Transcript

So maybe we'll begin here in the Rambam in Perek Bet of Hilchot Teshuvah, Halacha Aleph. It says, okay, איזו היא תשובה גמורה? You have it Perek Bet, Halacha Aleph.

זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשות ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כוח. כיצד? הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה, ולאחר זמן נתייחד עמה, והוא עומד באהבתו בה ובכוח גופו ובמדינה שעבר בה, ופירש ולא עבר

זהו בעל תשובה גמורה. ועל זה אמר שלמה: וזכור את בוראך בימי בחורותיך, עד אשר לא יבואו ימי הרעה והגיעו שנים אשר תאמר אין לי בהם חפץ.

Scenario number one. Scenario number two.

ואם לא שב אלא בימי זקנותו ובעת שאי אפשר לו לעשות מה שהיה עושה, אף על פי שאינה תשובה מעולה, מועלת היא לו ובעל תשובה הוא.

Scenario number three.

אפילו עבר כל ימיו ועשה תשובה ביום מיתתו ומת בתשובתו, כל עוונותיו נמחלים.

So the Sefer HaTeshuvah points out, notice the difference in leshonot, right? Scenario number two, the person is a ba'al teshuvah. Not just that avonotav nimchalim, but he's a ba'al teshuvah. Scenario number three, he's not a ba'al teshuvah, but avonotav nimchalim. Fine. What's the difference l'ma'aseh between two and three? Either way, there's no azivat hachet, there's no voluntary azivat hachet or kabbalah l'haba, right? Already in scenario number three, he's, it's no longer, he's no longer physically capable of repeating the chet. So lemai nafka mina whether he does teshuvah at that point and then lives another five years, or it happens that he's doing teshuvah on his deathbed, rachmana litzlan? Either way, it's the same teshuvah, right? Again, I don't mean lemai nafka mina why should he do it then and not wait five years. I mean in both scenarios, it's the same teshuvah in the sense that, okay, so he can be mitcharet and he can be mitbayesh and he can be mitvadeh and he can ask for mechilah. But there isn't, there isn't really an azivat hachet, a voluntary azivat hachet, and there isn't a voluntary kabbalah l'haba. And that's the, you know, the Sefer HaTeshuvah's he'arah is very important, that the Rambam distinguishes these two cases. In one case, he says he's a ba'al teshuvah, which clearly means more than just avonotav nimchalim, he's a ba'al teshuvah, and the final case is no, he's not a ba'al teshuvah, but avonotav nimchalim. Okay, Halacha Bet.

ומה היא התשובה? הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו ויסירו ממחשבתו ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד, שנאמר: יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו.

So you have the Frankel Rambam, so you see the, you see the two dots there. So in the hakdamah, so they explain that for whatever reason, I'm not sure how this came about, but the standard numbering of halachot in the standard dfusei HaRambam doesn't correspond to the manuscripts, doesn't correspond to the way the Rambam broke down the halachot in the manuscripts. And wherever you find two dots in this edition, it means that in the manuscript, there's a break in halacha, that what comes now is a new halacha, is the next halacha. And you'll see, it doesn't correspond in both ways. Sometimes what we have printed as separate halachot, in the manuscript is one halacha and a lot of things that don't make sense make sense once you see where the correct breakdown of halachot is. Fine. So end of halacha, okay, take a deep breath, okay, vaiter.

וכן יתנחם על שעבר, שנאמר: כי אחרי שובי ניחמתי ואחרי הוודעי ספקתי על ירך.

So not only does the Rambam position the charatah after the azivat hachet and kabbalah l'haba, but by putting it in a separate halacha, you can't talk about them in the same breath. Can't talk about them in the same breath. Again, not that there's anything optional or dispensable about the charatah according to the Rambam. And you wonder if the Rambam's not being medayek in the pasuk, is that really a diyuk? Right? The Rambam tells us this isn't my diyuk. This is just opening oneself to what the pasuk says. What do you mean ka'acharei shuvi nichamti? I thought the charata is an essential ingredient of the teshuva. What do you mean acharei shuvi nichamti? Okay, so if not for the Rambam we would have said, we use the lashon teshuva in a narrower sense and a broader sense. But it's yitachen that for the Rambam on a certain level the charata is something that's accompanying the teshuva. And the essence is the azivat hachet and the kabbala l'haba. Now if that's true, everything we'll say doesn't depend upon this. If it's true, it creates another problem, which is: so what was the teshuva in Halacha Aleph b'imei ziknuso or b'yom misaso when there's no azivat hachet and kabbala l'haba? Right? So now the question not only is what's the difference, why does the Rambam distinguish those two scenarios, now the question becomes, if the charata is something which comes after the teshuva and tzarich lehitvadot, the Rambam doesn't really say that that's teshuva, it's something again that accompanies teshuva. So what does the teshuva consist of for the person who's b'imei ziknuso בעת שאי אפשר לו לעשות? There's neither azivat hachet nor kabbala l'haba. Fine. So now let's see something in Ramchal and then we'll... so where is this? If you see where it says in Perek Dalet of Mesillat Yesharim... it's about a long perek... 73% approximately...

