Transcript

We will begin with with one or two of the halachos in today's perek, Hilchos Teshuva, perek Hey, Hilchos Teshuva. The first halacha the Rambam discusses Bechirah Chofshis and then in halacha Hey the Rambam writes

שמא תאמר והלא הקדוש ברוך הוא יודע כל מה שיהיה קודם שיהיה.

Maybe you'll ask, how is it possible to sustain a belief in Bechirah Chofshis but HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows the future before it materializes, before it actualizes? ידע שזה צדיק או רשע או לא ידע. Does HaKadosh Baruch Hu know categorically that this person's going to be a tzaddik or a rasha or He doesn't know? אם ידע שיהיה צדיק אי אפשר שלא יהיה צדיק. If HaKadosh Baruch Hu knew unequivocally before the fact that this person was going to be a tzaddik, so then obviously HaKadosh Baruch Hu can't be wrong, so then that would seem to preempt his bechirah because he had to have been a tzaddik. ואם תאמר שידע שיהיה צדיק ואפשר שיהיה רשע. He knew he'd be a tzaddik but it could've been different? הרי לא ידע הדבר על בוריו. So then it means HaKadosh Baruch Hu didn't really know unequivocally, didn't really know categorically. De'eh, says the Rambam, שתשובת שאלה זו ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים. We would have thought that such a question maybe is אין מגלין אלא לצנועין and the Rambam would only talk about it in a more esoteric setting, but I don't know, he talks about it in Peirush HaMishnayos, he talks about it here, so apparently as difficult and abstruse and as profound as the inyanim are, there's something about it that a) we can and b) we need to understand. So the Rambam says:

דע שתשובת שאלה זו ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים וכמה עיקרים גדולים והררים רמים תלויים בה.

The Rambam says that sort of this question is the crossroads, the intersection point of so much of Chochmas Elokus, of everything, but the following snippet, the following excerpt we need to understand: אבל צריך אתה לידע ולהבין בדבר זה שאני אומר. You need to understand the following:

כבר בארנו בפרק שני מהלכות יסודי התורה שהקדוש ברוך הוא אינו יודע בדעה שהיא חוץ ממנו כבני אדם שהם ודעתם שנים אלא הוא יתברך שמו ודעתו אחד. ואין דעתו של אדם יכול להשיג דבר זה על בוריו. וכשם שאין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא.

Okay, so the Rambam begins by telling us this is how the words translate, that people, so the person and his knowledge are two different entities. There's the person and there's his knowledge. With HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it's all part of the same absolute simple unity of Hashem Echad. There isn't Hashem and Hashem's yediyah. There's one absolute simple unity. Hu ve'da'ato echad. The Rambam says we can't understand this and therefore

ולכן כשם שאין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא אמתת הבורא שנאמר כי לא יראני האדם וחי כך אין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא דעתו של בורא.

Since HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His knowledge are one, so a person can't understand that either.

הוא שהנביא אומר כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאם השם. וכיון שכן הוא אין בנו כח לידע היאך ידע הקדוש ברוך הוא כל הברואים והמעשים. אין בנו כח לידע איך ידע הקדוש ברוך הוא כל הברואים ומעשיהם.

So since we don't understand how Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows in general, we also can't understand this application of how Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows all of us and what we're going to do.

אבל נודע בלא ספק שמעשה אדם ביד האדם ואין הקדוש ברוך הוא מושכו ולא גוזר עליו לעשות כך ולא שלא לעשות כך.

