רשות לכל אדם נתונה לו. Every person is endowed with a capacity for self-determination. אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו,
if he wants to point himself in the direction of good and be righteous, he has that capacity, he has that ability. ואם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו,
if he wants to, he can choose the opposite path. He has the capacity to be wicked as well. הוא שכתוב בתורה הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע כלומר הן מין זה של אדם היה יחיד בעולם.
Man, humanity is unique. ואין לו מין שני דומה לו בזה העניין. There is no comparable beriyah on earth שיהיה הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע. He from within with his understanding, with his thought can discern, can differentiate, can perceive tov va-ra, good and bad, ועושה כל מה שהוא חפץ. And do whatever he desires. ואין לו מי שיעכב על ידו מלעשות הטוב או הרע.
And there is no force that prevents him from either implementing good or bad, rachmana litzlan. Skipping a couple of lines. אין לו מי שיכפהו, there's no one coercing a person. v-lo gozer alav, no one's decreeing upon a person, ולא מי שמושכו לאחד משני הדרכים. There's no one who's pulling him in either of the two paths, in either of the two directions, אלא הוא מעצמו ומדעתו נוטה לאיזו דרך שירצה. He of his own accord inclines to whichever path he prefers. הוא שירמיהו אומר, that's what Yirmiyahu says in Megillas Eichah, מפי עליון לא תצא הרעות והטוב. Good and evil don't, are not decreed from above. כלומר אין הבורא גוזר על האדם לא להיות טוב ולא להיות רע.
It's determined on earth. Good and evil are determined on earth, not in shamayim. וכיון שכן הוא, and given this unmitigated bechirah chofshis that a person has, his capacity, his capacity to differentiate tov from ra and then to make his choice, נמצא זה החוטא הוא הפסיד עצמו. So it emerges that the chotei engaged in self-destruction. לפיכך ראוי לו לבכות ולקונן על מה שעשה לנפשו וגמלה רעה. הוא שכתוב אחרי מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאו.
The Rambam's definition here of cheit or perhaps it's the consequences of cheit, we'll have to try to understand that bli neder b-ezras Hashem, is hefsed nafsho, מה שעשה לנפשו, hifsid atzmo. Doesn't, doesn't define cheit as rebellion against ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu and even in speaking of hefsed nafsho there is no intimation of the din ve-cheshbon, of the liability that a person has for cheit. Rambam's just talking about the spiritual damage of cheit. That's the definition the Rambam gives us, that's the way he frames cheit. Not our first association with cheit, I think we... would have opted for either of the other two. Either cheit a person should see, should reflect upon cheit as rebelling against HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as leaving himself vulnerable to the din v'cheshbon. And yet the Rambam chooses—not that he disagrees with any of the above, obviously—chooses a different emphasis. What prompts this? Let's try to understand a little bit more what hifsid atzmo, asa l'nafsho, combining, conflating those two phrases, what hefseid nafsho means for the Rambam, what it entails. The Rambam tells us earlier that a person's nefesh, maybe loosely translated as intellectual soul, is the defining human spiritual quality that a person possesses and that it's the capacity for abstract knowledge, for moral, religious, spiritual knowledge, ultimately for yedi'as Hashem. Let's look at a couple of other passages in the Rambam again to try to gain some insight into what hefseid nafsho means. The Rambam in Perek Aleph of Hilchos Avodah Zarah, when describing how the beginnings of avodah zarah, the Rambam writes: בימי אנוש טעו בני אדם טעות גדולה. In the days of Enosh, people made a very great error. Skipping a few words: ואנוש עצמו מן הטועים. And Enosh himself was amongst those who erred. V'zo haysah to'usam. This was their error. אמרו הואיל והאל ברא כוכבים אלו וגלגלים להנהיג את העולם.
