In Sha'ar Sheini of Sha'arei Teshuva, Rabbeinu Yonah identifies and discusses six occasions or times of the year, times of life, perspectives that can help awaken and arouse a person to do teshuva. The fifth of those six is Aseres Yemei Teshuva. It's the time period of Aseres Yemei Teshuva. You have Rabbeinu Yonah, so take a look at hadaf hachamishi in Sha'ar Sheini. It's perek yud-dalet. So Rabbeinu Yonah begins as follows: בעשרת ימי תשובה הירא את דבר השם libo yechrad bekirvo, is he'll tremble inwardly, בדעתו כי כל מעשיו בספר נכתבים, because of his awareness ובעת ההיא האלהים יביא במשפט את כל מעשה על כל נעלם אם טוב ואם רע כי האדם נידון בראש השנה וגזר דינו נחתם ביום הכיפורים. הירא את דבר השם,
again, literally one who fears the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Here Rabbeinu Yonah is offering a perspective which once we hear it from him is obvious and straightforward, and yet we're very much beholden to him for sensitizing us to it. To explain what that is, maybe let's just review for a minute at the very beginning of Sha'arei Teshuva, back in Sha'ar Rishon, os bes, Rabbeinu Yonah, referring to someone who procrastinates in doing teshuva. There seems to be a fundamental machloket between Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rambam what the time frame for mitzvat teshuva is. From the Rambam, it's mashma in perek bet of hilchot teshuva that the Torah gives a person latitude, and that even if a person is aware of a cheit, the time frame for doing teshuva, obviously you should do teshuva as soon as possible, optimally, שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך, for many reasons, one of which is שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. But lema'aseh lema'aseh, a person is not guilty of being mevatel that mitzvah, that chiyuv of doing teshuva, unless Yom Hakippurim comes and goes and he doesn't do teshuva. At Yom Hakippurim, which is a time of selicha mechila vechapara, if a person doesn't capitalize on that, so that's the deadline for doing teshuva. Again, if I'm in Tu B'Av, whatever chata'im I'm aware of, I should better I should do teshuva then, but lema'aseh, if I don't, I'm not guilty of having been mevatel until Yom Kippur comes and goes. At that point, mipat kach, a person would be guilty of having been mevatel the mitzvah, the chiyuv to do teshuva. Rabbeinu Yonah sounds like that he thinks the Torah's more demanding of us. If a person knows he did a cheit, he has to do teshuva right away. It's not something that a person puts on the number 15 on his to-do list. Number 1 is go to the grocery and buy a quart of milk. Number 2 is go to the bakery and get a danish. And number 15 on the list is, oh, by the way, I spoke some lashon hara and all that talk during davening. That's not the way it's supposed to be, Rabbeinu Yonah says. Okay. So in that context, here in os yud-dalet, Rabbeinu Yonah says: ודע כי החוטא כאשר יתאחר לשוב מחטאו יכבד עליו מאד עונשו בכל יום.
The onesh, rachmana litzlan, is heavier. intensifies. Why? כי הוא יודע כי יצא הקצף עליו ויש לו מנוס לנוס שמה.
Because he knows that there is kaveiyachol anger directed against him and he knows that there's a refuge vehamanos hu hateshuvah. And they quote from the Arizal that one of the acronyms of Elul is אנה לידו ושמתי לך. That those four words in the context of ir miklat, if a person didn't kill intentionally but elokim ina leyado, Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought it to his hand, Hakadosh Baruch Hu orchestrated it, it happened unintentionally, so then ושמתי לך מקום אשר ינוס שמה. So again the Torah speaking in the voice of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so I will provide you a place of refuge where he can escape to. So אנה לידו ושמתי לך. So they quote from the Arizal that that's another, the rashei teivos of Elul that Elul represents that as well. Because it's a time for teshuvah and that's what Rabbeinu Yonah says, hamanosa hu hateshuvah. The place of refuge that a person has is to do teshuvah. And the person knowing that והוא עומד במרדו והנהו ברשעו, ובידו לצאת מתחת ההפיכה, the person can extricate himself from this situation ולא יגור מפני אף החמה. And he's not afraid. על כן רשעתו רבה. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה בעניין הזה
they give the following mashal. משל לכת לסטים שחבשם המלך בבית הסוהר. You have a group of bandits that the melech imprisons in the dungeon vachatru machteret and they tunneled out to the outside of the jail grounds. Partzu vaya'avoru. Of that band of robbers nishar echad mehem. One of them didn't join the escape. בא שר בית הסוהר when the morning comes, he sees the tunnel והאיש ההוא עדנו עצור, and he sees that this one of them robbers is still there in the jail. Vayakeihu bemateh, so he beats him. אמר לו קשה יום, הלא המחתרת חתורה לפניך ובאיך לא מהרת המלט נפשך.
