Well we're going to try b'ezras Hashem bli neder the the next beginning today and then the next few Thursdays to learn a bit שערי תשובה רבינו יונה we'll focus on on hashaar this Shaar HaRvi'i. Maybe just two unrelated unconnected words of introduction. The the last lines in in Maseches Megilla Tanna Rabbanan משה תיקן להם לישראל שיהיו שואלים ודורשים בעניינו של יום הלכות פסח בפסח הלכות עצרת בעצרת הלכות חג בחג.
One should part of observing Yom Tov is to engage in the Talmud Torah of the Yom Tov. So הלכות פסח בפסח הלכות עצרת שבועות בעצרת הלכות חג בחג.
There's a famous Maharsha who comment why doesn't the brayisa mention ראש השנה יום כיפור? הלכות ראש השנה יום כיפור also? So he says Chazal were afraid that we might have misunderstood. If the brayisa would have included Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in the list so we would have understood perhaps that what the brayisa had in mind is Hilchos Teshuva and that would have been a mistake to associate Hilchos Teshuva with the Yamim Noraim. Hilchos Teshuva is something which is relevant all year long. Teshuva unlike mitzvas chametz u'matzah unlike the the shtei halechem on Shavuos unlike Hilchos Lulav where those halachos taka are only operative seasonally in each moed Hilchos Teshuva is something which is operative all year long. So in a certain sense it's it's wrong and misleading to be to be learning Shaarei Teshuva in in only in Chodesh Elul and in aseres yemei teshuva. So that that's point of introduction number one. Point number two the classical what we classify as the classical sifrei mussar whether שערי תשובה רבינו יונה jumping forward fast forwarding a few hundred years Ramchal's Mesillas Yesharim they're not only sefarim which are a source which can be a source of hisorerus a source of inspiration. They're sifrei limud the sifrei limud the same way if a person wants to really understand inyanei nezikin so a person has to learn Maseches Bava Kamma and and other things b'iyun it's a limud. Inyanei teshuva inyanei mussar they're also a limud and and the sefer mussar is something to not just look to as a source of hisorerus but it's it's a sefer limud the same way Maseches Shabbos and and the Rambam Hilchos Shabbos and the Tur Shulchan Aruch down to the Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah it's a sifrei sifrei limud in in Shabbos melachos Shabbos those sugyos there are sugyos of mussar there are sugyos of teshuva and and to try to take advantage take advantage in the positive sense of the phrase. as a Sefer of Hisorerus. So let's begin here in Shaar Revi'i. כדרך שיש לגוף חולי ומדוה, כן יש לנפש. The same way that there's physical sickness, physical illness, so too there's spiritual sickness, spiritual illness. I'm not sure here in the context of Rabbeinu Yonah how we're supposed to distinguish the two words choli and madveh. Let's say we had it in last week's parsha. What comes, what's in the pasuk before וכל מדוי מצרים הרעים? What comes before that in the pasuk? I'm sorry? והסיר ה' ממך כל חולי. Yeah, thank you, thank you very much. והסיר ה' ממך כל חולי וכל מדוי מצרים הרעים. So in that pasuk, so the Ibn Ezra and then I think after the Ibn Ezra the Ramban, the Sforno say the same as well. In that context, the Ibn Ezra says that choli means natural and madveh, at least in context of madvei Mitzrayim, means supernatural. So choli means natural sicknesses and madvei Mitzrayim were the makkos. The makkos weren't natural illnesses. But I'm not sure here in context how in Rabbeinu Yonah we should be distinguishing those two words. But so glossing over that point, at least for the moment, illness of the soul umadveh hanefesh vecholyah are two: midoshah hara'os vechato'eha. Corrupt midos and sins. Even though the vocabulary, lich'ora, is different, but lich'ora what Rabbeinu Yonah here has in mind when he speaks about a, midos ra'os, b, chato'im, is similar to a passage that the Rambam has in Perek Zayin of Hilchos Teshuvah. פרק זין הלכה גימל. Ve'al tomar, says the Rambam, שאין התשובה אלא מעבירות שיש בהן מעשה, כגון זנות וגזל וגניבה.
Don't think that teshuvah only is relevant, only relates to active aveiros, aveiros which express themselves concretely, כגון זנות וגזל וגניבה. No, rather כשם שצריך אדם לשוב מאלו, כך הוא צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו.