Inasmuch as HaKadosh Baruch Hu created these stars and the spheres to direct, to conduct the world, u'nesanam bamarom, and He placed them in the heavens above, ve-cheilek lahem kavod, and in so doing, He accorded them respect. והם שמשים המשמשים לפניו, and they are carrying out His design for the world. ראויים הם לשבחם ולפארם ולחלוק להם כבוד. So they should also be praised, exalted, we should engage in acts of worship vis-a-vis the kochavim, the galgalim, the stars, the spheres as well. And again, continuing along the line of this mistake of Enosh and his generation: וזהו רצון האל ברוך הוא. And this they decided is the ratzon Hashem: לגדל ולכבד מי שגדלו וכיבדו. To aggrandize and to glorify that whom HaKadosh Baruch Hu has elevated. כיוון שעלה דבר זה על ליבם. After this thought took root in their minds, התחילו לבנות לכוכבים היכלות. They began building temples to the stars, u'lehakriv lahem korbanos, and to offer sacrifices, u'leshabcham u'lepa'aram bidvarim, and to glorify them with words, u'lehishtachavos l'mulan, and to prostrate themselves before them, כדי להשיג רצון הבורא, to fulfill the ratzon Hashem. Now here comes the key phrase, Rabosai: beda'atam hara'ah. The Rambam uses, when we talk about da'as, so we talk about right and wrong, we talk about a seichel hayashar or a seichel me'ukan, straight thinking. The Rambam uses the moral categories, the mitzvah and aveira categories of ra and tov in talking about how a person thinks. The same point that the Rambam makes when talking about a person's responsibility for what he believes about Hakadosh Baruch Hu and says that it's no defense that a person אם עלה בדעתך שלמאמין בהגשמה יש צידוק, if it occurs to you that for someone who has a corporeal conception of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he thinks Hakadosh Baruch Hu is physical, maybe there's a justification, maybe he thinks so, I'm skipping a few words, בשל בערותו וקוצר השגתו, maybe he thinks in his ignorance. The Rambam says if that were the case, so יהיה עליך לחשוב אותו דבר לגבי עובר עבודה זרה. Every over avoda zara believes in what he's doing. And yet the Torah doesn't consider that an extenuating circumstance. A person, the principle of free will extends not only to what a person does or doesn't do, to what a person says or doesn't say. The principle of free will extends also to what a person chooses to think, what a person chooses to know, what a person chooses to believe. And emes is this is quite explicit in our perek here in Hilchos Teshuva. אילו היה האל גוזר על האדם להיות צדיק או רשע,
right, this is the Rambam's contrapositive, right, if there were predetermination. אילו היה האל גוזר על האדם להיות צדיק או רשע.
Were it the case, it isn't the case, right? Were it the case that Hakadosh Baruch Hu decreed on a person whether he should be righteous or evil, או אילו היה שם דבר שמושך את האדם בעיקר תולדתו,
or if maybe there was something in a person's DNA that irresistibly pulls him in a certain direction, haderech min hadrachim. Now listen to the next phrase, he'll say או למדע מן המדעות, what, to a proposition of knowledge from amongst different propositions? When the Rambam is illustrating what the yesod of bechira entails, it's not only derech min hadrachim, skipping this phrase for a minute, או לדעה מן הדעות, character traits, או למעשה מן המעשים, but it's also או למדע מן המדעות. The principle of bechira chofshis is that a person has bechira in how he exercises his sechel. And that's how the Rambam characterizes Dor Enosh as having immorally, not just wrongly, not just foolishly, but immorally, evilly exercised their sechel. When the Torah tells us ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע,
and ultimately concludes uvacharta bachayim, choosing chayim begins by choosing to recognize and correctly differentiate chayim from maves, tov from ra. This understanding of bechira has very real implications for us in terms of our cheshbon hanefesh and teshuva. There's a need to make a cheshbon hanefesh not only about our actions, but about Our beliefs, our moral axioms, our principles, how we think, etcetera. The Meshech Chochma in the beginning of Parshas Vayeishev when he's defining bechira chofshis says that a person acts bli teva machriach. Again, there is no genetic, biological determination, determinism, רק מרצון ושכל חופשי. Person has his sechel. There's a bechira chofshis in how a person exercises his sechel. A person is free to use or rachmana litzlan misuse, abuse his sechel. When the Rambam identifies cheit with hefsed hanefesh, he doesn't only mean that the fallout of cheit pollutes and damages the nefesh, but the cheit itself represents a perversion of the nefesh. The nefesh is that capacity to know, that capacity to see tov and ra for what each one is and then choose accordingly. And when we choose to see bad as good, to see a cheit as something enticing, whether it's a cheit dibbur, whether it's a cheit maaseh, whether it's a cheit of emunos v'deos, when we choose, that's a function of how we're using our sechel. We choose to see bad as good and good as bad, and that's what drives our decision, so then that cheit represents hefsed hanefesh because it's a very it's it's a perversion of the nefesh. The nefesh is that capacity to accurately, truthfully understand and perceive tov and ra. Cheit often happens impulsively, not deliberately. But even then, when we do things impulsively, there may not have been any thought given to the act or the words at the moment, but it represents prior thinking. What I do or say impulsively is the product of previous years of thought and perception. In light of this, we can perhaps see in a different light the way the Rambam amplifies the navi's description of our reaction to cheit. כיון שכן הוא נמצא זה החוטא הוא הפסד עצמו. Since we are endowed with that power for self-determination, so the sinner is the one who's destroying himself. ולפיכך ראוי לו לבכות ולקונן על מה שעשה לנפשו וגמל לה רעה הוא שכתוב אחריו מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאיו.
