Tonight is a time to reflect on Teshuva. Let's try to identify our avoda these next two weeks. The truth is if we're beginning the reflection now, we do so belatedly. Rosh Chodesh Elul was the time to begin this reflection, or according to a famous comment of Reb Yisrael Salanter, last year motzoei Yom Kippur. Invariably, we look to two sources. We look in our hearts and we look to the Rambam's Hilchos Teshuva. We look to our hearts to find what questions, what challenges, what doubts, what insecurities we have. We look to the Rambam's Hilchos Teshuva for the answers, for the halachic guidance and insights. One question which I think many of us have, a very vital question, and that is that we recognize the need for Teshuva, we recognize the again the indispensability of it. We know דע לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. We know what rachmana litzlan awaits us without Teshuva. And unquestionably we want to do Teshuva, and yet it doesn't always seem to translate. And yet it doesn't, it doesn't seem to materialize in the way we want it to. So is it because Teshuva is that difficult? What are we to do? That's the question which the heart poses, and without resorting to exaggeration, nafsheinu besheilosenu. Let's try to begin be'ezras Hashem by understanding cheit, understanding what it means to sin rachmana litzlan, and more broadly, consequences of cheit. Cheit itself is easily defined. It means to violate devar Hashem, ritzon Hashem, tziuvai Hashem, to violate Hakadosh Baruch Hu's word, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's command. But cheit rachmana litzlan is much more than an isolated misdeed or evil. The navi in Zecharia, it's one of the haftaros of the year, Yehoshua, Zecharia sees a vision of Yehoshua the kohen gadol, היה לבוש בגדים צואים ועומד לפני המלאך. Yehoshua the kohen gadol was dressed in filthy soiled garments standing before the angel. The meforshim peh echad basically say the begadim tzoim, the soiled garments, represent cheit, represent sin. When a person sins, rachmana litzlan, he becomes enveloped by the cheit. The Maharal commenting on this nevuah, כי החטאים דבקים באדם. Sins cling to a person, rachmana litzlan, and thus הם נחשבים לו מלבוש. They comprise his attire, his garments. וכן להיפך חס ושלום בעת עובר על אחת ממצות השם הוא ממשיך רחמנא ליצלן רוח הטומאה על עצמו לחפפה עליו וסובבתו
says Rav Chaim Volozhin. If a person violates, when a person violates one of the mitzvos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he draws upon himself a ruach tumah again, which envelops him, which surrounds him. ועל זה אמר הכתוב ונטמאתם בם היינו בתוכם ממש שהוא קשור ומסובב אז ברוח טומאה.
A person becomes bound, encircled by the tumah of cheit. כמו שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל כל העובר עבירה אחת בעולם הזה מלפפתו והולכת לפניו ליום הדין.
A person violates an aveira, rachmana litzlan, in this world. The Nefesh Hachaim quotes Chazal say again, it encircles him, it swaddles him. And without teshuva, it remains that way for the yom hadin. וזהו שאמר דוד המלך עליו השלום עוון עקבי יסובני. My sins encircle me. So cheit, rachmana litzlan, is not an isolated occurrence or event. It envelops, it encircles, it ensnares a person. Rabbeinu Yonah begins Shaarei Teshuva with the following lines: מהטובות אשר הטיב השם יתברך עם ברואיו. The kindnesses from amongst the kindnesses that Hakadosh Baruch Hu bestows upon His creatures, כי הכין להם הדרך לעלות מתוך פחת מעשיהם, He prepared the way to ascend from the pit of their actions, velanus, and to escape, mipach pish’eihem, from the trap of their sins. Rabbeinu Yonah depicts cheit as a pach, as a trap. Because cheit again isn't an isolated event or occurrence, it ensnares a person. A person sins, rachmana litzlan. Without the benefit of teshuva, it's not just that there's a blemish on his record, that he no longer has a clean record, but he's in a state of cheit, he's שרוי במצב של חטא. Whatever inclination we might have at times, is it the biggest deal if I compromise once? Maybe it's not so terrible. Cheit, rachmana litzlan, is a pach, it's a trap. A person remains trapped, pending teshuva. Adapting somewhat the words of the Baal HaTanya. The Baal HaTanya explains that when we speak of something being assur, so we translate it secondarily in a derivative sense as being prohibited. But literally the word, as in mattir assurim, it means something that's bound. And the Baal HaTanya explains that when cheit happens, rachmana litzlan, so then something gets caught, something gets trapped. And that's what it means that not only that something that's assur, in turn is oser. It binds, it traps. And when Chazal tell us that aveira goreres aveira, it's not only a psychological reality, not only because of psychological momentum, it's that as well, but This being ensnared, entrapped, this being burdened with chait which Rachmana litzlan points a person in the wrong direction. כל המצוות שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה,
al mitzvos of the Torah whether positive or negative commandments, if a person violated one of them whether intentionally or unintentionally, כשייעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.
