't eavesdropping. No, but the yesod is when a person becomes aware of what the koach hadibbur is, what the potency of speech is in any one situation, so then he realizes... How careful he has to be with his words in every situation. When a person realizes what one single action could do in a specific context, a person learns and realizes how careful he has to be in every context. That's one limud, that's one inference from this Rambam, from the Baraisa in Kiddushin. But there's another limud, there's another inference, rabbosai. And that is that a person lives with a sense of achrayus for the world. We each live in our own daled amos and we live with a sense of achrayus for the world. That it's yitachen that what I do in my daled amos might be מכריע את כל העולם כולו, be it lekaf zchus, be it in the other direction, rachmana litzlan. A person lives with that sense of achrayus for the world. A Jew lives with an additional sense of achrayus. The Torah says in Parshas Bechukosai, vechashlu ish beachiv, literally it translates as part of the tochacha, rachmana litzlan, when we're running away from our enemies that we trip over each other. But Chazal darshen that in addition to that pshuto shel mikra, the Torah is also teaching וכשלו איש באחיו איש בעוון אחיו. A person will stumble in the sense of be punished and held accountable for the sin of his fellow Jew, מלמד שכל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. Jews have mutual responsibility, there's an interdependence which binds us all together, there's a mutual responsibility that we all share. And this underlies a very basic halacha, the halacha the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah presents of yatza motzi. If I've already made Kiddush and someone else needs to hear Kiddush, I can repeat the Kiddush to facilitate that person, that individual discharging his or her obligation. But how is that possible? The rule, as the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah tells us, is that המחוייב בדבר הוא מוציא את הרבים ידי חובתן. I can only say Kiddush and be motzi someone else if I'm muchyav in Kiddush. So for instance, if a person is a katon, is still a minor, who min HaTorah is not obligated in Kiddush, he can't recite Kiddush for an adult. So if I've already made Kiddush, how am I a muchyav badavar that I can say Kiddush a second time on behalf of someone else? So says Rashi, because כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. Because of that mutual responsibility and interdependence, I'm still muchyav in Kiddush, so I have to make Kiddush a second time. Let's say someone else comes knocking on my door, I haven't heard Kiddush yet, I don't know how to make Kiddush, I make Kiddush a third time. Let's say I'm in a drop-in center, I make Kiddush five times, ten times, fifty times, I'm still a muchyav badavar. When am I pattur? I'm pattur when every Jew has made Kiddush. Then I'm pattur. Until then I'm still a muchyav badavar. I'm still obligated in Kiddush until every Jew has heard Kiddush. So a Jew lives with this double sense of achrayus, not just a sense of achrayus for himself, but a sense of achrayus for כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה, but a sense of achrayus for the world also. A person has to look at his actions. The repercussions and consequences, the potential repercussions and consequences for the whole world, kol haolam kulo. What a beautiful vision. A person cannot be self-centered. A person hasn't been yotzei mitzvas kiddush until every other Jew has made kiddush. A person can't be content with his own ruchnius, his own spiritual accomplishments, his own financial security, ועל מה שכל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. And what a beautiful vision that the sense of responsibility that a person should have to act properly. A person has to see and recognize that his actions potentially impact the whole world and he should feel the responsibility that comes with that. What a beautiful vision. Aseres Yemei Teshuva is a time to learn. It's also a time to ask ourselves questions that perhaps we avoid asking the rest of the year. A beautiful vision, but do we fulfill that vision? That question is a perennial, always vital, always valid, but especially this year. Here, especially in the greater New York, New Jersey area, a half year ago, our communities suffered terrible, terrible losses, Hashem yerachem. And now we're all aware of the fact that there's a surge of cases in our communities. We're all aware of the fact that the six neighborhoods in New York City that have the highest rates are neighborhoods which have heavy concentrations of Orthodox Jews. I have a friend, a dear friend who's a brilliant physician. Sometimes his brilliance translates into discovery, medical papers, I'm too much of an ignoramus to appreciate that side of the brilliance. But sometimes his brilliance expresses itself in clearing away all the clutter and highlighting the most important, salient, simple facts. So I owe the following understanding to him. The simple fact is we speak in our parlance of the virus spreading. But viruses don't spread. Viruses are not self-propelling. Viruses of their own accord cannot go from one place to another, they cannot go from one person to another. Viruses don't spread. People spread viruses. That's the medical scientific reality. We euphemistically absolve ourselves by describing it as the virus spreads and the virus is highly contagious and it spreads like wildfire. לא היה ולא נברא, viruses don't spread. Viruses don't jump. People spread viruses. When we talk about transmission of viruses, people transmit viruses to each other. If someone has the virus and forgive my bluntness, forgive my directness, but we have to understand the truth rabosai. If someone has the virus, someone else gave it to him. If someone is sick or worse rachmana litzlan, that virus was transmitted person to person. People spread viruses. Viruses don't spread on their own. They cannot. That's a medical fact, a scientific fact with extraordinary halachic implications. There's a beautiful vision כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. I can't think only about myself. It's not a question of whether I made