So the Rambam is masig. What what did the Rambam accomplish? He says he raised the question and says well you can't really understand the answer. So the Hassagot says don't ask the question if you're not going to give someone an answer. So why why plant the question if if if you can't give the answer? So it could be the Kesef Mishneh already says this, but the Avodat Hamelech elaborates a little bit and says no the Rambam didn't just say that that well we don't know the answer to some questions but what the what the Rambam did accomplish is is something very very fundamental is is that the Rambam shows explains to us how the question is based on a mistake. Dehainu, what's the question based on? Why do we think that there's some kind of contradiction between our having bechirah and Hakadosh Baruch Hu knowing the future? Because without realizing it what we're doing is the following. Let's say when we know something right so I know that that there's a pile of five gemaras right here in in in front of me on the table. So I know that I know that. How do I know that? Because they're there. I know it because because they're there. Will they still be here in in a minute or will the table be overturned and and and they'll fall down? I don't know it because they're not there yet. So the way a person knows is a person knows what is. A person knows what is. I know that these that there's a pile of five gemaras because because they are because because it is. So if if I could ever know the future it would have to be because the future is already set and determined. Right so if you extrapolate so because of how we know things we know what is. So if we when we imagine ourselves knowing the future it would have to mean that the future is already that the future has already been set in stone that the future has already been determined. What the Rambam says is the first thing you have to understand and this we the Rambam is explaining something to us. He's saying Hakadosh Baruch Hu's knowledge by Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't mean what knowledge means by a person. Once you understand that so the Rambam says then you realize that the that the question is has no basis. That before you can ask a question how is it possible for Hakadosh Baruch Hu to know the future without the future being determined before you can ask that question you have to understand how knowledge works by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You can't understand that so then mimaila the question it's not that the Rambam is telling us be frum and realize that you can't understand the answer to questions. That's also true that has its place that has its time and place also. But that's not what the Rambam is doing here. The Rambam is explaining to us how when we ask the question how we're making a very very fundamental error. We're transposing onto Hakadosh Baruch Hu we we are erroneously erroneously assuming that Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows the way we know. The way we know is we know what is. We know what is. So so when we then therefore extrapolate and say well for us to know the future it would have to mean that the future is which would mean the future has to be predetermined so then you can't know the future and have and have bechirah. The Rambam says the first thing you have to understand is that the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows and the way we know is two different things because we know what's external. That's why we only know what is because our knowledge is external to us. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Hu ve'da'ato echad. So do we understand that? No. So do we understand how Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows? No. So there's no question of so how is that compatible with with there being bechirah? Because the whole question is is based on a mistaken premise right? The whole question is imposing upon transposing to Hakadosh Baruch Hu the way our knowledge works. Fine okay. And the Rambam says that this yesod... that the way HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows is not the way we know

אין כח באדם להשיג ולמצוא דעתו של בוראו הוא שהנביא אומר כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאום השם.

That's pshat in what we read on Wednesday, the pasuk in Yeshayahu. So now you come to the pasuk in Yeshayahu. The Rambam says a mamesh mamesh extraordinary pshat in the pasuk. What's pshat? The other meforshim say what's pshat in the in the pasuk כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי נאום השם. So you take a look here in the Mikraos Gedolos, so basically basically כמעט פה אחד מפרשים say like this: Do teshuvah. It's true that when you do teshuvah and you come over to a person, so the person probably isn't really going to forgive isn't going to forgive you and even if he makes a show of forgiving you he's not really going to mean it. But HaKadosh Baruch Hu says: With Me, you should do teshuvah because if you do teshuvah I'm going to forgive you and I'm going to really mean it because I'm not like you, I'm not I'm not petty, I'm not כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי. You don't have to you don't have to worry about that. According to the Rambam, pshat is like this. דרשו השם בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב - again that's the mandate, that's the exhortation to do teshuvah, right? That's how that's how the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah has it and the Rambam quotes in Perek Bet of

הלכות תשובה הלכה ו: אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם בעשרת הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומיד היא נתקבלת שנאמר דרשו השם בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב.

