Hi, good morning rabbosai, I apologize for the delay. Continuing with the drasha, the shiur about the relationship between teshuva and bechirah chofshis. The Rav has a very, very fundamental and remarkable discussion about what the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha consists of. Excuse me, what comprises the mitzvah. Now there's the way it's formatted, the way it's presented, at least in its redaction in Al HaTeshuva, the Rav himself didn't write Al HaTeshuva; it was written second-hand based on the teshuva drashos, so one cannot be medayek in Al HaTeshuva the way one is medayek in his own kesav yad. So there's the way it's presented and then there's the tochan hadvarim. So I'd like to begin with a comment on the way it's presented, but please let's try to be clear on this line between the tzuras hadvarim and the tochan hadvarim. So the tzuras hadvarim as it's again, with an element of mipi hashemua presented in the drasha here in Al HaTeshuva, focuses on the different wording that the Rambam has in the Yad as opposed to Sefer HaMitzvos for the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. That in the Yad, the Rambam says יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון. Rambam employs the verb, the term yediyah. In Sefer HaMitzvos the lashon is המצוה הראשונה היא שציונו להאמין באלוהות והוא שנאמין שיש שם עילה וסיבה.
And again as it's presented, again with a somewhat indirect, excuse me, somewhat indirect here in the Al HaTeshuva, the Rav talks about two different elements or aspects of the mitzvah as reflected in those two different terms, in those two different verbs of leha'amin and leida. The tzuras hadvarim is very surprising and again it is mipi hashemua and maybe that sort of preempts the question, because if you take a look, Rav Chaim Heller very famously, the Rambam wrote with the exception of the Mishneh Torah, the Yad HaChazakah and the Teshuvos L'Chachmei Lunel, so the Rambam wrote everything else in Judeo-Arabic. The Peirush HaMishnayos, the Sefer HaMitzvos, the Moreh, most of his teshuvos were all written in Judeo-Arabic. The Yad he wrote in lashon hakodesh and it's generally and widely assumed the Teshuvos L'Chachmei Lunel also the Rambam wrote in lashon hakodesh but everything else he wrote in Judeo-Arabic and we're learning in translation. So Rav Chaim Heller quotes from a frum professor of Oriental languages at Berlin University at the time, that the word that Ibn Tibbon translated as leha'amin could also be translated as leida. And I think he even goes on, excuse me, he even goes on to comment that in Rav Saadia Gaon's Emunos V'Deyos, Rav Saadia Gaon also wrote in Judeo-Arabic, in Rav Saadia Gaon's Emunos V'Deyos the word that that's translated as Deios in Emunas V'Deios is the same word that in the Rambam's Sefer HaMitzvos is translated as L'Haamin as Emunas HaElokus. So the emes is that in light of this he'arah, there isn't really room for any discussion as to is there a stirah, there isn't a stirah, but here the emphasis is one way, there the emphasis is the other way. Yitachen that the Rambam said the same thing in both places. And the reason it's so surprising is because I think we know that the Rav was very much aware of it. In footnote thirteen in Ish HaHalacha, so he references this he'arah of Rav Chaim Heller. עיין בספר המצוות של הרמב"ם מצות עשה א הוצאת ידידי הגאון והגדול מהר"ח הלר שליט"א
uv'hagahoso sham. ואמנם בגוף הערבי כתובה מלת Etakad? Aleph, Ayin, Taf, Kof, Aleph, Dalet, שבאמת יש לו גם מובן דעת ושפיר נוכל לתרגם שציוונו בידיעת האלוקות והוא שנדע.
