Maybe we'll jump ahead in the Sha'arei Teshuva in Sha'ar HaSheni to Rabeinu Yonah says that there are six occasions or circumstances or times of life or of the year that meorer a person that goad a person into doing teshuva. And the fifth of those again if you have the Sha'ar HaSheni you can see the paragraph that's entitled HaDerech HaChamishi et tzarah. HaDerech HaChamishi again the fifth of these circumstances occasions etcetera which spur teshuva is Aseret Yemei Teshuva. הירא דבר השם לבו יחל בקרבו because his heart should tremble inwardly בדעתו שכל מעשיו בספר נכתבים. So besefer nictavim means not so much recorded as being judged. ובעת היא אלהים יבא במשפט על כל מעשה על כל נעלם אם טוב ואם רע.
So everything is scrutinized everything is subject to mishpat כי האדם נדון בראש השנה וגזר דינם של נחתם ביום הכפורים ובעת שידע האדם כי יבא במשנהו נגד מלך בשר ודם
imagine that a person were being brought up on capital charges in a human court הלא יחרד חרדה גדולה if he's convicted he loses his life הלא יחרד חרדה גדולה he would tremble greatly veyashet etzot b’nafsho and he would be strategizing uv’chol darchai charitzut and with tremendous initiative and industriousness yachish miflat lo he would be looking for refuge ולא יעלה על לבו לפנות על ימין ועל שמאל it wouldn't occur to him he wouldn't even have a fleeting thought to turn his attention to anything else ulehitasake beyeter chafatzav ולא ישכח כשרון לשבות אדמות he's not going to worry about working his field ולא יפנה דרך כרמים he's not going to worry about the pathway to his vineyards ולא ישתער ביום צרה מהכין לב והנצל כצבי מיד. The people who are in the path of a hurricane they're not going about their routine they're evacuating they're running for their lives. Vachem says Rabeinu Yonah mah na’alu צועדים בפעלם ועבודתם עדי ארץ. How foolish are those who just pursue their regular routine during Aseret Yemei Teshuva ha’yamim hanora’im these awesome days yemei hadin vehamishpat ואינם יודעים מה יהיה משפטם like they have inside information that a favorable verdict is in the bag הלא לאחותם יאגל לבם ביום שידובר בו. Shouldn't they be concerned with their neshama on the day when its fate is up for discussion שדן על מה נעשה ואחסנו ביום שידובר בו. Therefore says Rabeinu Yonah וראוי לכל יראי אלהים lema’et be’asakav as much as possible a person should minimize whatever worldly obligations whatever mundane obligations and preoccupations he has. Now obviously Rabeinu Yonah doesn't mean let's say a person is entitled to so many vacation days a year mistama Rabeinu Yonah doesn't mean that taking off time in Aseret Yemei Teshuva means he has to work in Chol HaMoed or on Shavuot. I don't think he does mean that. I mean when a person to the degree that a person has that discretionary time it could be according to Rav Moshe maybe it might be true but לפי פשוטו של דברים mistama I'm not here to ask him about halacha l’ma’aseh but שמא לא הלכה שאין מעשה mistama that's not what he means when a person is his own boss mistama that a person who's a landlord who he works his own fields he sets his own hours וראוי לכל יראי אלהים. ולקבוע ביום ובלילה עתים ולהתבודד בחדרו ולחפש דרכו ולחקור.
His thoughts should be gripped with fear. ולקבוע ביום ובלילה עתים ולהתבודד בחדרו ולחפש דרכו ולחקור. He should set aside times both in the day and at night to seclude himself and be mekayem the pasuk of nechpashah deracheinu venachkorah lekadem ashmuros, either to get up early, maybe to get up at both ashmuros, when the gimel mishmaros hem balailah, when shacharis. ולהתעסק בדרכי התשובה וכשרון המעשה ulishpoach siach. תפילה לעני כי יעטוף ולפני ה' ישפוך שיחו. To pour out his tefillah before Hakadosh Baruch Hu ולעשות תפילה ורנינה ולהגיד תחינה ובעת עת רצון ועת תפילה נשמעת.