ואם תאמר אם כן מדת הרחמים למה היא עומדת... שמונים א' י"ז מ"ח...

so you have the same edition... 27 page 27... Pini, you have it? Let me see where it is in that other edition... Akiva, do you see where it is in that other edition? Ken, anash. So what preceded this is that Ramchal explains that we wishfully make the mistake of thinking that Hakadosh Baruch Hu just... that saying that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a rachman means that he just overlooks chata'im. As long as they're not really big chata'im, as long as you don't go and kill someone or something like that, as long as they're little chata'im, Hakadosh Baruch Hu just overlooks, just don't do the really big ones. The Ramchal says, so first he quotes so many examples ma'amarei chazal and incidents from Tanach, he says it's not so. And what's more he says, think about it, it can't be so. What we read in Parshas Ha'azinu:

הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט אל אמונה ואין עול צדיק וישר הוא.

So Ramchal says it's the same avel, it's the same lack of mishpat to not reward a mitzvah, okay, that's an avel, that's a lack of mishpat, but it's the same mida says that you can't ignore a cheit either. So then he says here: ואם תאמר אם כן מדת הרחמים למה היא עומדת. So what do we mean when we say אל רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד? So what's all that about? So he says:

כיון שעל כל פנים צריך לדקדק בדין על כל דבר.

If it doesn't mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu just overlooks, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu lets it slide, so what does it mean?

התשובה ודאי מדת הרחמים היא קיומו של עולם שלא היה עומד וזולתה כלל ואף על פי כן אין מדת הדין לוקה.

And the Ramchal is telling us a very, very important yesod here. He says don't make the mistake of thinking that midat harachamim is something that contradicts midat hadin. No, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's midat harachamim tempers his midat hadin. It doesn't contradict the midat hadin, it tempers the midat hadin. To say that the midat harachamim means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu just overlooks, that a person can do something and there's no consequences what he does. What Hakadosh Baruch Hu's middas harachamim are is they temper middas hadin. That's what it means אין מידת הדין לוקה. Now he explains. וזה כי לפי שורת הדין ממש, if the world functioned according to only din, not din tempered by rachamim, not שיתוף עמו מידת הרחמים, so the following three things would have been true. A.

היה ראוי שהחוטא יענש מיד תכף לחטאו בלי המתנה כלל.

Punishment would be swift, right? Bolt of lightning would come out of the sky as soon as a person did a chait, Rachmana litzlan. Number two,

וגם שהעונש עצמו יהיה בחרון אף כראוי למי שממרה פי הבורא יתברך שמו.

Number two, punishment would be with a wrath that would be entirely understandable. Number three, ושלא יהיה תיקון לחטא כלל. And that there should be no possibility of making amends for a chait, right? Tell the policeman that you're really sorry that you parked at the fire hydrant, you're not going to do it again, and Reuven the Ruby he doesn't go for that argument.

כי הנה באמת איך יתקן האדם את אשר עיוות והחטא כבר נעשה הרי שרצח האדם את חברו הרי שנאף איך יוכל לתקן הדבר הזה היוכל להסיר המעשה העשוי מן המציאות אמנם מידת הרחמים היא הנותנת היפך השלושה דברים שזכרנו דהיינו א' שניתן זמן לחוטא ולא יכחד מן הארץ מיד כשחטא.

Punishment is not immediate. Number two, ושהעונש עצמו לא יהיה עד כלה. The punishment does not, again, with the full measure of wrath. Number three, ושהתשובה תינתן לחוטאים בחסד גמור. Now how does teshuva function? Focus on this now because this is

שתיחשב עקירת הרצון כעקירת המעשה דהיינו שבהיות השב מכיר את חטאו ומודה בו ומתבונן על רועו ושב ומתחרט עליו חרטה גמורה מעיקרא כחרטת הנדר ממש שהוא מתנחם לגמרי וחפץ ומשתוקק שמעולם לא היה נעשה הדבר ההוא ומצטער בלבו צער חזק על שכבר נעשה הדבר ועוזב אותו להבא ובורח ממנו הנה עקירת הדבר מרצונו תיחשב לו כעקירת הנדר ומתכפר לו והוא מה שאמר הכתוב וסר עונך וחטאתך תכופר שהעון סר ממש מהמציאות ונעקר במה שעכשיו מצטער ומתנחם על מה שהיה למפרע וזה חסד ודאי אף שאינו משורת הדין אבל הוא חסד שאינו מכחיש הדין.