The Rambam uses the word lekonein. He says the reaction to cheit when a person recognizes cheit is to be mekonein. The mekonenos, the navi speaks about the mekonenos, we have it in Yirmiyahu in the haftarah of Tisha B'Av. כה אמר השם צבאות התבוננו וקראו למקוננות ותבואינה. Who were the women who used to cry at funerals to To help arouse and elicit emotional response from the people. Kinah is likonein is the reaction of Rachmana litzlan when there's occasion for aveilus. But the Rambam is taking his cue from the pasuk, hu shekasav acharei. Rambam says I'm just teitching the pasuk: מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאו. What does the word yisonen mean? So we had this morning in krias hatorah: לא אכלתי באוני ממנו. So Onkelos teitches be'evli. I didn't eat, I didn't consume the Ma'aser Sheni when I was in aveilus. מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאו, again the way the Rambam reads the pasuk it's like in Chumash: מה נורא המקום הזה. It's not a question but it's an emphatic statement with an exclamation point. מה יתאונן אדם חי. מה יתאונן אדם חי means that a person mourns over his sins because cheit, the Novi is depicting because cheit represents hefsed hanefesh. And again hefsed hanefesh not just by virtue of the damage or the pollution to the nefesh but hefsed hanefesh because of the perversion of the nefesh. The essence of the nefesh, the essence of a person's humanity is that spiritual intellectual quality to know and differentiate good from bad, for abstract religious moral knowledge. And cheit represents a perversion of that. A person sees ra is good and sees good as ra. Cheit represents hefsed hanefesh, perversion of the nefesh in two other senses as well. Rambam writes in Sefer Hamitzvos in defining the fourth mitzvas asei, the mitzvah of yiras Hashem: שצונו להאמין יראתו ולהיפחד ממנו ולא נהיה ככופרים ההולכים בקרי אבל נירא ביאת ענשו בכל עת.
Le'ha'amin yiraso means there's supposed to be an intellectual basis for one's yiras shamayim. And that translates, it's supposed to translate according to the mitzvah of yiras Hashem into a sense, into a mindset of yiras ha'onesh. The nefesh ha'adam has the capacity for belief and knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu which translate into yiras shamayim, into yiras ha'onesh. Once again, the failure to do so, whenever a person obviously whenever a person succumbs to cheit it means that clearly there is no יראת ביאת ענשו בכל עת. There is clearly no constant awareness, mindset of yiras ha'onesh. And again that too represents a perversion of the nefesh. One other dimension. Yesodei Hayesodos the Rambam writes ve'amud hachochmos, it's the foundation of everything, it's the pillar of all wisdom: לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל הנמצא. To know that there exists a Ribono shel Olam who gives existence to everything else that exists, וכל הנמצא משמים וארץ ומה שביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת המצאו.
And everything else that exists draws its existence from Him, exists only because of Him, through Him. אם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי, if a person would imagine rachmana litzlan that there was no Hakadosh Baruch Hu, אין דבר אחר יכול להימצא. ואם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים מלבדו מצויים הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי ולא יבטל הוא לביטולם.
But something remarkable that the Rav notices here in the Rambam's presentation: when he talks about Yedi'at Hashem, the Rambam also talks about how we view the world. אם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי אין דבר אחר יכול להימצא.