Oh so I'm sorry, so this part Rav Chaim Heller said on his own. What he quotes from the professor, וידידי החכם הפרופסור יצחק מיטבוך ז"ל העירני מספר של רב סעדיה גאון שנקרא בערבית
in Arabic, and the latter word of Emunas V'Deios is the same word that the Rambam's using here that Ibn Tibbon translated as Emunah. So in terms of the tzuras hadevarim, the peshat is in light of this he'arah that there's no Torah to be said based on that based on contrasting the translation of Sefer HaMitzvos with the Rambam's own words in the Yad, because yitachen the translation of Sefer HaMitzvos should have been different, in which case the Rambam said the same thing in both places. However, that having been said, lema'aseh everything that the Rav says about the shitas haRambam is independently mucha'ach minei uvey even without this prompt, even without without being toleh it in lashon la'amin in the Sefer HaMitzvos and leida in the Yad. What does the Rav say? The Rav says that his understanding is that when the Rambam says there's a mitzvah leida, Rambam doesn't just mean to know intellectually. He doesn't just mean to cognitively understand and recognize, but that a person should have an awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And when it says יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון, what it means is that a person should have an awareness which colors everything he sees and everything he experiences, the lens through which a person views the world. So every so many years they decide to look what the state of belief is in America. So in America, you can't tell what the state of belief is by what people do because people do whatever they want to do. So that's really the way you gauge whether a person is a ma'amin. You gauge whether a person is a ma'amin by how he lives his life. Now in America, so there's a different shita. In America, you do whatever you want and then on the questionnaire you say yes you believe in God and that's supposed to buy you a one-way ticket to heaven when the time comes. So you can't tell whether people supposedly believe by their actions. yitachen that it's true on some detached level with a lot of dissonance between that and behavior and lifestyle. So that's there's one bechina to intellectually know, yeah, intellectually I understand the world has not been around forever, something doesn't appear, something physical doesn't appear from nothing on its own, that's the ultimate absurdity. There's Rebono Shel Olam, there's a Borei Olam, a person I see that our masora is just so compelling, I see there was a Ma'amad Har Sinai, a person can have belief, knowledge, which is intellectual. It's something that the person cognitively, intellectually grasps. And what the Rav here is coming to tell us so so yesodusdig is that of course that's included in mitzvas anochi, but that's not the extent of mitzvas anochi. And what mitzvas anochi again in its fuller sense is that leida also means to have an awareness. That's what the Rav has this poetic description, a person goes outside and he sees a shkia, so he experiences it in light of his belief that all existence comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, is rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu etc. So that's the yesod that the Rav is discussing as you saw in learning the shiur, the drasha. Lemaise we'll come in a minute to one raya the Rav himself suggests to this in the footnote of ve-kashitem mi-sham that you saw. But let's take a look at something else as well. If you happen to have on hand a Sefer HaMitzvos, so take a look. I apologize for not having given advance notice on this one. But if you have a Sefer HaMitzvos, take a look. Just one word of introduction. Well, let's okay, let's just see the Sefer HaMitzvos. ha-mitzva ha-rishona, take a look at ha-mitzva ha-rishona. המצוה הראשונה היא הציווי אשר ציוונו להאמין באלהות. The first mitzva is the commandment of belief in divinity. והוא שנאמין שיש שם עילה וסיבה. We should be ma'amin that there's a cause, a source for all existence. הוא פועל לכל הנמצאים. And he's the life force, the source of life, the existence from which all else derives, within which all else exists. הוא אמרו יתברך אנכי ה' אלהיך. Okay, good. Let's turn the page, ha-mitzva ha-sheniya. The second mitzva, המצוה השנייה היא הציווי שציוונו באמונת היחוד. והוא שנאמין כי פועל המציאות וסיבתו הראשונה אחד.
So the mitzva hashniya elaborates as it were on the mitzva harishona and it tells us the mitzva to be ma'amin that Hakadosh Baruch Hu to whom as it were we were introduced in the mitzva harishona is unique. And part of that uniqueness by definition is that there's no multiplicity associated with him. He's echad. Okay, so let's skip to ha-mitzva ha-revi'is. המצוה הרביעית היא שציוונו להאמין יראתו יתברך ולהיפחד ממנו. So Rav Kapach in his translation of Sefer HaMitzvos... has a footnote here and he says that Ibn Tibbon translated lehamin yiraso and then Rav Kappach who was candid in sharing his opinion of earlier translations writes that איני יודע כיצד מאמינים יראה. איני יודע כיצד מאמינים יראה