When a person does teshuvah, he's obligated to say vidui before Hashem. There is contained in these lines a profound emphasis as to what the essence of teshuvah is. Before we come to how the Rambam speaks to the question, let's pose the question ourselves. What does it mean when we speak of teshuvah, both in terms of semantics and in terms of substance? The Maharal in the Sefer Teshuvah in commenting on the Mishnah of שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך, which in effect as the Mishnah itself makes clear means to do teshuvah every day because a person has no guarantee. So the Maharal wonders, why doesn't the Mishnah say that? The Mishnah should say shuv b'chol yom, do teshuvah every day. Why does the Mishnah present it as שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך? Says the Maharal: כי עיקר התשובה קודם וסמוך למיתתו וזה מפני כי האדם במיתתו ראוי לשוב אל השם יתברך.
Of course a person is supposed to do teshuvah every day, but the real teshuvah, teshuvah is realized yom samuch l'misaso, right before a person is niftar, because it's then when a person's neshama takeh is poised and hopes to return to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So that's the ultimate moment of teshuvah because then is takeh teshuvah el Hashem. So the Maharal explains, no surprise here, that what teshuvah means is teshuvah el. We're returning to. Returning to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Chait means we distance ourselves from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Teshuvah means returning to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Similarly, the Reishis Chochma quotes from HeChassid Rabbeinu Bachya b'biur mahus hateshuvah explaining the essence of teshuvah, החסיד ובחובות הלבבות פירש שמהות התשובה היא הסכמת האדם לעבודת הבורא יתברך אחרי צאתו ממנו וחטא בו.
The essence of teshuvah is again a person positions himself, a person orients himself to avodas Hashem. Teshuvah is teshuvah el, teshuvah to. And the truth is that's what the psukim seem to indicate. In Parshas Va'eschanan, בצר לך ומצאוך כל הדברים האלה באחרית הימים ושבת עד ה' אלהיך.
Teshuvah to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This morning, והיה כי יבואו אליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה והשבות אל לבבך בכל הגויים אשר הדיחך ה' אלהיך שמה ושבת עד ה' אלהיך ושמעת בקולו.
Teshuvah to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And yet, so with this resonating, let's re-read the Rambam. כל המצוות שבתורה אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן כשייעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו.
Rambam doesn't talk about teshuvah to, Rambam talks about teshuvah from. Unquestionably lifnei hakel, but the Rambam talks about ksheya'aseh teshuvah and he does so consistently. אל תאמר שאין התשובה אלא מעבירות שיש בהן מעשה כשם שצריך אדם לשוב מאלו כך הוא צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו ולשוב מהן.
The same way a person has to do teshuvah from wrong actions, a person has to do teshuvah mi, from character flaws. teshuvah mi, not teshuvah el. This also is in the is in the Tanach. The navi Yechezkel: והרשע כי ישוב מכל חטאותיו אשר עשה ושמר את כל חוקותי ועשה משפט וצדקה חיה יחיה לא ימות.
navi Yechezkel is not talking about teshuvah el, teshuvah mi, teshuvah from. ובשוב רשע מרשעתו אשר עשה again ובשוב רשע מרשעתו אשר עשה ויעש משפט וצדקה הוא את נפשו יחיה.
And if the wicked man turns away from his wickedness, he will cause his soul to live. Just one more example in the haftarah from sefer Yonah on Yom Kippur: ויתכסו שקים האדם והבהמה ויקראו אל אלהים בחוזקה וישובו איש מדרכו הרעה ומן החמס אשר בכפיהם.
And in fact, וירא האלהים את מעשיהם כי שבו מדרכם הרעה וינחם האלהים על הרעה אשר דבר לעשות להם ולא עשה.
