והנה נתבאר במה שקדם מהעניינו בקנייה והוא שורש התשובה והשלמתה וראיתי מן הראוי לי לסמוך לו ביאור גדרה ואופני השלמתה ואומר תחילה בחיוב התשובה והצורך אליה שכבר נתבאר לנו מדרך השכל ומן הכתוב בתורה.
A person can know logically, a person also knows from psukim: כי האדם מקצר מעשות מה שהוא חייב בו מחובות הבורא.
From what he'll say in a couple of paragraphs from now that he doesn't mean that this is inevitable, it doesn't mean that it's unavoidable, but it's overwhelmingly likely to be the case that a person falls short in fulfilling his obligations to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Mideirech haseichel: מה שמצאנו על האדם מהתחלפות טבעיו. Internally we're not harmonious. Right? There are different natural forces, impulses that a person has, right, which are not harmonious. Histachalfus tiv'av. Vehibadel shorshei harkavato and even the sort of core basic elements that comprise the person, presumably the Chovot HaLevavot is thinking about the dalet yesodot that the kadmonim spoke of, are variously inclined and directed. Vehishapchus midos nafsho and the again variability of different character traits. וסיבות תנועותיו והתחייב בזה התחלפות מעשיו כפי החילוף ההוא מהם הנאווה והמגונה העוול והצדק והטוב והרע ועל זה יצטרך לקשר תורה ומסורת הנהגה.
I'm not sure if the והתחייב בזה התחלפות מעשיו means that he's talking about potential or he's talking about again in most cases result. But what the Torah writes regarding this, from them what the verse says, כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, v'ne'emar, and it is said, וכל יצר מחשבות לבו רק רע כל היום, v'ne'emar, and it is said, ועייר פרא אדם יולד. A person is born like a wild donkey. V'hein, v'ne'emar, הן עד ירח ולא יאהיל, v'ne'emar, אף כי אנוש רימה, v'ne'emar, ומה יזכה ילוד אישה. V'keivan shenisba'er מציאות הקיצור במעשה האדם. Again the Torah describes כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו which translates into our falling short just looking at how a person internally has all kinds of conflicts which translates practically into acting with a degree of inconsistency. It's an expression of Chanina, rachum v'chanun. It's an expression of Chanina that Hakadosh Baruch Hu provided for the ability to rectify mistakes and to compensate for what he missed in his avodah through teshuvah. And all this is be'ahavaso u've'chemlaso alav, as an expression of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's love and his compassion. See, there's a... I apologize in advance. I'm not sure whether how lucid the next couple of minutes is going to be. I hope we'll be okay be'ezras Hashem. But there's something very paradoxical here in the Chovos Halevavos. On the one hand, he clearly depicts, I mean at this point if we didn't have the rest of the perek or the rest of Sha'ar Teshuvah, maybe one would even think that cheit is inevitable. Okay, so he'll soon disabuse us of that notion. He'll say that there are exceptional, exceptional individuals who don't sin at all, but he describes it as מיעוט מציאותו בכל דור. We're talking about a very small minority of people who qualify for the description of never having sinned. So it means that cheit is overwhelmingly likely. And again, it's clear from what the Chovos Halevavos is saying that that's a very understandable reflection of how we're built. Right? That's the depiction, right? U'mitzad haseichel, you see the hachalafos teva'os, the hibodel shoresh harkovos, you see that we're not harmonious beings. And if a person is not naturally harmonious, then you naturally expect a certain degree of inconsistency reflecting that lack of harmony. And nevertheless, teshuvah is described as Chanina. We would have thought maybe it's meikar hadin. No, it's... if we're built in a way that we're so prone to cheit, so maybe that's sort of what balances things out. And it obviously does balance things out. But the Chovos Halevavos still insists on characterizing it as michanos haborei. Rav Kapach, this is the standard translation is from רב יהודה אבן תיבון, the father of the one who then translated the Rambam's works, the Moreh. Rav Kapach has a more modern translation. I think he has chesed, but it's clear that that is the sense of what the Chovos Halevavos writes. So how do we understand that? So I think the perspective is a composite of a few points. So these are not points which are intended to stand apart from each other but to be taken together. The first one is as prone as we are to cheit notwithstanding, cheit is never inevitable. It is always a result of our bechirah. Again, everything that the Chovos Halevavos describes notwithstanding the hischalfus teva'os, the fact again that naturally we have conflicting impulses and internal forces vechulu. But lema'aseh you see from the existence of hakat hazos ha'achrona albeit מיעוט ציותא בכל דור, so cheit is not inevitable. We're prone to cheit, but it's not inevitable. And in that sense, it's middas harachamim that we can correct, that we can erase, that we can move beyond it is middas harachamim. The fact that we're prone to cheit notwithstanding. Now additionally, supplementarily, here is a mashal as follows. And I don't think this mashal is true in the world or in the real world, but in our theoretical world we'll assume it. Let's say you have a medical school and the standard in the medical school is that you have to get a hundred on every examination. In order to ultimately graduate and get your license as a physician, you have to score a hundred on every single exam and tamam venimumam imam. It's not too much consolation to the patient that you know the doctor only messed up in one in a thousand cases because you know he got a 99 on all his tests. You know if whoever's the patient who's the one in the thousand where the doctor messes up, where the doctor didn't know something he should have known, where the doctor didn't do a procedure the way he should have, it's not too much of a consolation to you know his batting average is you know is phenomenal. No, he needs to get a hundred. Now given the fact that to score a hundred on every exam is very demanding, not impossible but very demanding, so the medical school also says that yes you're not going to pass without getting a hundred but you can retake exams. You can retake exams. It's not once and done. If the first time you don't get a hundred you can keep working until ultimately you do get the hundred. So in the mashal it's certainly the case that one is prone to need these makeup exams, that one is prone to need the second go around, the third go around, whatever the fourth go around, and not just on many exams, not just on one of the exams, on many of the exams. But nevertheless how would we describe that policy that says that you can take a retest, a second and a third time? So I think we would I would say that that policy is not middas hadin, but is middas harachamim. Because it's crucial to understand that as incredibly demanding as maintaining a hundred average is, not 99.9, but a hundred average in this theoretical medical school, what what is passing in really in medical school? Whatever it is. I'm not sure if it's a hundred. As incredibly demanding as it is, but that's where the bar should be set. Right? In the moshal you hear that, right? There's no room for chet in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's world. And הקדוש ברוך הוא ממציא כל נמצא. Everything exists through Hashem, because of Hashem, from Hashem. There's no existence independent of Him. Right? The Rav used to emphasize that the Rambam describes that not that הקדוש ברוך הוא המציא כל נמצא, הקדוש ברוך הוא ממציא כל נמצא.