meaning the phrase to believe his fear is a nonsensical phrase. So what is what does Rav Kappach suggest as an alternative? שנתצווינו לגבור בדעתנו יראתו יתעלה. But the emes is like this. The yodei davar point out amongst them Professor Schwartz zichrono livracha that Ibn Tibbon in his translations did something which is really crucial. He always translated the same Arabic word in the Rambam to the same Hebrew word in the translation so that you can be medayek when you're learning Ibn Tibbon's translations you can be medayek that the Rambam used the same word in two different places. That's a gevaltige zach because the whole problem with translation is you know the translator as much as he tries not to stands in between us and the mechaber and the translator doesn't want to do that. The translator as much as possible wants to stand to the side and just facilitate our learning directly from the Rambam. He doesn't want to be the go-between. But if you don't translate the same word consistently so then you're doing that to a you're placing yourself in between others and the original mechaber. So the point is here that in each of these three mitzvos of Anochi, השם אלוקינו השם אחד, and yiras Hashem the Rambam used the same verb and Ibn Tibbon therefore used the same verb also. But what possible verb is there? In the first two I don't know so we would say believe or know that there's a Ribono shel Olam for Anochi Hashem Elokecha. To השם אלוקינו השם אחד. Again we would say believe or know. But then to something yira. How do you fill in that same blank three times? What one verb fills in those what one verb or phrase fits into all three contexts? Again so just re-reading when the Rambam said והוא שנאמין שיש שם עילה וסיבה הוא פועל לכל הנמצאות שנאמין כי פועל המציאות וסיבתו הראשונה אחד
and then sheitzivanu lehamin yiraso. In each case where Ibn Tibbon said lehamin the Rambam said the same word. So how do you Ibn Tibbon was struggling with something here. So what what word fits in? Right? What word plugs in? We would say to have yiras shamayim and we would say to believe or to know Hashem and Hashem Echad. And yet the Rambam has a word maybe that word needs to translate as a phrase but whatever it is the Rambam has a word a word-phrase that fits that fits into all three. So the peshatus is that what the Rambam means and what Ibn Tibbon was using lehamin in this sense is lehamin for Ibn Tibbon means something knowledge for Ibn Tibbon he was afraid that we would translate that as something again purely intellectual. Something something to which a person intellectually subscribes. Something which a person cognitively grasps. Right? We all know that two plus two is four but you know unless we're shopping and are supposed to come home with four tomatoes not more not less we're not necessarily walking around thinking about the fact that two plus two is is. Rambam say and how do you express it? So pashta says that the word or phrase that that plugs in to the mitzvah of Anochi, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad and yiras Hashem is to have an intellectually based awareness. Again, to have an intellectually based awareness. A person should have if you take that phrase, so that plugs in, right? There is a mitzvah, mitzvas asei to have an intellectually based awareness, not just well, I'll believe it, I don't know if it's true, it's not true, no, it's an intellectually based awareness. A person has an intellectually based awareness in the Ribono shel Olam of of the that there's the Ribono shel Olam. That that there's the Ribono shel Olam who's echad yachid umeyuchad and a person has an intellectually based awareness of of yira. So then that same word phrase plugs in into each of these three contexts. Did you hear that rabosai? And that's what that Ibn Tibbon is clearly using, davar gadol diber. davar gadol diber. That's what Ibn Tibbon is using leha'amin in that sense. kumt ois so now when you come back to again to the tochen of of what the Rav has as it's presented there mipi hashemua in in the Al HaTeshuva. That mitzvas Anochi is not only to know or believe, but it's to experience the world that way, it's to have an awareness. So the Rambam said that mefurash in Sefer HaMitzvos. Because in Sefer HaMitzvos, the Rambam uses the same verb for Anochi, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad and yiras Hashem. So what verb is there for the again, we would say to have or cultivate yira, to know or believe metziyas Hashem, yichud Hashem. And the Rambam has the same word phrase. And that same word phrase that fits into all three is leha'amin means to have an intellectually based awareness which consists of Anochi, Hashem Elokecha, Hashem Echad, yiras Hashem. So then kumt ois that what the Rav says is mefurash in the Rambam. The Rambam is saying that the mitzvah of Anochi is not simply to know or believe. No, but it means something that permeates a person's consciousness, because it means when a person goes out to the world, he sees the world as a davar hanivra. That that the again, the full kiyum of Anochi to which we strive is that a person goes out into the world and he sees the world, he experiences the world as as a davar hanivra. lekhoise משל למה הדבר דומה. That's how you go out onto the onto the street. And and you're near a you're near a corner where where two streets intersect. And and you see a little child, again you have a right angle corner intersection between between two two two cross streets. And and you see a child here, ikh veys a two-year-old, a three-year-old. And and within your line of vision you don't see a parent or a babysitter or an older sibling. But you know, you see the child, you see this is a two-year-old, this is not a child who's who's out and about by himself. You know by seeing the child, by who the child is, by what the child is, your your view of the child, your understanding of the child is such that you know right here right here around the corner, you can only see over here, but right here around the corner, you know that obviously there's a parent and the child ran ahead. So so the mitzvah of Anochi again is that it's it's this all-encompassing awareness and lens. And and that's what the Rav is is describing again as as reproduced in the drasha. Be-munach again, separate please in your minds the how it's being presented from the what. We're interested in the what. ואולם במונח לידע הכוונה לתודעה מתמדת, a constant perpetual awareness. להכרה תמידית שהאמונה באלוקים תהיה לאדם בבחינת זיקה שאינה פוסקת,
orientatzyo shel keva, it's an orientation. Metzi'ut chayeha, a living reality שאינו יכול להסיח דעתו ממנה אפילו למחצית הדקה, even for half a minute. תודעה זו של מציאות הקדוש ברוך הוא, this awareness of ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu, מוכרחה להיות היסוד למחשבותינו ורעיונותינו ורגשותינו בכל המצבים ובכל התנאים.