Every man shall turn back from his evil way. In Lashon Hakodesh, there can be teshuvah el and there can be teshuvah mi. teshuvah el is the destination, to return to. teshuvah mi, in Chazal also you have the idiom. Chazal talk about hashav miyediaso. hashav miyediaso means that if I would know something, I would pull back, to return, not in the sense of returning to a source, but in terms of pulling back, pulling away from something. The psukim in navi and the Rambam takes his cue from these psukim in navi say that the essence of teshuvah is teshuvah mi, yashov mecheto. What does that mean? Since chet isn't an isolated act or occurrence, chet as Rabbeinu Yonah says represents pach pisheihem, represents a trap in which a person is ensnared, represents again a state of being, rachmana litzlan. A person has to retreat from, a person has to break the bonds of chet. yashov mecheto is the essence of teshuvah. With this definition in mind, when we reread the Rambam's description of what teshuvah involves, ומה היא התשובה פרק ב הלכה ב הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו,
what is teshuvah? That a person abandons his sin, totally, totally removes it, drives it away from his thoughts, veyigmor belibo and he resolves in his heart. ויגמור בליבו שלא יעשהו עוד וכן ינחם על שעבר. These elements of teshuva now are not simply dinim and chiyuvim, not just things that we're required to do, but it's the way a person unfetters himself. It's the way a person releases those bonds of chet, the way a person escapes the pach shachas, the way a person escapes the trap, the ensnarement of chet. Moreover, let's go back one minute and read the previous halacha in the Rambam, basing himself on a gemara at the end of Masechet Yoma. Eizohi teshuva gemura? What, what is evidence, what reflects a complete, optimal teshuva? זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשות ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה.
Someone who finds himself in identical circumstances, identical situation in which just yesterday he had sinned, and this time he doesn't succumb, לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כח, not because of any external inhibiting force. Keitzad? Example, case in point: הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה ולאחר זמן נתייחד עמה והוא עומד באהבתו בה בכח גופו במדינה שעבר בה.
Two people, a man and a woman, consorted in a prohibited fashion. Later they find themselves in the identical situation, the same aveira beckons, ופירש ולא עבר זהו בעל תשובה גמורה. So Rambam says this is an illustration of teshuva. I have a simple question here. How does the Rambam, how do Chazal know it? The definition of teshuva the Rambam says is that the chet, yesirenu mimachshavto. I no longer consider it even the remote possibility that I would ever, ever engage in such an action again. Yisnachem al she'avar; a person has to be filled with deep, profound sense of remorse. How do Chazal, how does the Rambam know that the person featured in this snapshot of Halacha Aleph, who the second time was successful where the first time he had failed, how does the Rambam know that it was yesirenu mimachshavto? Maybe it wasn't. Maybe he hadn't totally driven away that thought, but maybe nevertheless, אף על פי כן, he succeeded in being misgaber. He succeeded in kovesh es yetzro. He succeeded in overcoming and not succumbing. How does the Rambam know that he was misnachem al ha'avar? How does the Rambam know that he was full with remorse and a profound sense of regret? No, maybe with less than that, on a practical level he still succeeded. So what emerges from when you read these two halachos back to back, what emerges is that the Rambam is telling us that the dinim of teshuva, the requirement of not even entertaining the possibility of ever, ever committing that action again, the sense of remorse, that's not simply an obligation of teshuva, not just a din of teshuva, but it's the only way bimtzius, it's the reality of teshuva. Without that teshuva is not going to happen. If you see that a person was successful in teshuva, that can be attributed only and exclusively to the fact that inwardly he went through this process and it transformed him. If it wasn't yesirenu mimachshavto, eventually he's gonna succumb. Maybe once he'll be misgaber, maybe once he'll overcome, but eventually he's gonna succumb. If he didn't have this profound sense of remorse, again, maybe on the short term, maybe he'll be able to to withstand trials and temptations, but eventually he'll succumb. Without the yesuranu mimachshavto, a person remains ensnared. What does yesuranu mimachshavto mean? So משל למה הדבר דומה. A person goes to the doctor. Goes for a physical. He's been a chain smoker