There is a tunnel right here, why didn't you take advantage of it? So sometimes when we read this mashal, it's a little bit confusing because we think aderaba, he's following, being law-abiding by not breaking out of jail. But that's not the angle from which chazal wanted us to look at the mashal. The angle at which we're supposed to look at the mashal is that the person who doesn't bother to run away shows that he's contemptuous of the king's ability to punish him. He doesn't need to run away. It's not that he's doing it out of a sense of being law-abiding. If he was law-abiding he wouldn't be sitting there. It's mashal lekat listim. He wasn't falsely accused and convicted. He's not, he doesn't stay out of any sense of lawful behavior. It shows contempt for the king and the king's ability to hold him to account. So lema'aseh what Rabbeinu Yonah is saying here, הירא את דבר השם is saying the same thing. And again, once he says it, it's so obvious. But he's saying if Aseret Yemei Teshuvah a person is not in a healthy sense, in a religiously healthy sense, a person is not deeply concerned, so it means he doesn't take Hakadosh Baruch Hu's word seriously. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that ספרי חיים ספרי מתים פתוחים. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that right now a person's fate is being decided. And he's working on his golf, he's working on his golf game, he's trying to get his handicap down to whatever, it's time to lower his handicap. That's what Rabbeinu Yonah says: Hayom Hazeh Hashem. It's not stam that the person, it's not just the lack of a ma'alah, it's there's a, it's ignoring Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says listen, you should know, this is the time of din. It's the same idea as in the mashal that Rabbeinu Yonah presents in the beginning of Sha'ar Rishon. And that's some of what he means there about Hayom Hazeh Hashem. If a person doesn't have bitul of time to the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he takes it seriously, Hayom Hazeh Hashem. So then he has to feel the way a person feels, ich veiss, as a mashal, the night before a serious surgery where לבו יחרד בקרבו ודעתו כחל חמשה ובשכלו נחפנה. That's a little bit of a funny phrase, no? כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים we assume is always the case, right? כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים. It's not just the Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Now the Mishna in Pirkei Avos tells us that כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים. So that's always the case. So what does Rabbeinu Yonah mean that Aseret Yemei Teshuva כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים more so than the rest of the year? So in Avos on that mishna in the beginning of Perek Beis, so Rabbeinu Yonah says what כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים means. והדבר השלישי וכל מעשיך בספר נכתבים ובא לומר שאין שכחה לפני כסא כבודו והרי כל הדברים סדורים לפניו כאילו הם בספר נכתבים לשלם אותם כפועלם וכמעשה ידיהם.
So כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים means again there's an accounting. Don't think that anything sort of just falls by the wayside. No, there's an accounting. So then you can sort of see how Rabbeinu Yonah, how you could use the phrase in two ways. The כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים means that sort of everything, everything is registering in terms of accountability. And the כל מעשיך בספר נכתבים can also be used, and now is when the accounting is being done. And now is when the accounting is happening. ובעת ההיא אלוקים יביא במשפט את כל מעשה על כל נעלם אם טוב ואם רע. כי האדם נידון בראש השנה וגזר דינו נחתם ביום הכיפורים. ובעת שידע האדם כי יביאו את דינו לפני מלך בשר ודם הלא יחרד חרדה גדולה וישית זאת בנפשו ובכל דרכי חריצות יבקש מפלט לו.
He's going to take every possible initiative and he's going to employ every possible tactic and he's going to strategize how he can emerge with a favorable verdict. ותטול רוחו לפנות על ימין או על שמאל ולהתעסק ביתר חפציו.