Right, that's what we said. It doesn't contradict din, it tempers din. Okay. So what do you say? What do you say? What would the if the Ramchal were giving a v'adam in Mesillas Yesharim, so what would he say about that? Something extraordinary which I think emerges here. What's the how would you describe, define teshuva according to Ramchal? Thank you, what do you say? How do you describe, how do you find teshuva according to Ramchal? Charata gemura. Good, good. And not you're making a certain assumption when you're saying that, which isn't entirely correct, but let's just make that assumption explicit. Teshuva is reaction to chait. Teshuva is a reaction to chait. And even more specifically, reaction and retraction according to Ramchal because it's akiras hadavar and that's why for Ramchal charata really is the dominant aspect of teshuva ad kedei kach it sounds like from Ramchal you know what's the kabbalah l'haba because it's not a real charata if you can do it again. You know, if you... If you're really sorry that you stepped on my toe, you won't step on my toe again. If five minutes later you step on my toe again, mistama you didn't feel too badly about the the first time it happened. So for Ramchal, and again this doesn't seem to be a chiddush, right? Why why are we belaboring this point? Teshuva is a reaction. Okay, so maybe maybe without reading Ramchal we didn't realize that it's a retraction, that it's an akiras davar. So maybe that's his chiddush that we didn't know beforehand, but certainly that teshuva means there's this cheit. This cheit, the person spoke a word of lashon hara. So there's this cheit. Teshuva is responding, reacting to cheit. The Rambam says initially, fundamentally, the definition of teshuva is zechor boro. He said it twice in this halacha, right? A, when the Rambam says what's the pasuk that tells you that the ideal teshuva is when you're at the same stage of life? He says זכור את בוראך בימי בחורותיך. So who's talking about teshuva? The teretz is the essence of teshuva, everything, the reaction and reaction to cheit, that's sort of, yeah, that's that's the application of the teshuva. That's translating it. That's implementing it. But the essence of the teshuva is zechor boro. And then, now remember we asked in Halacha Aleph, what's the difference between scenarios two and three? In both cases, you don't have an azivas hacheit and kabala lehaba, but you can have a charata and a viduy. So you know what the answer is? Because if you think of teshuva again as my reaction to the cheit, so it's not clear what the difference is. But if the essence of teshuva is zechiras haboré, because whenever a person is chotei, the underlying cause of that cheit is the fact that he forgot Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because it doesn't make a difference what my weaknesses are, what my yeitzer hara is, they would be held in check if if I didn't forget Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It doesn't matter how strong the yeitzer hara is to cheat on an exam. If you see the proctor looking at you, you don't cheat on the exam. It doesn't matter how strong the yeitzer hara is, doesn't matter how dishonest a person is, doesn't matter what the stakes of this exam are, doesn't matter how unprepared he is for the exam, if the proctor's looking at you, you can't cheat. You can't cheat. So cheit, again, the core of cheit is forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and therefore the core of teshuva is remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now, my forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu at that moment translated into saying lashon hara. Okay. So now my teshuva of remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu also has to translate, and I need an azivas hacheit, and I need a kabala lehaba, and I need a charata, and I need a viduy. But but do you see the contrast between this and Ramchal? It's such a sharp conceptual contrast. And that's why the difference between two and three is that in scenario number two, it's true that he never ever has to deal with a nisayon of repeating that cheit, but he lives with the teshuva in the sense if the essence of the teshuva is zechor boro. In scenario number two, he lives with it for the whatever years remain of his life. And in scenario number three, he never lived with the teshuva. Because if a person does teshuva the last second, so avonosav nimchalim, yes, but he never lived with the teshuva. So you can't call him a baal teshuva. A person is a baal habayis if he has a home, so then you call him a baal habayis. A person is a baal teshuva if he lives with the teshuva. What do you mean he's living with the teshuva? He's not living with the teshuva. He doesn't have this nisayon anymore. He can't repeat the cheit. Teretz is, no, because the essence of the teshuva is not the azivas hacheit and the kabala lehaba, even that's not the essence. That's the translation. That's the application. Like there's, I don't know, there's pure math and then there's applied math, right? So the the the mahi teshuva in Halacha Beis, that's the application. It's implementation. The essence is m'Chazal she זכור בוראך ושב קודם שימות נסלח לו. It's it's a tremendous chiddush. It's again the conceptual difference is very, very sharp and the proof that again I think it's muchach m’neih u’veih. It doesn't mean anymore proof, but further confirmation and I think further... further concretization of the lema nafka mina. If you take a look in the famous Rambam in Gimmel Daled. You see it here in the Rambam Gimmel Daled of Hilchos Teshuva.

אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב היא רמז יש בו כלומר עורו ישנים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם.

Okay, so teshuva... we all know the famous Rambam, shofar is a kol leteshuva, right? Everyone knows this Rambam, shofar is a kol leteshuva. Okay, fine. Now, so the Rambam is going to tell us who this call is addressed to, right? Elu, right? To whom is this call... a call to? So what should the Rambam say? Imagine that all manuscripts were missing a line here. So what would it say? So what the line should say is

אלו החוטאים והנכנעים ליצרם ושטופים בזימה ואוכלים מאכלות אסורות ורודפים אחרי הממון.

That's what the line should say. Avada, avada, the first thing it has to say is... is cheit, right? You... if there's a call to teshuva, you gotta... right, the call to teshuva is, you know, repent ye sinners. Who... who is the call to teshuva? Rambam doesn't say anything about cheit. All right, maybe at the end, darko hara-ah, okay, so maybe then he's intimating cheit, but no, he's talking about people who are sleepwalking. And even beforehand already, uru uru... not uru uru chotim. So again, this is again, it's the Rambam l'shitaso. If... if teshuva means remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu, וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם. So you don't have to correlate שכחת הקדוש ברוך הוא with a particular cheit. You... you don't have to look for, well, where's the Sefer Shulchan Aruch that says they shouldn't forget Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Okay, someone says it's the very first se-if in Shulchan Aruch. But... but okay, so whatever. You got a good buy on the Mishnah Berurah on Cheilek Beis... Cheilek Aleph. You don't... you don't have to find a se-if katan in Shulchan Aruch. Teshuva, you don't even have to define it in terms of cheit. So here again, you... you see the Rambam's again, brand new... emphasis and... and definition of... of teshuva. Obviously, if a person spends every Sunday, goes to the football stadium and spends four hours getting shikker while he's tailgating, and then... and then he... he's makpid in zogos, he has a few more beers during the... during the game itself, and then he has kfitzas haderech to get home to watch Sunday Night Football on... on TV. Okay, so mistama, mistama we'll get him on bittul Torah and mistama we'll get him on kedoshim tihiyu, but you don't have to... you don't even have to say that. The Rambam doesn't bother saying that because... because we're missing the point if... if we need... if we need a se-if katan in... in Mishnah Berurah. No, he's sleeping. He's... his life is an empty shell in which he's oblivious to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and all the implications of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's existence and... and presence. So if... if teshuva is response to cheit, you can't write this halacha either, or you certainly can't write it the way the Rambam wrote it. And clearly, I think... in his va-ad on Mesillas Yesharim, so I think the Rambam would tell us, you know, when a person is making a cheshbon hanefesh, so avada look at the whole checklist that Ramchal has of in the perek about neki-us and... Look at Sha'ar Shlishi in Rabbeinu Yonah, look at that whole checklist about all the things, rachmana litzlan, that possibly were not were not makpid and avada, avada, avada a person wouldn't be מזלזל כקוצו של יוד rachmana litzlan. But the Rambam says that's not what it's all about. What it's all about is there's more to it than that. It's about that, but it's about more than that also. It's about what's a person's orientation. You know, is he awake or is he asleep? Regardless of whether or not you correlate the sleep with a cheit. That's what it is. Am I awake? Am I awake or or am I asleep? To be asleep means, right, Kol Dodi dofek and I'm asleep so I'm not I don't hear I don't hear the knock on the door. And if I'm awake it means I hear the knock on the door and if the only thing I can understand about tailgating is that there's an issur bittul Torah, if other than that I don't understand why that's not an appropriate way to spend my my Sundays, then there's something missing, something very, very basic missing in my understanding. Avada it is true that there's bittul Torah there and and that's why, go back to bais bais, if the essence of teshuvah is remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so what that immediately translates into is right now am I aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? So it can't be that I'll talk any more lashon hara. That's the immediate, the most immediate application is the the most immediate application is the עזיבת החטא וקבלה להבא. Charata is at a later stage. If you're defining teshuvah as reaction to cheit, no so then it's yitachen that the charata is you know is you know is necessary immediately. But if you're defining it as zichras haborei, so what does it mean l'maiseh? So I was I was not mindful, I was oblivious to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. Now I am? So the first thing is, I'm not going to talk any more lashon hara. That's the first thing. That's the first practical application and implementation. Then, yes, it has to also result where you know I can't believe you know when the person wakes up you know if you wake up from a Choni Hama'agel nap you know so yes at a certain point obviously a charata has to kick in. I can't believe I spent so many years sleepwalking. That charata does have to kick in also, but you understand that it's acharei shuvei nichamti. G'mar chasima tova and a gut yom tov.