for 25 years. The doctor tells him you absolutely have to quit. So he can react in one of two ways. He can say, "Okay, I hear you. I'm gonna do my best. No question about it. I'm gonna do my best to kick the habit. It's hard, I'm addicted, I'm gonna do my best." Or his reaction can be, on the face of it, what what can you ask from a person? He says he's gonna do his best. Or his reaction can be, "I'm gonna do it because it's killing me and it's inconceivable that I won't do it." He's still bound by the best of his abilities, but there's a very big difference between those two reactions. The first one is a kabbalah l'haba but no yesuranu mimachshavto. When he says, "I'll do my best," it means he says, "I'm gonna give it a shot," but he can already envision that maybe he's not gonna be able to kick the habit. That maybe he he will reach for the cigarette. When he says, "It's killing me and I have to do it," sof pasuk, that's yesuranu mimachshavto. It means it doesn't exist in his mind as a remote possibility that he'll ever do it again. Perhaps if chet metaphysically had been an isolated event or occurrence, maybe yesuranu mimachshavto wouldn't be necessary. And if it were necessary, maybe it would only be a din, maybe it would only be a formal requirement. But since chet represents pach pish'eihem, represents a trap, it means a person's ensnared, avon akeivai yesuveini, a person is encircled, he's enveloped, to break out a person has to be yesuranu mimachshavto. Similarly, there's a difference between acknowledging a mistake and between remorse. Acknowledging a mistake perhaps would be sufficient for an event, for an occurrence, but for a state, for being enveloped with a ruach tumah, to break free of that, not only formally because of a requirement, but existentially, the Rambam teaches us that requires yisnachaim, that requires again a regret and a profound sense of remorse. Coming back to our original question, we know we need to do teshuvah. It's a little difficult to delude ourselves into thinking that there's nothing to do teshuvah for. We know the tefillos on the yom norai remind us if we were to try to forget, כי יזכרו לפניך הדין, and yet somehow the teshuvah doesn't seem to materialize. The question we have to ask ourselves... Are we making the effort? Are we investing the effort that's necessary not only to compensate for a mistake but to break out of the chet that ensnares us? There's nothing casual and there can't be anything superficial about teshuva. A 30-second ashamnu and a two-minute al chet doesn't generate the v'yesirenu mimachshavto, the v'yinachem al she'avar, again, which is not only indispensable formally but experientially, existentially indispensable for teshuva. If I've been remiss in setting aside time for Talmud Torah, so am I resolving I'm going to learn regularly, or am I resolving that I'm setting aside time, come what may, that time is inviolable? Nothing, nothing is going to encroach upon that time that I'm setting aside. If I've been remiss in terms of speaking or inviting lashon hara, am I like the person with the cigarette addiction, I'm going to do my best, or is it unthinkable? No matter what the provocation, no matter what the temptation, no matter how much I think that that person deserves to be exposed, he has it coming to him, is it absolutely unthinkable that if al pi din it's not justified, I'm not going to say it? If I go to shul and I talk during davening, I'm going to try my best to change? No, this is a sacrilege, this is unthinkable. I'm not going to try my best to change. It can't be. The possibility that it should continue doesn't exist, it can't exist. If I don't make it to minyan in the morning, if I don't make it to minyan at night, even though there's a late Maariv in town, the Chofetz Chaim calculates, he says you add up how many amens, how many אמן יהא שמיה רבא, besides just the zechus itself of davening b'tzibur, he says on a daily basis what a person loses, on a weekly basis. Is it something, okay, going to put it on the agenda? No, it has to change. Famous story of Elazar ben Durdaya which the Gemara Avodah Zarah tells illustrates what we're talking about. Again, there's nothing casual, there's nothing superficial about the mental and emotional investment in teshuva. He had lived a life, licentious behavior, a life of debauchery, he realizes it, he turns to shamayim v'aretz. They all turn him down. He's rebuffed. He says אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי and then ga’ah uvchiyah. He begins crying uncontrollably. And the bas kol announces that ר' אלעזר בן דורדיא מזומן לחיי העולם הבא. When we read in this morning's kerias HaTorah, כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא.