He's the source of everything that exists. So the standard, as in the medical school, needs to be a hundred. Me'idach gisa, within the briyah so Hakadosh Baruch Hu kach gozar chochmaso that there should be one class within the briyah who are baalei bechirah. But just as in the moshal of the of the medical school, that as demanding as it is, no you taka understand that no the standard has to be a hundred. The standard has to be a hundred and you have to recognize that it's because that's the only really acceptable level. Practically, is there, yes, practically yeah, allowance is made to take the exam a second time, and a third time, and a fourth time, and a fifth time, and there's no there's no limit of of how many retakes a person can have. As long as as long as he's alive, he can he can continue to take a retake. But he should recognize that the only thing which is really good enough is a hundred. So practically yes, practically yes, is it true a person's prone to chet and is it true that what balances that out is the opportunity, the blessing, the obligation of teshuvah? But it's crucial that that be conceived of as a middas harachamim, not as a middas hadin. Maybe that's what it means, you know, Rashi quotes Bereishis bara Elokim and then subsequently ביום עשות ה' אלקים ארץ ושמים. So as you know, Rashi quotes the maamar Chazal that בתחילה עלה במחשבה לבראות את העולם במידת הדין ראה שאין העולם מתקיים
so שיתף עמו מידת הרחמים. So what does it mean? Again, the as as midrashim do, as pesukim do, they they speak anthropomorphically, so obviously not to be taken literally, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't have a, you know, an initial plan which he then, you know, has to revise rachmana litzlan. That's obviously not what it means, that's what the anthropomorphism is. But what what does it mean? So that's what it means: בתחילה עלה במחשבה לבראות את העולם במידת הדין that no the doctor really needs to get a hundred and and it's and you need to understand that that's a middas hadin, that that's the way things are supposed to be. The doctor should be getting a hundred on every single examination. In a world which is the only world that can exist, which is sustained by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, הקדוש ברוך הוא ממציא כל נמצא, there's not there can't be... And that's why it's crucial to understand it conceptually agav that that yes can you can you describe this sort of as middas harachamim which is warranted? Yeah, I think we can say that. I think that's a correct formulation. But lemaiseh it's middas harachamim. Because it's important to understand conceptually again just as in the moshal that the doctor as demanding as it is he needs to get a 100 on all these exams. The surgeon's technique needs to be excellent. Not not very very good. His technique needs to be excellent. I'm not sure if the next point is different or I think it's a little different. Not just saying the same thing in different words. I think it's there is a nuance. If if something is described, if teshuva would be described as middas hadin so then we would be complacent initially. If if when you're sitting if when the doctor sits for the first exam he's told, you know, you'll take as many exams as you need. So then he's he's gonna be complacent that he's probably not going to strive for the 100 on the on the first one. If he's told, you know, you can apply for middas harachamim to for a retake if you get anything less than 100 so then he's he's not going to be complacent. The fact we are prone to cheit but a person can have either of two opposing reactions to that reality. A person can say okay so therefore as Ramchal describes in Perek Aleph so therefore I need to live very mindfully, very reflectively, I need to live with a sense of accountability. That's one reaction. The other reaction is okay so I'm I'm only human and you know I'm gonna I'm gonna mess up and so that's what it is, you know. So so I'll mess up. Okay and then I'll you know I'll make sure to to buy my seat in shul you know on Rosh Hashanah we'll take care of it. You know pay 150 dollars for the seat and every everything is you know everything is good. It's a bargain. So a person is not supposed to be the fact again so a person can have either of those. If if teshuva is depicted as middas hadin, if it's thought of, if it's defined, if if in reality it's such, so then then a person becomes complacent about cheit. And A that's wrong and B obviously there's going to be much more cheit if if a person lives with the attitude of you know I'm gonna mess up. Okay now obviously everything we're saying a person can go to the other extreme which is wrong. A person can be too tough on himself and too much of a perfectionist and and drive himself crazy. So a person has to know which what to emphasize and for himself depending upon his own tendencies and and and what imbalance he what imbalance he has. We're always talking about an imbalance in a certain direction but sometimes the imbalance is in the opposite direction in which case it's it's a very different shmuess which is equally true. You don't know which button to press, you know button number one for this shmuess, button number two for this shmuess. A person has to know which has to press the right button. It's all Torah and it's all true but a person has to know in terms of being mechazek himself which which shmuess he's supposed to be listening to.