A person also has to scrutinize his character traits, identify what de'os ra'os he has. כך הוא צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו ולשוב מהן, מן הכעס, מן האיבה, מן הקנאה, מן התחרות, מן ההתל, מרדיפת הממון והכבוד ומרדיפת המאכלות וכיוצא בהן. מכל צריך לחזור בתשובה. ואלו העונות קשים מאותם שיש בהן מעשה.
The Rambam says in truth aveiros which consist of having a bad midah poses a more formidable... only something which expressed itself in a ma'aseh. שבזמן שאדם נשקע באלו, when a person is immersed, is wallowing in midos ravos, kashe hu lifros. וכן הוא אומר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. So the same coupling of presumably in Rabbeinu Yona, chato'im again mean חטאים שיש בהן מעשה, or where the cheit consists of שב ואל תעשה, right? חטאים שיש בהן מעשה. But midos ravos are also—it's not a midas chasidus that we don't harbor or don't tolerate midos ravos. It's to be equated with chato'im. Again, the vocabulary is different in that the Rambam makes the point by saying that don't think that avonos are only again things which can be measured and expressed themselves in ma'aseh, but they're also midos ravos. And Rabbeinu Yona says it as midos ravos and chato'im. But the fact that midos ravos is mentioned in the same breath with chato'im, it's clearly being equated in terms of issur. It's possible that the difference in vocabulary points reflects a deeper difference as well. Rav Chaim Vital has in the beginning, this is a passage which is much quoted. Rav Chaim Vital has in the beginning of Sha'arei Kedusha. I think in the future Thursday we'll begin with a Kapitel Tehillim for the ekindish to have a refuah sheleima for so maybe you'll remind me next week. Rav Chaim Vital has in Sha'arei Kedusha at the beginning, he says there's a certain paradox which with which we're confronted. On the one hand Chazal speak of midos ravos in terms of what's the right word, the right expression, as chato'im, as things which are if anything worse than other aveiros. כל הכועס כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. We don't find that כל האוכל נבלות וטרפות is כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. But kol ha-ko'es is כאילו עובד עבודה זרה. And kol ha-magbi'ah libo, a person is arrogant, is ke-ilu kafar ba-ikar. Again, we don't find aveiros described in those draconian terms, in those with those extreme leshonos. So that's on the one hand. And all of that, all Chazal, that it's all of course darshened. But mi-idach gisa, when you look in Minyan HaMitzvos, says Rav Chaim Vital, so you don't find it. Rav Chaim Vital says if you search high and low in Minyan HaMitzvos, you don't find an issur ka'as. So how can it be that on the one hand the chomer ha-davar as Chazal describe it seems to eclipse that of other mitzvos ve-issurim and yet it didn't find its way into Minyan HaMitzvos. That's the paradox that Rav Chaim Vital sees and is commenting on. So Rav Chaim Vital, maybe just to give a mashal as a hakdama to his answer. משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you'll have someone who, I don't know if such a thing exists, but if it exists, opens up a catalog for medical school. And he looks to see what courses medical school students take in first year medical school, second year medical school. And he sees there's no basic biology, there's no basic chemistry, no basic biochemistry. So his inference that he draws is, so apparently biology and chemistry are irrelevant to being a doctor. That's his inference. In truth obviously, the inference is punk vaker, right? The correct inference is, no, they're so basic and they're so essential that they're preconditions, that they're prerequisites for getting admitted to medical school in the first place. So the absence of something can point to a lack of importance or on the contrary, it can point to something which is so fundamental and so foundational that it's a prerequisite. So Rav Chaim Vital then says, he says it in leshonos of Kabbalah, different levels of the nefesh, the nefesh hasechlis, nefesh ha, but leaving aside that scheme, Rav Chaim Vital says that middos are not present in the mitzvos because they're prerequisites for mitzvos. They're the foundations. A certain level of middos a person has to have before you can even address a mitzvah to him. Like all mitzvos ultimately tap into self-discipline, that's one easy way to begin to understand what Rav Chaim Vital is talking about. If a person is totally, totally undisciplined, so what are you going to tell him, the Torah says do this, the Torah says don't do that? There's a certain, there are middos