The mitzvah of course, according to the Ramban, the Sforno, referring to teshuvah. It's not hidden, it's not beyond you. Beficha u-vilvavcha la'asoto. The pasuk isn't telling us that it's easy. If I point to a 200-pound weight here and say it's right there for you to pick up, I'm saying that it's within your grasp, it's within your means. I'm not giving any assurance that it's easy. Beficha u-vilvavcha la'asoto, but not through any casual engagement, not through any casual involvement. What else practically does the yishuv micheto, that turning away, teshuvah mi, involve besides again the mental and emotional exertion? The Rambam says in פרק ב הלכה ד, מדרכי התשובה שיהיה החוטא מרוחק הרבה מן הדבר שחטא בו.
A person distances himself very much from that which occasioned his cheit. If when I read a certain newspaper I see pictures which shouldn't be seen, the darkei hateshuvah according to the Rambam is not that I resolve that I'm going to try to navigate around that, I don't read that newspaper anymore. If I and all my friends in shul talk together, it's not enough that I resolve that I'm not going to talk anymore. I have to pick myself up and move and sit in a place where people don't talk, in a part of the shul where people are more serious about their tefillah. More generally, Rabbeinu Yonah writes in Sha'arei Teshuvah that a person, to avoid repeating his chata'im, yoshiv eitzah benafsho. A person has to strategize. One of the reasons that rachmana litzlan sincere teshuvah doesn't stick and doesn't last is because it lacks a plan for strategic implementation. So I resolve I'm not going to do it anymore. How am I going to ensure that? What safeguards? How am I going to implement that resolve? משל למה הדבר דומה, a person has a drinking problem. He's not only going to resolve not to drink. He's going to strategize that he's not going to have any alcoholic beverages in the house. He needs a plan for strategic implementation. If I'm dealing with middas haka'as or middas haga'ava or middas hataiva or any other middah ra'ah, it's not enough to clop al cheit that I'm not going to get angry, that I'm not going to be misga'eh, I'm not going to have these feelings of hubris, I'm not going to indulge my taivos for excessive involvement in materialism and physical pleasure. How am I going to succeed in changing? How am I going to undercut the anger? How am I going to undercut the hubris? How am I going to rein in the taiva? One of the aspects, one of the elements of teshuvah of which the Rambam spoke was the yisnacheim al she'avar, the sense of remorse that a person is supposed to have about the past, about his cheit. If we're truly committed to do teshuvah, it's a painful process. There has to be mental anguish associated with doing teshuvah. Rabbeinu Yonah explains in Sha'arei Teshuvah that that sense of regret and remorse is generated by reflecting, yashiv el libo. Again, yashiv el libo means not a fleeting thought, it means he takes to heart, כי יש עונש ונקם ישולם על העוון. A person yavin livavo כי רע ומר עזבו את השם. Veyomar belivavo meh asisi, לא חמלתי על גופי ולא חסו עיני עליו משחת. I didn't have rachmanus on myself. A person has to think about the self-destructiveness of cheit. Cheit is self-destructive. Even more fundamentally, cheit is an act of betrayal. It's an act of betraying the Ribbono Shel Olam. Ra'uy sheyitzta'er, a person should be aggrieved, and veyei'aneich, he should groan, he should give a krechtz. מי שהמרה את השם יתברך ולא זכר יוצרו אשר בראו יש מאין ובחסד עשה עמו,
a person doesn't remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives him existence, all Hakadosh Baruch Hu's kindness and benevolence. His hand guides us at every moment, וידו תנחהו בכל עת ונוצר נפשו בכל רגע. He guards our soul at every moment. Eich malao libo? How can a person's heart, how where did we get the brazenness lehachis lefanav? To allow these thoughts to sink in, to seep in, not just that they should be fleeting thoughts, but to feel them, that there's anguish involved. So if we're looking for an answer for why we're not as successful as we'd like to be in doing teshuvah, question is, are we willing to pay the price? Are we willing to experience that anguish? It's an anguish which as Rabbeinu Yonah himself describes later, ultimately culminates in simcha, with the simcha of atonement, the simcha of cleansing. But there's a crucible of anguish before one arrives at that destination of simcha, of rejoicing. Are we willing, again, to give up whatever needs to be given up, that it should be yesuranu mimachshavto, that it's absolutely unthinkable that whatever the area is, whatever area bein adam lamakom, whatever area bein adam lachavero, that we're willing, that it should be unthinkable. So clearly, teshuvah is no easy undertaking. And yet, unquestionably we have the kochos hanefesh. If we want to, we have the kochos hanefesh. רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצות,
