The Torah provides for different drachim within Avodat Hashem. These different drachim accommodate different people, but sometimes they also cater to the same people, whether at different points in his or her life, or even simultaneously. B'ezrat Hashem, we're going to try to explore two very different but equally true valid approaches to teshuva. The Sefer HaIkkarim on side one in front of you begins with a pasuk from this morning's Kriat HaTorah, beginning at the bottom of the end of the fourth line from the bottom in the right-hand column, she'batchila omer. Initially, the Torah presents the imperative ושבת עד ה' אלהיך ושמעת בקולו. וגמר הענין בתשובה ואמר שצריך שתהיה בלב שלם,
teshuva has to be whole-hearted. ושהשם יעזרהו אם תהיה כך, and if we do our share, Hakadosh Baruch Hu assists us in the process. ואחר כך אמר משבח גודל מעלת התשובה עם קלות מציאותה.
The Torah then presents a remarkable contrast, one which is almost too good to be true, the greatness of teshuva with the ease of its accessibility, the ease of its attainment, kalut metzi'utah. כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחקה היא,
it's not hidden from you, it's not remote from you. lo vashamayim hi, it's not in the heavens, לא מעבר לים היא, it's not across the ocean, ki karov eilecha. It's close to you. וכל זה בלי ספק מדבר על התשובה, the psukim clearly are speaking about teshuva, v'yoreh al zeh and the clear indication that this is what the Torah is speaking about, omro when the Torah says beficha uvilvavcha la'asoto. שענין התשובה תלוי בוידוי הפה, teshuva depends, teshuva expresses itself through viduy peh, through the oral declaration, uvacharatat halev and the sense of regret or remorse that a person inwardly experiences. kalut metzi'utah. Teshuva is easily accessible, teshuva is easily attained. The Sefer HaIkkarim reiterates that point if you take a look again in the left-hand column, the paragraph ולא זה הזהיר עליה מאוד. For this reason the Torah underscores and stresses very much the mitzvah of teshuva, v'omar and the Torah says ראה נתתי לפניך היום ובחרת בחיים, choose life leman tichye. כי אחר שהראה דרך קלותה, after the Torah showed just how easily accessible, easily attainable it is, כי קרוב אליך הדבר אמר ראה נתתי לפניך. כלומר אין לך התנצלות בזה כמו שיש לך על שאר המצוות.
There's no excuses are available in other mitzvahs. עם שאר המצוות שלריבוים ולגודל טרחם לא תוכל לקיימם. Right? We're all familiar with stories in Eastern Europe how difficult it was if not impossible at times to procure daled minim. Whenever the mitzvah requires materials, whenever there are some external props which the mitzvah requires, it can impose tremendous burden. שאין הדבר כן בזה, but when it comes to mitzvahs teshuva, שזו המצוה קלה היא מאוד. It's very easy, it's very accessible. Now while we readily understand the Sefer HaIkkarim's emphasis on the logistical easiness and the logistical accessibility. But emotionally, is it so easy? Kalos metziuso? So granted, there are no logistical roadblocks, but our experience seems to tell us that emotionally and religiously there are many hurdles to be cleared. So what does it mean when the Torah is stressing כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאוד? It's easy, it's right there, it's right in front of you. Let's leave this question for a moment and consider a similar question in a different context. The pasuk in Parshas Eikev: ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה.