And the reason for that is, the Rav explains, is that the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha in its fullest sense means to see everything through the lens of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. To see everything through the lens of Anochi Hashem Elokecha means that when looking at anything and everything else, so one sees just something which is contingent. It doesn't have to be there. Something which is dependent, something which doesn't have its own kiyom, it doesn't have its own existence. The mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha is not just, not just to believe in a Ribono shel Olam, but to believe and see and experience the world in light of the implications of that belief. The mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha is when I look, whether in the mirror or whether I look outward, to see everything, everything is dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Everything is contingent and only exists because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, not on its own. The mitzvah of Anochi is not simply to know and believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu; it's to see and experience and understand the whole world in light of that belief. And that's what the Rambam is describing, יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון. And right away, but part of that yesod is leida, to know, and to feel, and to sense, and to experience that everything else that one sees is just existing off of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Since Anochi in its fullest sense is a mitzvah to not only know and believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but that should be a lens for how one sees and perceives everything, so that means rachmana litzlan when a person doesn't exercise the powers of his nefesh, the powers of sechel correctly, if a person is guilty of de'ot ra'ot on a certain level, it's a chisaron in his mitzvat Anochi. On a certain level, it diminishes his fulfillment of the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Anochi Hashem Elokecha provides the lens through which to see the world. So then, it means through that lens, again, all creation is ontologically dependent, contingent. What accords with Ratzon Hashem is tov. What goes against Ratzon Hashem is ra. And rachmana litzlan I see things differently, it detracts on a certain level from the most basic mitzvah, from the most basic obligation of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. There's no greater hefsed hanefesh than that. Tshuva means that we seek to recommit ourselves to Mitzvas Anochi in its fullest sense. Belief in yedias Hashem, belief in knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu can't be allowed to be something compartmentalized. It can't be some passive, dormant knowledge or belief. It has to be something which is active, which is all-encompassing. It provides a measuring stick by which everything is measured. I remember when my father zichrono livracha was sitting shiva. It was actually the shiva for his mother, but his mother was nifteres after his father, so it's in effect when children sit shiva for a second parent, they're really sitting shiva for both parents. So he was talking mostly about his mother, but inevitably about his father as well. So he told a story that he was once reading a book, didn't specify which book, and that his father walked by and said to him, "I don't think you can get any yiras shamayim from that book." And in telling that story, in sharing that memory, so he said, "That spoke volumes to me." Mitzvas Anochi tells us what books we read, what books we don't read. The belief in Hashem, yedias Hashem should dictate every judgment we make, every decision we take, and every action we undertake. Our belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, our knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to translate, it has to determine how we spend our time, how we don't spend our time, what we say, what we don't say, what we do, what we don't do. The Rambam writes in Perek Zayin of Hilchos Tshuva describing baalei tshuva, he says, בעלי תשובה דרכם להיות שפלים וענוים ביותר. Characteristically, baalei tshuva are exceptionally humble, exceptionally lowly in spirit. What is it that engenders within a person a sense of shiflus? What is it that engenders within a person... ומה היא הדרך לאהבתו וליראתו בשעה שיתבונן האדם במעשיו ובברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים
what's the path to Avas Hashem, to Yiras Hashem when a person reflects upon the wondrous, great works and creations of Hakadosh Baruch Hu ויראה מהם חכמתו שאין לה ערך ולא קץ and he sees the inestimable, infinite wisdom of Hakadosh Baruch Hu מיד הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר ומתאוה תאוה גדולה לידע השם הגדול
immediately he's just so enamored with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, praises, glorifies, and and experiences this tremendous desire to know Hakadosh Baruch Hu כמו שאמר דוד צמאה נפשי לאלוקים לקל חי my soul thirsts for Hakadosh Baruch Hu וכשמחשב בדברים האלו עצמן and when a person thinks about these very same phenomena, the infinite, inestimable wisdom מיד הוא נרתע לאחוריו ויירא ויפחד וידע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות
immediately he recoils, he's awed, he fears, Shiflus results from an awareness, a sense of being in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in all his majesty and all his awesomeness. ויש דעות שאסור לו לאדם לנהוג בהן בבינונית שאסור לו לאדם לנהוג בהן בבינונית
there are some character traits where a person is not supposed to modulate and and combine the two extremes, but on the contrary, אלא יתרחק עד הקצה האחר but unlike what's true for almost every other character trait, here a person is supposed to go to the extreme ve-hu gova halev haughtiness שאין דרך הטובה שיהיה האדם עניו בלבד the good path is not simply that a person should be humble, אלא שיהיה שפל רוח ותהיה רוחו נמוכה למאוד לפיכך נאמר במשה רבינו עניו מאוד ולא נאמר עניו בלבד
that's why Moshe Rabbeinu is described not simply as humble but as exceedingly humble. ולפיכך צוו חכמים מאוד מאוד הוי שפל רוח a person should be exceedingly humble. Ve-od amru Chazal, Chazal say further, she-kol ha-magbiha libo a person who is haughty, who who holds himself above others, kofer ba-ikar. It constitutes heresy, Rachmana litzlan, שנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת את השם אלוקיך so there is an equation, the posuk tells us, between arrogance, haughtiness, and forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which implies that there's an equation between remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the sense of anavah and shiflus. Baalei Teshuvah the Rambam tells us דרכן להיות שפלים וענוים ביותר they're shafalim and anavim beyoser because what generates shiflus and anavah is a yedias Hashem which isn't compartmentalized, which isn't isolated, but which is the defining, defining factor in their lives. It's what molds their personality and it's the standard by which everything is seen and everything is judged. When the Rambam here says that דרכו להיות שפלים וענווים ביותר lechora we hear echoes of something he says more explicitly in the Moreh. Bamoreh writes the Rambam שגם התשובה בקבוצה זאת. Teshuvah also belongs to this group of mitzvos, klomar, that is to say שהיא מן הדעות שבלעדי האמונה בהן לא תסתדר מציאותם של אנשים בני תורה.