kiddush, it's a question of whether everyone else made kiddush, whether everyone else heard the megillah, whether everyone else had a chance to bentch lulav. And it's for kol haolam kulo. There's a sense it's not the same din. It's not couched in terms of arvus, but there's a sense of concern. There has to be a sense of recognition for how my actions impact the entire world. Bein keseh le'asur is a time to ask ourselves questions. So let's continue rabosai. It is a fact upon which there's a consensus omnium that a major source of this deeply concerning spread of cases in the Orthodox community is traced back to weddings. There's primary spread, there's secondary spread, there's tertiary spread, but the avi avos in many, many cases are weddings. And not only indoor weddings, but outdoor weddings. We know that. We know that. It's a fact. And as much as we might want to stick our heads in the sand, the fact remains and our awareness of the fact remains. So when do we, when a child is playing with matches, when a child finds a revolver and is playing with a revolver, so when do we intercede that the child should stop playing with the matches? After the whole building is set on fire? And people are trapped in the fire and Rachmana litzlan there are fatalities in the fire? Then we recognize retrospectively that maybe it's not such a good idea to let the child play with matches? Or no, we intervene right away. What what are we waiting for to stop the dangerous behavior? And it's not only weddings, without implying anything as to what the acceptable standard should be, but it's clearly unacceptable to gather indoors for davenen without masks and to sing? To sing and to spread the droplets and the aerosol? There have been documented cases of transmission. Viruses don't spread, people spread them. If Reuven has the virus, let's be very blunt rabosai, either Shimon or Levi or Yehuda gave it to him. Now did they give it to him intentionally Rachmana litzlan? Rachmana litzlan, of course not. No one's giving it to anyone intentionally, no one's transmitting anything intentionally. But the Rambam tells us when a shomer, someone who's entrusted with a deposit is poshea, is grossly neglectful of that deposit, the Rambam famously says poshea mazik. He didn't intend when you when you gave me your your silver candlesticks as a deposit that I should watch over them and I left home without locking my door, maybe I even left my door open and the candlesticks were in full view, I didn't intend chas veshalom that your candlesticks should be stolen. But says the Rambam, no, the person has to pay. And the Rambam says and you know why the person has to pay? Because kol haposhea mazik. And people who are mevinim, people who are discerning, which we all are when am chacham venavon, so we're all mevinim. People who are discerning understand that. It doesn't have to be a hineni muchan umezuman to transmit a virus. Kol haposhea mazik. We're entrusted to be guardians of our fellow Jews, we're charged to be concerned with kol ha'olam kulo. And yet we persist in doing things, why? I don't know, because I don't know why. It's inexplicable and it's inexcusable. And if we don't do our best to identify cases that do happen, if for whatever reason we're neglectful on that level as well, that's also a din poshea. And the Rambam's psak, the Rambam's ruling of poshea mazik applies in that case also. We asked, what does the Mishna mean kol ba'ei olam? Kol ba'ei olam, a person, when he's omed b'din before Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to recognize that I'm a yachid. I'm being judged as such that I'm a yachid who was in a world and part of what I'm being judged for is my impact upon that world, is the sense of responsibility that I have for that world. How did I impact that world? What kind of example did I set? Did I try to model correct behavior or did I rationalize why I don't need to? Or did I just not think? Rosh Hashana kol boe olam. If the Mishna would have just said bnei adam, so the Mishna wouldn't have conveyed this sense of communal achrayus and cosmic achrayus, responsibility that the person has. Who are we, in what capacity do we appear before Hakadosh Baruch Hu for judgment? As boe olam. It's not just a question of whether I think I might get sick or not get sick. It's not just a question of I think how the virus might affect me. It's not just bnei adam who are being nidon on Rosh Hashana, it's boe olam who are being nidon on Rosh Hashana. I'm a boe olam. This is a world that's populated by many other Jews for whom I'm orev and by many other people for whom I'm supposed to show concern as to whether or not I'm being מכריע את כל העולם לכף זכות or otherwise. I want to continue in the Mishna, but we should remember rabosai, we should remember that everyone who falls sick from the virus was given the virus by someone else. That's the medical reality. And we should be aware of the halachic implications of that medical reality of vechol boe olam. I'm going to be asked, if I go to that wedding, did you think? If you thought, did you think beyond yourself? Kol boe olam. It's not just bnei adam who are being nidon on Rosh Hashana, it's boe olam. We all want to be able to answer those questions rabosai. I didn't know, I didn't think, I didn't realize is not going to cut it. We know, we're capable of thinking and therefore obligated to think. And if there's anything we don't realize, it's willful ignorance because the basic facts are clear. And even, I don't mean that weddings are the only problem, they're a major, major, major problem, not the only problem, it's not the only venue that's a problem. But even the good weddings, the outdoor weddings, the mask slips a little bit here, slips a little bit there, people are singing, people are breathing heavily, people are dancing. Viruses do not spread. We spread viruses. בראש השנה כל באי עולם עוברין לפניו כבני מרון. What does the phrase kivnei maron mean? The Gemara has a couple of interpretations: k'acha tarna, kivnei amrana, like sheep. But Rashi says what it means is when the owner is counting his livestock so that he can tithe from the livestock born this year, וכל מעשר בקר וצאן כל אשר יעבור תחת השבט העשירי קדש לה'.