What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu ask of you? Only, only to have yiras shamayim. The Torah clearly downplaying, there's no strident, no excessive demands, מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך? Only ki im leyira. It's as simple as that, one seemingly small thing. Chazal pick up on the difficulty, as you all know, אטו יראה מילתא זוטרתא היא? Yiras shamayim is something small? Such a minimal request that the Torah can describe it as ki im leyira? אין לגבי משה רבינו מילתא זוטרתא היא. For a Moshe Rabbeinu it is, it's something small, it's something easy. And what about for the rest of us? So clearly Chazal are telling us that if only we'll emulate some aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu's behavior, so then it can be a milsa zutrasa for us as well. The Torah is addressed to each and every Jew, it's not pitched to Moshe Rabbeinu, it's pitched to all of us. And if it's a milsa zutrasa for Moshe Rabbeinu, the point is that apparently we can in some fashion emulate Moshe Rabbeinu in one respect that it should be a milsa zutrasa for us as well. Moshe Rabbeinu more than anything represents, embodies the principle of שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד. The Rambam says that the incomparable, unparalleled degree and level of nevuah which Moshe Rabbeinu attained was because נקשרה דעתו בצור העולמים. The connection that Moshe Rabbeinu had with Hakadosh Baruch Hu by virtue of his focus on Hakadosh Baruch Hu was never interrupted. Moshe Rabbeinu again represents more than anything the שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, the constant awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Or in other words, what Chazal are telling us is that we make a mistake, we look to cultivate yiras shamayim directly, and really the avodah, really the challenge is that we need to cultivate an awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We need to work not to be masiach daas, not to be distracted from that ultimate reality, and if only we wouldn't be masiach daas, so then the yiras shamayim is a natural reaction. For if a person realizes, if a person has any level, any degree of awareness that he, she stands, lives in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then yiras shamayim becomes a natural reaction. The Rama quotes from the Rambam in the beginning of Shulchan Aruch talking about שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד and says that if a person will remain cognizant, remain focused on the fact that מלא כל הארץ כבודו. And that הקדוש ברוך הוא עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו as the pasuk says אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאום ה', is it possible for a person to hide and I will not see him? So miyad miyad says the Rama quoting the Rambam yagia eilav hayira. So in truth yira is milsa zutrasa, it is something easily attainable, but we have to recognize that the focus is on the shivisi, the focus is on maintaining an awareness of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Chazal tell us in in the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah that ד' דברים מקרעין גזר דינו של אדם, that there are four things which can overturn, which can rescind even an gzar din, even an edict. And one of them is tza'aka. ויצעקו אל ה' בצר להם. The Rambam reproduces this in Hilchos Teshuvah מדרכי התשובה להיות השב צועק תמיד לפני ה' בבכי ובתחנונים. ויצעקו אל ה' בצר להם
means that a person doesn't simply daven with the normal form and approach to tefillah, but a person Vayizaku, tza'aka is a cry, a cry of anguish. A person experiences cheit as a tzara. When a person becomes aware of cheit, so there's no detachment, there's nothing casual about that awareness, but cheit is experienced as a tzara. It elicits a ויצעקו אל ה' בצר להם. When a person feels aggrieved, oppressed in an eis tzara in a time of distress, so then a person isn't simply mispallel, it's not the regular form of davening, but it's tza'aka, it's tza'aka. Imagine, imagine someone whose whose life's dream it is to become a physician. He's been dreaming about it ever since he was a little kid. Begins acting on trying to see that dream materialize in his college years, putting in hours and hours, burning the midnight oil as a pre-med, then in medical school, and then when he has those exams, those boards at the end of the second year of medical school, flunks. Flunks. Can't proceed anymore. Failure. Failure. He doesn't need to be aroused to feel. He doesn't need any any stimulus in order to react and feel. He feels the failure, he feels the devastation. Rabbeinu Yonah writes at the very beginning of Sha'arei Teshuvah, ha'ikar harishon, the very first principle of teshuvah, yavin levavo, a person's heart, a person's mind should understand, should appreciate what the reality is, כי רע ומר עזבך את ה'. It's bad, it's bitter that a person abandons HaKadosh Baruch Hu. הנה הבורא נפח באפי נשמת חיים חכמת לב וטוב שכל.