The fact that his life hangs in the balance just very naturally overshadows everything else and nothing else is pressing because if he doesn't get the verdict that he wants, that he needs, then nothing else really is consequential. ולא ישכח לפתח ולשדד אדמתו ולא יפנה יפנה דרך כרמים.
He's not gonna go about, he's describing the routine of a farmer, ולא ירפה ביום צרה. He's not gonna slacken off מהשתדל להינצל כצבי מיד. He's gonna be full throttle ahead to do whatever he can to try to ensure a favorable verdict. So that's what it would be if a person was coming before melech basar vadam and his life was hanging in the balance. Basically what Rabbenu Yonah here is talking about is something which is very challenging. I think it's one of the biggest challenges that we have. A very, very, very big challenge. I don't know how it was in earlier generations. Stam, this kind of vort, stam, earlier generations they were much better at this. In our generation, for us, it's a very, very formidable challenge to grasp and to relate to the reality, the spiritual reality, the reality of Torah. What does that mean? Torah, one can think of Torah as things that I'm supposed to do, things I'm supposed to abstain from doing. Or we can relate to Torah as a reality. A chet is not something, is not just something I'm not supposed to do, it's a poison. Spiritually, it's really, it's a poison. It's not just something I'm not supposed to do, it's a poison. The difference between those two attitudes, right? How often do we hear or do we say whenever a person is doing something which maybe is not the most healthy behavior, he's eating something which maybe isn't the healthiest thing to eat, he's drinking something which maybe isn't the healthiest thing to drink, or whatever he's doing? So we say, we hear others say, "I really shouldn't, but." So the mindset which allows for "I really shouldn't, but" is that I'm not misyaches to it as a reality. I'm misyaches to it as something I need to do, I should do. But hey, you know what, you got a 95 on a test, that's pretty good. You know, you still have a 3.98764 GPA and it'll get you where you need to go, be'ezrat Hashem. Okay, so "I really shouldn't, but." So bameh devarim amurim is that "I really shouldn't." If this is poison, so a person doesn't say "I really shouldn't, but." It's poison. Tell me, "I really shouldn't." A person doesn't do it. Again, it's so simple to formulate but kamedumeh, if we think about it, if we, it's a question very, very, very much worth pondering whether Torah for us is things we should and shouldn't do, or it's a reality, the reality. That's what Rabbenu Yonah is trying to say, that aseres yemei teshuva is not just about being a mitzvah, or it is all that, it's all that, but it's... Because he says that a cheit is a spiritual poison. The Chafetz Chaim as well has this—what's the sefer that—that's pshat in the phrase יראת שמים ויראת חטא. What does yiras cheit mean? What does that add to yiras shamayim? A person has yiras shamayim. What else does yiras shamayim mean but that he tries to abide by the Shulchan Aruch? What else is there? He says no, yiras cheit means that the person not only has the attitude that this is assur, I'm not allowed to do it, but he's afraid of the cheit, he's afraid of the cheit the same way rachmana litzlan is a cheifetz chashud, so no one wants to go near the cheifetz chashud. It's not just a question of I shouldn't but I will. No, it's a question of a reality. A question of a reality. Yiras cheit means he has that the cheit is a reality. That's what Rabbeinu Yona is trying to get through to us. לכן מה נואלו היוצאים מפעלם ואשר נדמו פולשים לכן מה נואלו היוצאים לפעלם ולעבודתם המרה בימים הנוראים ימי הדין והמשפט ואינם יודעים מה יהיה משפטם.
They go on about their routines, their routines are not changed in the least. הלא על אחותם יהגה לבם ביום שידובר בה שנאמר מה נעשה לאחותנו ביום שידובר בה.