So he arranges a very, very narrow opening such that it's impossible for two sheep to squeeze out together. כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון means that yes, there is an element of collective judgment and yes, there is a reality of collective atonement, but what the Mishna chooses to highlight is the individual nature of din. Standing before Hakadosh Baruch Hu in din is an intensely personal and profoundly lonely experience. We can be surrounded by loving friends, family, community, and yet כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. Din is a solitary experience, intensely individual and therefore profoundly lonely. רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. Every individual, רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. Every individual, each one of us, אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו ואם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו.
A person chooses his path in life. Don't, continues the Rambam, don't let it even cross your mind as a fleeting thought that there's any kind of determinism. Kol adam v'adam, again every individual, right? That emphasis, kol adam v'adam is morally autonomous. ראוי להיות צדיק כמשה רבנו או רשע כירבעם. Everyone is morally autonomous. And the corollary to that individual moral autonomy, the corollary to that fact that we're all free to make our own judgments and decisions and chart our course of actions is that each one of us bears personal individual responsibility which cannot be evaded for the decisions we make, for the actions that we've performed. וכיון שכן אין לו מי שיכפהו ולא גוזר עליו. There is no coercion, there is no predetermination. וכיון שכן הוא נמצא זה החוטא הוא הפסיד על עצמו.
If a person sinned, he cannot shift the blame, he cannot avoid the responsibility. And that's why... And that's why Din, again, the aspect of tzibur being nidon, notwithstanding the aspect of kaparas harabim, notwithstanding the loneliest moment in life is the moment of din. Because כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. We can't hide behind anyone. We can't generate a smoke screen of excuses. The Borei Olam says רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. Every person is given the moral autonomy to make his own decisions, to chart his own course, and because of that every person bears individual responsibility. And the alef-beis of teshuva is to recognize that fact. כיון שכן הוא נמצא זה החוטא. The sinner engaged in self-destructive behavior. There is a deep seated human tendency, which is as old as mankind, to try to shift blame. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu confronts Chava, the answer is hanachash hishiani va'ocheil. The serpent cajoled me, persuaded me. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu confronts Adam, האישה אשר נתת עמדי. The wife that you, that you gave me was the provocateur. When Shmuel confronts Shaul about his cheit, so Shaul says אשר חמל העם על מיטב הצאן והבקר. When Shmuel asks מה קול הצאן הזה באוזני, he says what's this sound that I hear of sheep? So says Shaul, אשר חמל העם על מיטב הצאן והבקר. The people, the people decided to be compassionate on the tzon and bakar. It's a deep seated tendency, but it's not an argument. כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון. There's personal autonomy to decide what to do, and because of that there's personal responsibility to everything we do. If someone persuaded me, so then they bear responsibility for that, but I bear the responsibility for being persuaded. If someone lured me into cheit, that person bears the responsibility for his, for his part, but I bear full responsibility for my part. Sometimes we seek to evade responsibility not by blaming others as in hanachash or האישה אשר נתת עמדי or asher chamal ha'am. And sometimes we're not looking to blame Hakadosh Baruch Hu for some kind of biological predetermination. Sometimes Antoninos asks Rebbi that לעתיד לבוא גוף ונשמה. from each will be able to exonerate itself. The guf will say without the neshomah I'm like an inanimate stone. And the neshomah will say without the guf I'm I'm pure. Rebbe answers with a moshal of a king who appoints two watchmen to to guard his his vineyard, one's blind, one's lame. He comes back and he sees the fruits were eaten. The blind one says 'I don't even know what's here, I can't even I can't even see it.' The lame one says 'I can't climb up.' So what does the king do? He puts the lame one on the shoulders of the blind one and he judges them. And that was Rebbe's answer to Antoninus. Sometimes we look to evade responsibility by blaming, by spinning off an urge we have. Well it wasn't me, it was that urge, it was that desire, that yetzer hora. But that also that also doesn't doesn't carry weight. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah famously tells the story of רבי אלעזר בן דורדיא who had lived an incredibly sinful life. When he becomes aware and wants to do teshuvah, so he turns to the horim u'gevayos and says 'Bakshu alay rachamim,' intercede for me. You affect the reconciliation between me and Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Let the horim u'gevayos do it. And they say עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו. No, we're we're preoccupied. So he turns and he says shamayim va'aretz, bakshu alay rachamim. You affect the reconciliation between me and Hakadosh Boruch Hu and they too demur. עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו. Chamma u'levana, the sun and moon, and they too beg off. And finally רבי אלעזר בן דורדיא comes to the recognition that אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. But there's an omek here, rabbosai. Yes, on the most basic level, if I don't do teshuvah, no one else can do teshuvah for me. But on a deeper level, the mindset that I need help in doing teshuvah, that someone else should intercede, someone else should affect that reconciliation with the Ribbono Shel Olam is the story of the cheit. The cheit is that I'm not sovereign. I can't do it myself. I can't overcome this temptation. I'm only human. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, all the clichés that we trot out. That same mindset when I'm looking to do teshuvah translates into shamayim va'aretz bakshu rachamim alay. I can't do it. The same way I couldn't resist the cheit, I can't do the teshuvah. The understanding that אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי is not only necessary that I do teshuvah, it's a part of the teshuvah because it counteracts the mindset of cheit. The mindset of cheit is that we don't recognize how strong our willpower can be, how strong our self-discipline can be, how stiff our backbone can be. We sin. And when we properly appreciate what we can do, so not only does that clear the way for teshuvah, but that's the first part of the teshuvah. אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. כל העולם עובר לפניו כבני מרון,
single file. It's a private audience. It's an intensely individual and profoundly lonely experience. And it's one that in preparation for, a person needs to internalize the אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. It's getting late rabosai so just very quickly this last point deserves elaboration but just very quickly. So we've commented on kol baei olam. We've commented on kivne maron. Ovrin lefanav. Again let's recall that this arichus, this elaborate phrase is what's substituting for בפסח נידון על התבואה so it should have been בראש השנה בני אדם נידונים. And instead of the Mishna saying bnei adam nidonim, the Mishna says כל באי עולם עוברין לפניו כבני מרון. What's the ovrin lefanav? The lashon nidon just means that a person or something is being judged. Ovrin lefanav means that there's an audience with the judge. It's not just that we're being judged but we're invited into the judge's chambers for that din. We're invited into his chambers so that we can take advantage of dirshu Hashem behimatzo. It's not a din that's imposed upon us. It's not a din that we just passively are subjected to. It's not even a din that's impersonal in the sense that we don't encounter the מלך ושופט כל הארץ. בראש השנה כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון.
The din involves being omed lifnei ha'melech. Being עומד לפני המלך בדין is terrifying but involves incredible opportunity. It means that the melech allows us to address him. It means that the melech won't render judgment until we've had that access to him. Only after there's been a himatzo when Hakadosh Baruch Hu has been present and accessible in a way that from our on the human level he's not accessible any other time of the year, only after the himatzo, only after the, only with himatzo, only with and after beheyoso karov is the din decided. So there's tremendous personal responsibility but there's incredible personal opportunity because what din represents is ovrin lefanav. Din is a part of malchiyos which means hisgalus Hashem in the world, which means that paradoxically when Hashem is being dan, he's closer. So then at any other time and it's that much easier to do teshuva, that much easier to determine that the din be in our favor. כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון means that the opportunity embedded in din is the opportunity and the exhortation of lifnei Hashem titharu. כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון, heviani hamelech hadarav. The judge brings us into his chambers and it's only he will not render din until after affording us that royal audience. A royal audience that makes it easier than at any other time in the year to do teshuva. A royal audience that allows and assists blessing, the mitzvah and the opportunity of lifnei Hashem titharu. השיבנו ה׳ אליך ונשובה, v'nizkeh bizchutcha to a teshuva shelema. I wish everyone a gut gebensht yuhr, a gmach chasima tova, shnat chayim v'shalom, b'frat u'vchlal.