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu infused... infused within me a neshamah of life, the capacity for chochmah, for understanding, lehakir uleyara milifanav, to recognize Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to fear, to be suffused with yirah shamayim, למשול בגוף וכל תולדותיו that the sechel, that the neshamah should direct the body. ואחרי אשר בעבור זאת נבראתי and given that I was created for that, ויהי בי הפך מזה, lama li chayim. And now things are inverted. Hayagon, ha’ikar hashlishi, ישתונה כליותיו ויחשוב כמה רבה רעת מי שהמרה יוצרו. How incredibly, what the magnitude is of he who rebels against his creator. Chet is experienced as a tzara because chet represents failure on a moral level. How can I disobey Hakadosh Baruch Hu who gave and gives me life? Chet represents a personal failure. It means when I perform a chet, it means I'm squandering the one-time opportunity of life. And chet represents spiritual failure. It sullies, it contaminates. The Sefer Ikkarim tells us כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד, kalus metziusah, it's easily attainable, it's easily accessible. The medical student doesn't need to be prompted to be devastated. He doesn't need to be prompted to feel broken because he's aware of the significance of what happened. He's aware of what it represents. He's aware of its consequences. If we would only see chet for what it is, so then as the Ikkarim tells us, kalus hahasaga, we don't need to be prompted. All we need to do is take the time out to reflect on what chet means, on what chet signifies, the tzara which elicits ze'akah naturally. אטו תשובה מילתא זוטרתא היא למי שמרגיש ומכיר בחטאו. On the other side of the sheet, the Rambam writes in Perek Beis of Hilchos Teshuva, איזו היא תשובה גמורה? What's an illustration, what's an example of teshuva? זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשות, someone who has a second opportunity to repeat a chet, upirash, but he doesn't, he abstains ולא עשה מפני התשובה. And the one variable between the first time around when he was chotei, the second time around is teshuva. Lo miyirah, not because of fear of any human agency, velo mikishlon koach, not because of any inability to execute the chet, but only because of teshuva. And the Rambam proceeds to give an example. A snapshot of teshuva. So Halacha Aleph is a picture, a pictorial representation of teshuva. Halacha Beis. u'mah hi ha'teshuva? הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו, the sinner leaves, he abandons his sin, veyisirenu mimachshavto, he banishes it from his thoughts, from his value system, veyigmor belibo, and he resolves fully, shelo ya'asehu od, and he resolves fully that he will never repeat the cheit, שנאמר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבתיו. You'll notice this is from the Frankel edition, so when you have the colon, so what the two dots represent is that in the way the halachos in the Rambam are conventionally broken down doesn't accurately reflect the earliest manuscripts in the Rambam. So the two dots represent where in the earliest and most accurate manuscripts we have, there's a break in halacha. So in the Rambam's Yad HaChazakah, so what we're reading now is a separate halacha. Now the Rambam continues in the next halacha, וכן יתנחם על שעבר. And the person should also have a sense of regret, of remorse over the past, שנאמר כי אחרי שובי נחמתי. Interestingly, so the Rambam sequences the teshuva that the regret, the remorse is the last stage. Also interesting that before defining teshuva, the Rambam gives us again the pictorial representation of teshuva. First a snapshot of teshuva and then the Rambam defines, describes teshuva. To fully understand, or more fully understand what the Rambam is telling us, let's turn to the words of Yeshayahu HaNavi. Yeshayahu HaNavi cries out, השמן לב העם הזה ואזניו הכבד ועיניו השע. The heart, the mind of this people has become fattened, their ears hardened, and their eyes closed, their eyes sealed. Yeshayahu HaNavi is describing a condition in which Klal Yisrael rachmana litzlan has lost its spiritual sensitivity. They're either unwilling or because of their past sinful and or superficial lifestyle unable to respond with appropriate religious emotion and passion. השמן לב העם הזה אזניו הכבד ועיניו השע. They suffer from a spiritual stupor. Where there should be spiritual energy and awakening, there's lethargy and numbness. For a long time I've wondered if we're also affected by this type of spiritual lethargy and numbness. It's a thought that's been with me for many many years but is especially acute this year. We just lived through an extraordinary summer. A summer of miracles, open miracles, Yad Hashem unmistakably present, and we also heard the loudest and most unmistakable call for teshuva in the form of all the korbanos, of all the sacrifices. Such a powerful combination. Open miracles. Open miracles, a clarion call for teshuvah, over seventy akeidos. On the heels of such a summer, this Elul should be an Elul like none other in our lives. The intensity, the focus. But has it been? Has Elul this year been any different than last year's Elul? Has it been more focused? Has it been more different? Our hearts are encased with too much fat, our eyes and ears seem to be sealed. So what does one do? What does one do? The most powerful, most powerful wake-up call one couldn't ask for more. One would never ask for it in the form in which we got it. One couldn't ask for a more powerful wake-up call than open miracles with the sacrifices indicating the need for us to be doing more. And Elul is humdrum. Let's read the Rambam again. Halacha beis. ומה היא התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירנו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד.