How can it be that they're not concerned with their souls? Here comes Rabbeinu Yona's prescription that he writes for us, that we're supposed to try to implement during the Aseres Yemei Teshuva. ובמורה בכל ירא אלהים וממעיט בעסקיו. As much as possible, whatever discretion a person has, so he should try to minimize whatever mundane involvements he has during these days. ולהיות רעיונו נחתים על תשובתו ותיקונו lashon of fear. And a person should try to set aside times ויתבונן ביום ובלילה עתים lehisboded bachadarav. He should seclude himself, and during those times of seclusion ulchapess drachav velachkor, and a person should take inventory, a person should be scrutinizing himself, his actions, his middos, his goals, his aspirations, his assumptions, his actions. What Rabbeinu Yona is telling us by yomam valaila is lichora modeled on talmud torah of והגית בו יומם ולילה. That the din is, again, let's say given whatever halachically appropriate other obligations and commitments that a person is juggling in. In life he has three hours of a day. So the din is that he's not supposed to have all of those three hours in the day or all of those three hours at night, but there has to be at least one component in the day, one component at night, והגית בו יומם ולילה. And what that represents, al pi din, is that creates a tmidus. Sometimes it tamid as much as is whatever the ner maaravi was tamid that it was burning 24/7. So sometimes tamid is literal, p'shuto k'mashmao. It's 365 or 354, 24/7. But other times, u'feis, the olas tamid, so the tmidim are tmidim. It doesn't mean that all day long they're being makriv the tamid. So sometimes tmidus expresses itself with a regularity. In terms of Talmud Torah, the והגית בו יומם ולילה which requires a tmidus says that even given whatever again halakhically appropriate obligations and preoccupations a person is juggling, but the way there has to be a tmidus of Talmud Torah and the way it expresses itself is yomam va'layla. And that's what Rabbeinu Yona is telling us that the soul searching of the aseres yemei teshuvah is supposed to be a tmidus to it. Again here too it doesn't mean that we're supposed to be soul searching 24/7. A person's also supposed to be actively doing other things as he's about to describe. So then how does the tmidus of the nachpisa deracheinu venachkora of the hisbodedus translate if it's not supposed to translate like the tmidus of the ner maaravi? That's what says no, it should translate on the model of והגית בו יומם ולילה and again even if what's going to serve me best is X minutes or X hours of hisbodedus, some of it should be bayom, some of it should be balayla. For the moment glossing over which obviously ultimately one shouldn't do, but for the moment glossing over the different neshamos of tefillah that Rabbeinu Yona draws upon here, but he very very much emphasizes the role of tefillah, לשפוך שיח לעשות תפילה ורינה ולהפיל תחינה והעת עת רצון והתפילה נשמעת.
So the emphasis is like this: you find the same thing in the Rambam as well. And again here too tochen is a certain correction to our perception of things. The Rambam quotes the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah juxtaposes it and as you know the two psukim, the pasuk from Va'eschanan of לה' אלוקינו בכל קראנו אליו, which sounds like a person again 354 24/7, a person never needs an appointment. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is always equally accessible. And the Gemara juxtaposes that to the pasuk in Yeshayahu of דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב. And the Gemara answers כאן ביחיד כאן בציבור that a tzibbur is לה' אלוקינו בכל קראנו אליו and a yachid is דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב ואלו עשרת ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים.
These are the aseres yemei teshuvah. But if you take a look in... it's basically in the pasuk. But again we sort of focus on aseres yemei teshuvah, but the pasuk says... two things, right? דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב. Again, so the behimatzo and bihyoto karov are parallel, but the navi talks about two activities which these ten days provide a special opportunity for. For dirshu Hashem and for kera'uhu. And the peshat is what that translates into is that a, teshuva is mitkabelet beyoter, dirshu Hashem behimatzo, but tefilla is also mitkabelet beyoter. And the Aseret Yemei Teshuva is a special zman. Really we should call them עשרת ימי תשובה ותפילה. Really that's what we should to reinforce this point. That Aseret Yemei Teshuva is a zman where again there's a special koach to our teshuva, to the dirshu Hashem behimatzo in those ten days. But it's also a zman where there's a special koach to our tefilla, kera'uhu bihyoto karov. The Rambam writes אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם. So he's talking about teshuva and about tefilla, right? בעשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומיד היא מתקבלת.
And that's what Rabbeinu Yonah clearly also is telling us. The emphasis again on לשפוך שיח לעשות תפילה ורינה להפיל תחינה. Why? כי עת רצון ואני תפילתי נשמעת בו כעניין שנאמר בעת רצון עניתיך וביום ישועה עזרתיך ואמרו רבותינו ז"ל דרשו ה' בהמצאו אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים.