It should be the source for our thoughts, our ideas, our feelings in all situations and in all circumstances. הכל הכל מוכרח להסובב מסביב לאמונה זו. Everything, everything circles. This is the center of gravity for everything. Everything circles around that. And then the Rav has his description. קם אדם בשחרית וראה חמה בזריחתה, a person gets up in the morning, he sees a sunrise. יוצא לחוץ בין הערביים כאשר החמה בשקיעתה ורואה את עובי האש העוטפים את האופק בסתר הנשפות של יום חולף.
Again he sees the beauty of a sunrise of a sunset. הרי מוכרח הוא לראות בתפארת זו של זריחה ושקיעה בחוקיות קוסמית מופלאה זו את ההשתקפות של כבוד השם.
A person sees kvod Hashem reflected in that. And then the Rav goes on to say that that's this lens of that the world is experienced through a lens of Anochi Hashem Elokecha is not limited to just natural phenomena, it's the basis of the bracha that we make if you see an extraordinary chacham, מחכמי ישראל שחלק מחכמתו ליראיו. If you see a chacham from umot ha-olam שחלק מחכמתו לבשר ודם, also reflects the same idea of how a person sees and experiences everything in light of Anochi because that's what the mitzvas Anochi in its fullest sense entails is that it's an awareness of ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu at all times in every context. This idea the Rav had already presented in the beginning of U-vikashtem mi-sham. And then interestingly and here we just want to try to understand pshat in what the Rav means. So in the text the Rav writes i efshar lachshov, again this is the text leading into footnote four so it's towards the beginning of U-vikashtem. אי אפשר לחשוב לדבר ולדון על מציאות העולם ואדם, here this is the Rav's actual words. One cannot think about, speak about, deliberate about metzi’ut olam ve-adam, the existence of the cosmos of man, אם אין חיים ומרגישים את מקור ההוויה. If a person doesn't live and sense the source of all existence, ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu. And then the Rav quotes יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא והוא ממציא כל נמצא וכל הנמצאים משמים וארץ. ואם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי אין דבר אחר יכול להימצאות ואם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים מלבדו מצויים הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי ולא יבטל הוא בביטולם.
How does this prove the Rav's point? What do you see here that the Rambam's leda, and again, agav, the question on on Ibn Tibbon is that the Rambam clearly was comfortable using leda to mean not just intellectual understanding, cognitively grasping, the Rambam clearly was comfortable using leda in this broader sense. So that's the kasha which I think remains tzarich iyun on Ibn Tibbon unless he just thought that in Arabic no one made that association, I don't know, but I don't know. That's the kasha on Ibn Tibbon that remains, that's the tzarich iyun on Ibn Tibbon. But what do you see in this leshon HaRambam, again, that leda doesn't just mean to know discursively, cognitively, intellectually, but it means this this awareness, something that's embedded in a person's awareness. And what does he see that that it means that whatever a person sees or experiences, he sees in in the light of or in the shadow of of his yedias Hashem? The Rav sees it in these lines. This is a gevaldig example, you know, there's a famous comment that has been preserved and recorded from Rav Chaim Ozer. Rav Chaim Ozer said about Rav Chaim generally thought of in terms of his unparalleled gaonos and depth and profundity, so Rav Chaim Ozer famously said that Rav Chaim was the biggest baki. Biggest baki, that no one could approach Rav Chaim's bekius. And then he explained because קיינער ווייסט נישט זיינע תוספותן. He says other people know all the Tosfos in Shas, and yet they don't know Rav Chaim's Tosfos in Shas because they don't see in the Tosfos what Rav Chaim sees in the Tosfos. So this is a perfect example of that. So we all read this Rambam time and time again and so what did the Rav see here? So at least two things, maybe mentioning at least one of the two for now. The Rambam mentions the yedia about Hashem and the yedia about the world in the same breath. Again, rereading the leshon HaRambam. יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל נמצא וכל הנמצאים משמים וארץ ומה שביניהם לא נמצאו אלא מאמיתת הימצאו ואם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי
eino matzui excuse me אין דבר אחר יכול להימצאות. So in the same breath of yedias Hashem, the Rambam in the same breath says and everything else is derivative, contingent, dependent, and in case we didn't get it the first time the Rambam says it a second time and he says and if you'll do a thought experiment and imagine that there's no Ribbono shel Olam, so nothing else can exist. It's sort of like saying do a thought experiment. Can a puppet move if there's no hand inside the puppet making its its motions? Can can the puppet talk if the ventriloquist is not throwing his voice? Right? So that really drives home that it's nothing keshela'atzmo. And when the Rambam presents that understanding of the world, it's not something we're deducing from Yedi'as Hashem. It's not something we're inferring from Yedi'as Hashem, it's part of our Yedi'as Hashem. You hear that rabbosai? It's not a corollary, it's not a deduction, it's not an inference. It's part of... What do you mean it's part of Yedi'as Hashem? How is it part of Yedi'as Hashem? How is it part of Anochi to recognize that we and everything else again are derivative, contingent, dependent, be'kitzer nothing? How is that part of Yedi'as Hashem? So the teiruetz is, that's what the Rav says, no, if Yedi'as Hashem means not only belief that there's a Ribono Shel Olam, but it means an awareness of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. So the awareness of Anochi Hashem Elokecha means that when a person looks out into the world, when a person looks into the mirror, so the same way when you look at a puppet, you know that the puppet can't be moving if there's not a hand inside to manipulate and orchestrate. And when you hear this doll talking, so then you know that this guy is a very accomplished ventriloquist and who knows how to throw his voice. That's how you perceive the puppet. That's how you perceive the doll, which seems to be talking. So the nimshal obviously not in a way that it encroaches upon Bechiras Chofshis obviously, that's not intended as part of the mashal, but the nimshal is that heiyos that the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem is not only again belief in or knowledge of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but it's a belief in, knowledge of, which generates an all-encompassing awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So then it's not just a deduction, not just an inference, not just a corollary, but it's integral to the mitzvah of Anochi Hashem Elokecha that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is hamamzi kol nimtza and everything else in terms of existence, not in terms of lack of Bechira rachmana litzlan, everything else in terms of existence is like the puppet, is like the talking doll in the as part of the routine of the ventriloquist. There's more to it but that's I think the part that we should be discussing now. Then the Rav goes on and this is sort of how this enters the shiur, the drasha of about Bechiras Chofshis, he says that the same way a person's belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu is something which is an awareness, something which is embedded in the person's awareness, so too the knowledge of Bechiras Chofshis shouldn't just be something that a person is intellectually aware, intellectually subscribes to and not just something that he intellectually grasps, but it should be something which is internalized that the person should know and feel that he has those kochos, not just if you ask him yeah I suppose that's true, but then a person really feels helpless and powerless to overcome obstacles. No, it's that the person is supposed to again that it should become that it should translate that the knowledge should translate into awareness is true for this yesod as well. That's what the Rav points to, the fact that the Rambam makes a point of telling us that Bechiras Chofshis is not only something we know as a matter of faith through the Torah, but it's also something that can be known al pi chochma. al pi chochma means that it's something which is intuitive to us, something that a person therefore can and therefore should just viscerally feel and the difference being that it's so much קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו when a person has that awareness. Okay, there's still much more in this drasha to deal with, so bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem the Thursday Bein Keseh Le'asor as well hopefully we'll return to this. I wish everyone a גוט געבענטשט געזונט יאר kesiva vachasima tova yimalei Hashem mishalos. Okay, well there's still much more in this drasha to deal with, so בלי נדר אם ירצה השם the Thursday Bein Keseh L'Asor as well, hopefully we'll return to this. I wish everyone a גוט געבענטשט געזונט יאר, ksiva v'chasima tova, ימלא השם משאלות לבכם לטובה.