says the Maharal, what do you mean רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל? Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to do us a favor, to bestow merit, so therefore he gave us more mitzvos. Says the Maharal, for every mitzvah the Ribbono Shel Olam gives us, he gives us a capacity to be able to fulfill that mitzvah. If there's a mitzvah of achilas matzah, it means I have the capacity to eat matzah. The more mitzvos Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us, the greater a neshama we have, the greater capacity, the greater resources, the greater kochos hanefesh lie within us. If teshuvah is a mitzvah and it is, so in accord with רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל, that no matter how challenging, no matter how demanding, it means that we have the kochos hanefesh. Yesuranu mimachshavto was not easy. It can involve lifestyle changes, does involve lifestyle changes, it's not easy, but we have those kochos hanefesh. To be able, again, to allow ourselves to experience the anguish of yisnacham al she'ovar is not easy, but we have those kochos hanefesh. Moreover, in the Ne'ilah, אתה נותן יד לפושעים וימינך פשוטה לקבל שבים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu extends his hand k'vayachol to sinners, no matter how egregious, and his right hand is extended to receive those who are doing teshuvah. In Perek Zayin of Hilchos Teshuvah, the Rambam tells us: גדולה תשובה שמקרבת את האדם לשכינה, שנאמר שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך. ונאמר לא שבתם עדי נאם ה', ונאמר אם תשוב ישראל נאם ה' אלי תשוב. כלומר אם תחזור בתשובה בי תדבק.
How great is teshuvah that as a result of teshuvah, this isn't the teshuvah itself. The teshuvah itself is the person's struggle of yashuv meichato, is the teshuvah mah, that's what teshuvah is. But the effect of teshuvah, what's attained, what's accomplished, what the Ribbono Shel Olam bestows as a result of our struggle of yashuv meichato. גדולה תשובה שמקרבת את האדם לשכינה. To cling to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that's not something that we can do, it's something that HaKadosh Baruch Hu provides in response to what we do. And perhaps it's for this reason that the Rambam understands the pesukim in this morning's krias haTorah ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך not like the Ramban that it's a mitzvah. No, the mitzvah isn't ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך to to do teshuvah until until one's on HaKadosh Baruch Hu's doorstep. That HaKadosh Baruch Hu bestows as a gift. Our mitzvah is yoshuv mecheito. Is to strive mightily to pull away from the cheit, to make whatever changes attitudinally, practically are necessary. And then gedola teshuvah, the effect of teshuvah, the corollary of teshuvah is מקרבת את האדם לשכינה. The mitzvah of teshuvah the Rambam finds in the pasuk of v'hisvadu es chatasam, the pasuk that targets the cheit. A person has to grapple with that, a person has to be willing to make the sacrifices necessary, the renouncements that are necessary to leave the cheit behind, to extricate himself from that trap, from that ensnarement. That's the pasuk of v'hisvadu, it focuses on the cheit. ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך is forthcoming. That's the haftacha. If we're willing, if only we're willing to exercise those dormant kochos hanefesh that maybe things which until now have been a regular part of the rhythm and pattern of our life, of our social life, of our daily schedule, of our aspirations, of our lifestyle. If we're willing yoshuv mecheito, so HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that's your mitzvah. v'hisvadu es chatasam, that's your mitzvah. And I do my share as a haftacha, as a promise, as a guarantee, ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך. Halavai, Ribbono Shel Olam, in the zchus of our undertaking of yoshuv mecheito. The Nefesh HaChaim explains that the very minute a person undertakes to do a mitzvah, he already is given a siyata d'shmaya to be able to carry out the mitzvah. The siyata d'shmaya happens not only when I'm in the process of doing teshuvah, but the very minute a person resolves, resolves unequivocally, absolutely, unconditionally, I want to do this mitzvah, so then already he receives a special siyata d'shmaya to be able to move forward and carry it out. So bizchus our resolve, our determination to do teshuvah, Ribbono Shel Olam should give us the siyata d'shmaya for yoshuv mecheito. Begins with teshuvah mei, the yisirenu memachshavto, the renouncement of whatever needs to be renounced, the yisnachem al ha'avar, being willing to feel the acute anguish of remorse. And in the zchus of our yoshuv mecheito, the haftacha ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך should be mekayem.