So that identifies those ten days as a tkufa again not just of teshuva but a tkufa of tefilla. It's a special zman tefilla. Obviously the tefilla is in the context of and linked to the teshuva. But it is a special zman of tefilla. That doesn't mean, that doesn't mean, again it's tefilla again in the context of and linked to the teshuva. That doesn't mean that because I don't know, I have something on my wishlist so sort of without it being in a broader context of teshuva so I'm trying to capitalize on Aseret Yemei Teshuva that that Lincoln Town Car that I've been pining for for so many years I should finally get it. מצות עשה מן התורה says Rabbeinu Yonah v'hayah adam s'mucho. It's a separate distinct mitzvah that a person should awaken himself, stimulate himself לחזור בתשובה ביום הכיפורים. שנאמר מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו.
So titharu Rabbeinu Yonah says is to be understood as an imperative, not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying I'm going to purify you, but titharu that you're supposed to be purifying yourselves. That's why Rabbeinu Yonah repeats this again in Sha'ar Revi'i and he uses this understanding in the pasuk to answer Chazal tell us the chilukei kappara. That if a person's over al asseh and he does teshuva so miyad he is nimchal. But a lo ta'asseh also needs Yom HaKippurim. But if it's, but if it's chamuros such as kareisos and missas beis din, so then it needs not only Yom Kippur but it also needs yissurim. And if it's Chillul Hashem, so then it needs Yom Kippur and yissurim, but even then the kappara doesn't come until a person dies. So Rabbeinu Yonah says, you'll ask how can Chazal say there's anything for which Yom Kippur doesn't give the final and full kappara? Doesn't it say מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו? So he says no, the pshat in the pasuk is כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם. And the Torah doesn't spell out what the scope of that kappara is. כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם. Period. מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו. The second half of the pasuk is addressing us, that you have a chiyuv to be chozer bitshuva, to be metaher yourselves mi-kol chatoseichem, but the mi-kol chatoseichem is modifying the chiyuv of titharu. על כן יזהר הכתוב שנטהר לפני ה' בתשובתנו והוא יכפר עלינו ביום הזה ויטהר אותנו.
Sha'arei Teshuva is a very heavy sefer, very sober and potentially at times depressing. A very heavy sefer. Every person has to when you go to the doctor, often when you go to the doctor, and the doctor has to write a prescription, so they adjust it to the body. It has to be individualized. The prescription has to be individualized. That's why they obviously give a much lighter, smaller dose to a child than they give to an adult. So sifrei mussar also, in terms of the dosage of sifrei mussar, they also need to be individualized. It's not Rabbeinu Yonah's intention, it's not our intention when learning Rabbeinu Yonah, to break a person, chas veshalom. Rabbeinu Yonah's intention, and our intention when we try to learn it, is to break a yetzer hara. It's to break through a maybe a wall of spiritual insensitivity and indifference, chas veshalom to break a person. And a person has to measure out the dosage, whether it's Sha'arei Teshuva, Mesillas Yesharim, or anything of the like. A person has to know where he is. If there is no wall of indifference there, so he needs a lighter dose or maybe he doesn't need any dose. Or maybe the only part of Sha'arei Teshuva he should be learning is where Rabbeinu Yonah gives the three reasons for why there's a מצות אכילה ערב יום כיפור. In Sha'ar Revi'i, Rabbeinu Yonah gives three reasons for why there's a מצות אכילה ערב יום כיפור. So he says one reason is pashut, the Torah wants us to fortify ourselves for the ta'anis. Well, the Torah's encouraging us to eat so that if you go into Yom Kippur dehydrated, so then the ta'anis is going to be much, much more difficult than if you go into Yom Kippur having been properly nourished. But then Rabbeinu Yonah gives another reason, and he says that as is the case in every context, the mitzvas achila reflects simcha, and it's the simcha at the impending mechilas avonos. And that's what the mitzvas achila on erev Yom Kippur is. So it could be that some people should only learn that part in Sha'arei Teshuva. So everyone needs to adjust the dosage to himself individually. And make sure that the only thing under the chuppah that gets broken is the yetzer hara and nothing beyond that. Mazel tov. Okay.