Teshuvah is something, the belief in the possibility of Teshuvah is something which is indispensable for the existence of Benei Torah. People, the Rambam says אדם אין צדיק בארץ שיעשה טוב ולא יחטא, people sin. Ve'ilu he'emin ha'adam, if a person would believe, if a person wouldn't know of the possibility of Teshuvah, ve'ilu he'emin ha'adam ששבר זה לא ניתן לאיחוי לעולם, that this break, that this fracture could never heal, that it could never be fixed, and again, notice here too as we began in Hilchos Teshuvah, the Rambam's not talking about liability for onesh. He's just talking about the self-inflicted damage or perversion of soul. Ve'ilu he'emin ha'adam ששבר זה לא ניתן לאיחוי לעולם that it could never be fixed, haya masmid betiyuso. He would despair and he would continue in his wayward ways. ואולי היה מוסיף על מריו, and maybe out of despair, he would even add to his rebelliousness. But listen to this next line rabosai, אבל עם האמונה בתשובה, with belief in Teshuvah, הוא ימצא את תיקונו, he'll find a way to repair himself. But moreover, ויחזור למצב טוב יותר ושלם יותר, למצב טוב יותר ושלם יותר ממה שהיה בו לפני שעבר עבירה.
Teshuvah not only is the possibility to repair damage, to undo damage, but for a person to achieve more than he was before the cheit. Veyachzor lematzav, he'll return to a station, to a situation, tov yoser, better in a spiritual sense, veshalem yoser, more perfect ממה שהיה בו לפני שעבר עבירה. משל למה הדבר דומה.
Imagine a person blessed with good health and he's careful to take care of his health, watches his diet, exercises regularly. And then the person rachmana litzlan falls seriously ill. He is al eres devai for an extended period. Ultimately, when he's restored to health, having gone through that experience, as much as before the illness he valued and appreciated his health, but clearly, clearly the value he attaches to it and the appreciation is even greater now. And as responsible as he was, as dedicated as he was to guarding his health beforehand, it's going to be even more so now. Cheit represents hefseid hanefesh. But when a person recognizes that, when a person feels... The essential spiritual core of what it means to be a person. That sense of emptiness, ad k'dei kach, as the Rambam highlights that the Navi compares it to a funeral, rachmana litzlan. When a person reflects on cheit מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאיו מה יתאונן לשון אבילות.
When a person recognizes that the source of that is not simply wrong actions, but the source of that is wrongly exercising the koach hasechel. When a person realizes that the source of that is compartmentalizing and isolating and thereby partially neutralizing his belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, his yedi'as Hashem, so then a person is galvanized to apply himself, to devote himself, to dedicate himself even more to making emunah b'Hashem, his yedi'as Hashem, the defining force, the lens through which everything is viewed, the standard by which everything is judged. The same capacity that a person has זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים, the same capacity that a person has to misuse that koach attests to the fact that the person has the koach to correctly use it. If a person, rachmana litzlan, can be mafsid nafsho, it means that a person can be mechazek nafsho. זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים, if a person can forget Hakadosh Baruch Hu, rachmana litzlan, it means a person can remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If a person, rachmana litzlan, can diminish the centrality of anochi Hashem Elokecha in the world, in existence, in his own existence, then a person can also amplify the role and the significance of the mitzvah of anochi Hashem Elokecha in his life, and a person can emerge with siyata d'shmaya to do a teshuva sheleimah, and a person can emerge טוב יותר ושלם יותר ממה שהיה בו לפני שעבר עבירה.
May we all, each one of us, be zocheh to a teshuva sheleimah, to a kesiva v'chasima tova.