Let's come back and try to look at some of these phrases individually. The first thing Rabbeinu Yonah says that should characterize us during these days is lihyos raonah mipechad. And the pshat is as follows. The Rambam writes famously in Hilchos Chanukah when he paraphrases the meimar Chazal as to why we don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So the Rambam says לפי שהם ימי תשובה ויראה ופחד ואינם ימי שמחה יתירה.
The very days themselves are yemei yirah vafachad. Which means that Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, the Rambam's saying about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Rabbeinu Yonah is saying about all Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. The days themselves are days of yirah vafachad. So that feeling, that awareness should be present constantly within these days. That's what it means lihyos raon mipechad. That should be the mindset. That should be the frame of mind because it's yemei yirah vafachad. It's a time, it's a time of fear. If it's a time of fear 24/7, so then that's what a person, that should be reflected in the person's thoughts, in his bearing. ולקבוע ביום ובלילה עתים. Itachen what Rabbeinu Yonah means here is not stam practically, not only practically to set aside times for cheshbon hanefesh, but more than that he also means the same way in Talmud Torah, the din is as reflected in the pasuk that's in the D'Oraisa but as is made explicit in the pasuk in Sefer Yehoshua, והגית בו יומם ולילה. Let's say within a person's schedule because of real obligations and claims on his time, real in the sense that the Torah validates those claims on his time, they're not gratuitously self-imposed, but due to real claims on his time, let's say a person has ka'es four hours within the me'eis le'eis, within the 24-hour unit. So the din of והגית בו יומם ולילה is that he can't concentrate all those four hours exclusively bayom or exclusively balaila. There has to be a kvias itim bayom, there has to be a kvias itim balaila. Not necessarily to be equal, not necessarily to be two and two, but it can't be four and zero. That's what the din of והגית בו יומם ולילה is. והגית בו יומם ולילה as is clear from the beginning of the pasuk, לא ימוש ספר התורה הזה מפיך, is an expression of temidiyus. It's an expression of temidiyus that even within the 24-hour unit of the day, that even the sub-units of yom valaila, that neither one passes without Talmud Torah is a reflection that Talmud Torah is a chiyuv tamid, is a mitzvah temidis. because the Torah has us engaged in other things as well, so because of that the tamidius doesn't translate literally into 24/7, but the way that the tamidius is expressed, that the lo yamush tamidius is expressed, is that והגית בו יומם ולילה. And be'shita that's what Rabbeinu Yonah is saying also. Not just saying, look, I’ll give you an eitza tova if you really want to make sure that you chap arein and have enough time for cheshbon hanefesh, so have a kvius both ba'yom u'ba'laila. No, he's saying again the same thing. Aseres Yimei Teshuva, the whole time is a time of teshuva, so cheshbon hanefesh has to be something which is tamidi within within Aseres Yimei Teshuva. What does that mean, that that's the only thing you do during Aseres Yimei Teshuva, the only thing a person does is cheshbon hanefesh? No, it doesn't mean that. So how does the tamidius express? The way the tamidius is expressed is in והגית בו יומם ולילה itto. ve-hisbonen be-chata'av, again, to think, a person has to be misbonen, and when a person is encumbered and or distracted, so obviously it doesn't allow for cheshbon hanefesh. Then Rabbeinu Yonah says, as as Yirmiyahu Hanavi says, nachpesa deracheinu ve-nachkora. So what does it mean? Or what do those two verbs express? lachpos and lachkor. So chipus is a search, chakira is an investigation. And when you interrogate eidim, ve-darash ve-chakar heiteiv, ve-darashta ve-chakarta. chipus is a search, so Ohr Hachayim uses the pesukim of בעת ההיא אחפש את ירושלים בנרות, and ויחפש בגדול החל ובקטון כילה, the Gemara uses those pesukim legabei bedikas chametz. chipus is a search, chakira is investigation. So lichora what it means is as follows: first of all, a person has to be michapes, a person has to look and see what he did wrong, or what good he did imperfectly, could have done better. A person has to look and see what he did wrong. But then the chakira means he has to investigate, nothing happens in a vacuum. Sometimes when people are asked why did you do it, so they just say stam. But it's not true, nothing happens stam, nothing happens stam. I wasn't thinking. So first of all, a, if that's the answer, so that doesn't mean it just happened, it means that part of the shoresh is that I wasn't thinking. And