So דרשו השם בהמצאו means do teshuvah. To do teshuvah means lidrosh Hashem. That's what it means to do teshuvah, to lidrosh Hashem. Part of teshuvah, this idea - I'm just throwing it out, but it needs to be explained, understood - teshuvah, there's there's a connection here between teshuvah and tza'akah, a special connection. That's the second half of the pasuk: קראהו בהיותו קרוב. As part of your being doresh Hashem in the form of teshuvah, so you're also going to קראהו בהיותו קרוב. So דרשו השם בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב is do teshuvah, right? That's the the navi is is calling upon us to do teshuvah. What's the next pasuk after דרשו השם בהמצאו? יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. So what's that? He's telling us how to do teshuvah. Right? The Rambam quotes this pasuk of יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו twice. Each time it's telling us the yesodot of teshuvah. In Bet Bet, the Rambam says:

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

Again in Zayin Gimmel, the Rambam says:

אל תאמר שאין התשובה אלא מעבירות שיש בהן מעשה כגון זנות וגזל וגניבה כשם שצריך אדם לשוב מאלו כך הוא צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו ולשוב מהן מן הכעס ומן האיבה ומן הקינאה ומן התחרות ומן ההיתול ומרדיפת הממון והכבוד ומרדיפת המאכלות וכיוצא בהן מן הכל צריך לחזור בתשובה.

A person has to not only do teshuvah for concrete averos, a person has to do teshuvah for all all all our character flaws, all our blemishes. ואלו העוונות קשים מאותן שיש בהן מעשה. And and this is the more challenging area of teshuvah שבזמן שאדם נשקע באלו קשה לפרוש. At one time action, it's relatively speaking, relatively easy to do teshuvah, but but when a person has character traits that need a tikkun hamiddos, so tikkun hamiddos is so much more difficult. וכן הוא אומר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. So okay, so the Rambam is giving us different levels of meaning of that pasuk. That clearly here in Zayin Gimmel, יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו means we're not just talking about concrete actions, but a person's derech represents those his derech and machshavos represent the again those those de'ot, those character traits which which form his his personality. Okay, good. So דרשו השם בהמצאו, so says Yeshayahu HaNavi: You have to do teshuvah rabosai, he tells us you have to do teshuvah. How do you do teshuvah? יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. But if you're wondering A, why do I have to do teshuvah? B, can I really do teshuva, everything is determined, what's the whole point, what's this whole exercise about? So comes the Navi and answers, no, you have to do teshuva and you can do teshuva: כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי. Don't think that the whole thing is nigzar meirosh, that my aveiros weren't my aveiros, my zechuyos weren't my zechuyos, that it doesn't matter whether I do teshuva or not is not up to me. You should know, no, כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי. Yeah, I takeh knew, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, I knew you're gonna sin, but you're still responsible. It was up to you whether to do it. You did it with your bechira and now it's your bechira whether to do teshuva. So this is the underpinning of the call for teshuva is the כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם ולא דרכיכם דרכי. And that's the way the Rambam read these psukim in פרק ה הלכות תשובה. The Rambam writes as follows: רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. A person has total control, total autonomy, right? רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. Not just רשות לכל אדם נתונה, but רשות כל אדם נתונה לו. A person has total autonomy.

אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו.

If he wants to incline himself to a derech tova and to be a tzaddik, he has that capacity, he has that wherewithal. But conversely, rachmana litzlan,

אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו.

Then bechira chofshis. A person chooses whether to be a tzaddik, whether to be a rasha.

הוא שכתוב בתורה הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע.

That's what the pasuk says in Parshas Bereishis. What's the teitch of the pasuk? So the Rambam in Shemonah Perakim, he tells us that he's following Onkelos in how he teitches the pasuk: הן מין זה של אדם היה אחד בעולם. Right, Onkelos on הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו says ke'echad be'alma, puts in the word be'alma, that that's understood in the Chumash. That Adam is unique. Haya ke'echad echad, he's unique, he's echad ba'olam. He's one of a kind. He's unique.

ואין לו מין שני דומה לו בזה העניין שיהיה הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע ועושה כל מה שהוא חפץ.