The Rambam throws us a lifeline. The Rambam says, you know what teshuvah is? Teshuvah is behavioral. There is no—Rambam's not talking about hisorerus. Doesn't mention hisorerus. The Rambam doesn't mention initially that that profound sense of regret and remorse. He doesn't mention the רב ומר עזבך את ה. Rambam says a modicum of intellectual honesty and personal responsibility—just do it. We're not feeling the awakening, we're not feeling the inspiration, we're not feeling spiritually energized. Ya'azov hachotei chet'o. Teshuvah is behavioral. Maybe for that reason the Rambam begins to deliver that message, it begins with a picture. This is what teshuvah is. משל למה הדבר דומה. An unruly child is asked by the teacher to leave the classroom. So when is he readmitted to the classroom? He's readmitted to the classroom when he's ready to behave and ready to do so consistently and that he's not going to repeat, he's not going to revert back to that same unruly behavior. Initially the teacher's not asking for regret, for remorse, the teacher just says I want to know that you're going to behave. I want to see it, I just want to see practical, on a concrete level. U-mah hi ha-teshuvah is a very, very prosaic, prosaic definition, and that definition is a lifeline for us. It's a lifeline for someone who hears what the Sefer Ikkarim says, who understands intellectually what the Sefer Ikkarim says, but but isn't reacting the way the Sefer Ikkarim describes that we should be able to. The Rambam knows of the other form of teshuvah also, that's not our our concern at the moment, but the Rambam says... Let's look and see, where do we need to improve? I don't have, I don't feel that tremendous regret. I don't feel that sense of failure that Rabbeinu Yona describes. I'm desensitized, I'm numb. Okay. But I understand, I understand, I'm honest enough to recognize the shortcomings, the flaws, ya'azov rasha darko. That accounts for the sequence in the Rambam as well. It doesn't begin with the regret. Arguably, the translation of וכן ינחם על שעבר is not only then he should, he must have that sense of regret and remorse, but also then he will. משל למה הדבר דומה מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצוות אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה.
Is that what Torah and mitzvos is about? Racking up schar? Is that what the focus is supposed to be? No. But do it anyway. The very involvement elevates. The very involvement purifies. מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. The Rambam writes later, מידה זו בכל אדם. The following trait is present in every person. Every person, doesn't matter of what temperament, doesn't matter what personality trait, personality type, מידה זו בכל אדם. שכל זמן שהוא נמשך בדרכי החכמה והצדקות.