second of all, well, what determines what determines what I do when I’m not thinking? If I sort of react or speak without thinking and because of that I do or say something wrong, then obviously it means that sort of the natural reaction in terms of in terms of my midos that there’s something which is off, and there’s something very basic that needs to be addressed. So nothing just happens stam. That's what it means lachpos and lachkor. nachpesa deracheinu, nachpesa deracheinu is get the data, get the information, I did A, B, C, D, E, F, I did all these things wrong, I didn't do all these things that I should have done, that's nachpesa deracheinu. Then the venachkora is nothing happens in a vacuum, everything has a context to everything, everything has a root, everything has a shoresh. And that's what the nachkora is. vekadme hashmuros. So again here too the pshat is that vekadme hashmuros means more than just practically trying to squeeze extra time out of a day. Obviously the day is only 24 hours long, so how do you squeeze extra time out of the day? You sleep less. So that's true, it does mean that practically, Aseres Yimei Teshuva we do push ourselves to, again, for 10 days you can get along with less sleep than you can get along on a regular basis. So it does mean that practically. But again here too, pshat, so you don't have to tell me when, so maybe I should stay up later at night, or just say use your time, use your time. So the pshat is that vekadme hashmuros represents, I know when the Gemara in Berachos gives the simanim for the gimel hashmuros, so it talks about that the end. which coincides with the with Amud HaShachar so that's when people are waking up, that's when people are getting up. So the routine is that the night is given for sleep. And the night ends at Amud HaShachar, that's sort of the routine. And what's expressed by the hachalakas ashmoros again is is the same way the hachalakas ashmoros expresses that that that is being disrupted and and that the normal, just the sleeping peacefully al mishkavo baleylot is something that a person can't do, can't engage in during these Yemei Yirah VaFachad. What what other other comments. Going out of order here in in as the phrases appear. Rabbeinu Yonah writes that העת עת רצון והתפילה נשמעת בו. And we see this in the Rambam as well in Hilchot Teshuvah. But the pasuk which according to Chazal refers to again the special opportunity of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah is dirshu Hashem behimatzo. The second half of the pasuk is kera'uhu bihyoto karov. So Rabbeinu Yonah and and it seems meduyak in in the Rambam as well. So the bihyoto karov and the behimatzo refer to the same period of time. And Aseret Yemei Teshuvah are mesugal for two things: A, there's a special opportunity of teshuvah. B, there's a special koach hatefillah, that's what it means during these days, dirshu also kera'uhu bihyoto karov. dirshu and in referring to teshuvah and kera'uhu referring to to tefillah. It's a special zman tefillah also. That's what he says: ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה דרשו ה' בהמצאו אלו עשרת ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים
meaning and that's not only that pasuk is not only the source for for teshuvah during these days, it's the source for for tefillah during these days as well. And then then finally what's really, really remarkable here: lishpoch si'ach, okay, la'asot tefillah verinnah. rinnah is is song, is is obviously in a way that doesn't impinge upon the Yemei Yirah VaFachad, that doesn't impinge on the yishuv ra'ayon vehachitam. Take a look at the machzor. My father once commented other than the Avodat Yom HaKippurim which is obviously a a very significant part of of the tefillas hayom, so there are two two themes in in the machzor in our tefillah on Yom Kippur. One is basically Viddui and what's centered around the Viddui. And the other is shira. Some of the most beautiful piyutim, we had some on Rosh Hashanah also, most beautiful, beautiful piyutim. The eimat hadin which halevai should be real for us, halevai. doesn't preclude that the simcha or the expression thereof of rinah ashiba which Dirshu Hashem behimatzo also inspires. It's an extraordinary thing. Again, speaking metaphorically obviously, so kavyachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu is koreah the shiva rakiya and clears a path and no need for an appointment. Everyone has equal and free access. Yeah, the fact that the context of that is din should inspire yira v'pachad v'eimah, but it's also something which elicits a rinah that's also within yira, that's also an element of the experience of the aseres yimei teshuva, again, not in a way that's compatible with the להיות ראוי לנחיתה ולהשיב שיח וכו.