So the Rambam tells us that the yesod of bechira chofshis is really comprised of two yesodos or two halves: A, that a person has a capacity to discern tov and ra, and then B, he has the ability to choose what he wants to do. It's not only that bechira chofshis means that a person has the ability to choose, but also means that he has the ability to discern. שיהיה הוא מעצמו בדעתו ובמחשבתו יודע הטוב והרע, right, ממנו לדעת טוב ורע, from within, a person can discern, can discriminate, can recognize tov and ra, and he can then decide which he wants to opt for. But what the Rambam is conveying here is not only, again, that we have that capacity, not only if someone tells us what's right and wrong to choose to do what we want, but we... have the capacity to recognize, to discern, to discriminate right and wrong. He's not only telling us that, but a little bit of the omek of what the Rambam is telling us here is as follows. That the deeper the understanding is of tov vera, the more a person will be able to exercise the practical bechira. That's what the omek is here in the Rambam. Just to concretize a little bit what that means. In the debate in the immoral society in which we live about abortion in the United States between the so-called pro-choice and the pro-life, so at one point the pro-life released a video showing what the fetus looks like and showing the human form, the totally formed human being and showing how it's being vacuumed when an abortion is performed. And there was outrage at that kind of tactic and all the pro-choice were outraged at how could you do something like that. So what were they doing? They were giving a yedi'ah berurah as to what's really happening. Okay, it's all nice and fine to try to obfuscate matters with the pro-choice and a woman's body v'chulu v'chulu. And they said no, but you have to know. If you want to choose, you have to understand. And the more you understand, the easier the choice becomes. You have to understand, this is a baby. Yes, yedi'ah berurah, it's a baby. And look, you'll see it, you see it's a baby and you see you're taking this baby that's just like a baby that's been born and vacuuming it and pulverizing it and destroying it. When I was a teenager and learning how to drive, so at the time, I don't know whether this is still true, I assume it is, I hope it is, so as part of driver's ed they showed us films. And we had to watch a film of car crashes, of horrific car crashes, and then they showed us the pictures of the teenage drivers who had been killed in those car crashes. So what was the yesod? The yesod was that if you can only impress upon people, if they only would really, really understand clearly what risk they're running and what risk they're assuming when they go joyriding at eighty miles an hour with the radio blasting and everyone screaming and yelling in the car, if they would really, really understand what that entails and what's at stake, they could make an informed decision. So that's what this Rambam is saying. That's what this Rambam is saying. The Rambam is saying that the basis for the bechira, the basis for making the choice is the lada'as tov vera. You want to make the right choice, you have to understand. And the deeper the understanding, the more vivid the understanding is, the more obvious the choice becomes. And the more superficial and the more casual the understanding is The more lines become blurred. It means that in order to do teshuvah, a person has to be misbonen, a person will have to try to understand what cheit is, what cheit entails, what the consequences of cheit are, and what a mitzvah is, what a mitzvah entails, what the consequences of mitzvos are. We have to try to understand, we have to try to understand what's tov, what are the consequences of tov, what it is inherently, what ra is. The more a person understands that, so then that's what allows him to make the right choice. Says the Rambam, you want to decide whether it's kedai to wear a seatbelt, you want to decide whether it's kedai to drive 85 miles an hour, so you have to watch that film, because you have to understand. If only you understand, so then it's so much easier to make the right choice, and the less clear that understanding is, so then the more difficult the decision becomes. You have to watch the films, because the films give you a hakara berura, gives you a clear yedia, and when the yedia is clear, so then the decision becomes so much easier. It's a very, very, very big yesod that the more clarity, the more a person spends time thinking, thinking what's at stake, bamei medubar, so then that's what empowers him to be able to implement the second stage of the bechira. The more the person has the first stage of the bechira, of the lada'as tov vara, that ממנו לדעת טוב ורע, so then the better positioned a person is to implement the second component of bechira, of choosing, choosing what to do. It's not only that as we make a cheshbon hanefesh, as we're misbonen, we identify chato, but we have to understand what's a cheit.