If a person will be drawn practically along the pathways of chochmah, so you know what that does? מתאווה להן ורודף אותן. That's where the passion will come from. But initially, ומה היא התשובה שיעזוב החוטא חטאו. The way the Rambam depicts teshuva on one level, the Rambam is even telling us that the charata is not even part of the teshuva. The charata is something, the regret, the remorse is something that has to accompany teshuva. And the pasuk depicts it that way, acharei shuvi. After I did teshuva, after I... what does it mean to return to Hakadosh Baruch Hu as in the mashal of the classroom? It means to return to the classroom. Acharei shuvi. When I'm back in the classroom, I'm back living the way I should be living. So then I have the sensitivity. Then the lethargy is dispelled and then nichamti. But on a certain level, the Rambam doesn't even include the nechama, the regret and the remorse as part of the teshuva. The teshuva is just practical. And that's something that a person can always do, can always do, no matter how numb spiritually we're feeling. But that avenue is always open, that approach is always there. The Rambam characterizes the Yamim Noraim in quoting the ma'amar Chazal as to why we don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippurim as yemei yira vafachad. The days of awe and dread, days of fear. That sense of awe and that sense of fear notwithstanding, the element of simcha is not entirely displaced. And that refers not only to the view in the Geonim, which we accept lahalacha, the mitzvah simcha on Rosh Hashana, but the Ma'or Einayim quotes from the בעל שם טוב הקדוש. The Torah says, we read it last week, תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרוב כל,
that a person is supposed to be mkayem mitzvos with simcha. So the Baal Shem Tov says it doesn't say anywhere that the mitzvah of teshuva is an exception. It doesn't say that תחת אשר לא עבדת is for six hundred and twelve, but there's one mitzvah because it involves so much anguish, and it has to involve tza'ar, it has to involve anguish. If it doesn't involve anguish, so then a person doesn't appreciate the cheit. Ultimately, according to the Rambam, it results in that also, v'chen yinachem, ultimately we get to that stage also. But the simcha is not totally dispelled, says the בעל שם טוב הקדוש. So how did they integrate? How do they coexist? There's simcha to be doing a mitzvah. Anytime we do a mitzvah, it's a source of tremendous simcha. But it's also a simcha על גאולתנו ועל פדות נפשנו. The opportunity and ability to do teshuva is also something which is a tremendous source of simcha. The story is told that the בעל שם טוב הקדוש was once traveling, and he wasn't gonna reach his destination by Yom Kippur. So he had to improvise in terms of their plans as to where he would spend the Yom Hakadosh. So he made inquiries about the various shtetlach that were within range of where he was stuck to find out what the davening was like. And he was told that in a certain place the baal tefilla sings the viduy on Yom Kippur. So the Baal Shem Tov says, "That's where we're going to go. We're going to spend Yom Kippurim there." Even when one is doing the work the Baal Shem Tov said of cleaning out the king's stables, but to be in the employ of the king is something which is a source of tremendous simcha. And that sense of simcha is compounded by recognizing the potential it has for cleansing ourselves, the potential it has for sensitizing ourselves, for restoring the spiritual feeling and energy. So when we begin in a few minutes be'ezras Hashem saying selichos, so it could be that we'll be able to begin as the Sefer Ikkarim tells us, כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו, a sense of charata born out of seeing and experiencing cheit for what it is and with a tremendous again spiritual hisorerus and hislahavus. Or it could be that we won't. It could be that we won't be feeling it. It could be we'll understand that it should be there. But recognize that it's not there. But that's no reason to despair and it's no excuse for not making a valiant effort ומהי התשובה שיעזוב החוטא חטאו. Practically, concretely, on a behavioral level, what change do I need to implement? Both the Rabbeinu Yona in Sha'ar Hashlishi of Sha'arei Teshuva as well as Ramchal in talking about the midah of nekiyus, they in effect have a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. They have a checklist. The same way many organizations send out before Pesach a checklist for bedikas chametz, make sure to check your car, don't forget to check the car, don't forget to check the office, don't forget to check your pockets. So Rabbeinu Yona already has a checklist of mitzvos, of issurin, and he highlights those which are in his generation, I'm not sure how much has changed since the 12th century, in his generation, which were widely neglected or violated. All we need to do is look at those checklists Rabbeinu Yona provides, Ramchal provides. U'mahi hateshuva even without that groundswell of religious emotion, but even just the understanding. The Rav zichrono l'vracha, as you know, used to say that American Jewry has been very successful with the intellectual dimension but is impoverished in the experiential dimension. Sefer Ha-Ikkarim says the teshuva process begins with the experiential dimension. Rambam says he knows of that also, but the Rambam says it can also begin, again, with the intellectual dimension, just the intellectual honesty of recognizing what's amiss in our lives and practically, concretely, what I need to do to address that. שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בליבו שלא יעשהו עוד.
We should all be zoche to a teshuva shleima, a gut yohr, ksiva v'chasima tova. In just a few moments we'll begin Mincha.