which are a certain level of middos which are a prerequisite for it. And mimaila Rav Chaim Vital says that's why on the one hand you find the Chazal depict the middos ra'os as being more chamor than those aveiros which you find in minyan hamitzvos. And the other hand they themselves are not in minyan hamitzvos because they're the prerequisites, they're the basic biology, the basic chemistry. They, that's so basic and so fundamental and so essential, it's not even taught in medical school. Now the Rambam thinks that middos are in the minyan hamitzvos because all the middos ra'os the Rambam basically thinks are all included and are אסור מטעם והלכת בדרכיו. So it's a very different scheme in that sense. Yitachen, it could be that what we described initially as, you know, just a difference in phraseology between this opening line in Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rambam. We said that the Rambam when he wants to focus our attention not only on ma'asim but on middos, says al tomar that there are only עונות שיש בהם מעשה, there are also עונות שאין בהם מעשה which are middos ra'os. And when Rabbeinu Yonah wants to focus our attention not only on ma'asim but the middos ra'os, so he doesn't say that there are chata'im of middos ra'os, he calls them, he says there's a class of chata'im, a class of middos ra'os, it could be that Rabbeinu Yonah also understood like Rav Chaim Vital. That they apparently have a much more constricted understanding of what vehalachta bidrachav is, and for them middos tovos, middos ra'os, again they're not less mandatory than the Rambam, but on the contrary, yitachen that what might be reflected in this phrase is that Rabbeinu Yonah again agrees with what the Sha'arei Kedusha says, no. the ground which supports, which holds up the building. So too, the most important thing is what you don't see in minyan hamitzvos. That's what's the most important. Rabbeinu Yonah says that, excuse me, the Sha'arei Kedusha says that meforesh. He says that mida ra'ah is worse than a חטא שיש בו מעשה. It's a very sobering, very sobering passage. Let's start to continue over here. ובשוב רשע מדרכו הרעה. When the rasha does teshuva, ירפא השם יתברך חולי הנפש החוטאת כמו שנאמר השם חנני רפאה נפשי כי חטאתי לך. ונאמר ושוב ורפא לו.
Let's, we need to read a little bit more to have a vantage point to try to appreciate something here. ועל דרך שימצא פעמים בסחלויי הגוף שהוא קל החולי מעליו וסרה רוח רוב המדבה.
Sometimes again using the analogy of physical illness, sometimes by physical illness most of the illness has been dispelled, it's mostly cured. However, ועוד לא ינוקה הגוף ממנו, but for the body to be totally cleansed, totally cleared, זולתי במשתי המשקים המרים. You have to, he needs bitter medicines, liquids. ועוד שיסבול הצער בעינוי נפשו מכל מאכל תאווה. Sometimes refuah in the physical realm involves yissurim. Rachmana litzlan, people who, as one example, who receive chemo. There can be tremendous physical yissurim associated with refuas haguf. כן יש נפש חולה מעוון רב. Now rav in Lashon Hakodesh means something which is over the top. It can be over the top because of quantitative reasons or it can be as is the meaning here, qualitatively over the top. Again, משל למה הדבר דומה, imagine, I don't know, an elementary school classroom. So you have a kid who is interrupting. So after he does it for the twentieth time in the past ten minutes, so the teacher tells him, you know, this is just too much, you know, you have to go leave the classroom or whatever, whatever the teacher says. It's just too much. Or you can have a kid who turns around and punches very hard the kid who's sitting next to him in class. So then it's not a question of that he does it twenty times, but the first time the teacher says that's too much. So rav can be a quantitative assessment or it can be a qualitative assessment. Here it's, I mean it can be both, but here it means primarily the qualitative. כן יש נפש חולה מעוון רב ואף על פי שנרפא רוב החולי וסר מרבית חלקי העונש אחרי התשובה ושב השם יתברך מחרון אפו לא תינוקה הנפש עדנה מן החולי ולא נרצה עוונה עד אשר ייווסר החוטא בייסורים והוכח במכאוב וסיקרנה אותו רעות וצרות.
So Rabbeinu Yonah later will quote from the chilukei kappara from Masechet Yoma, which is what he's anticipating here, that for avonos chamuram, so teshuva veyom hakippurim tolim, but the full kappara requires yissurim. That's what he's describing. He proceeds to have other rayos to this. So again just to re-read one Or just to reiterate one point: בשוב רשע מדרכו הרע וירפא השם יתברך חולי הנפש החוטאת
when a person does teshuva, Hakadosh Baruch Hu then heals, cures the spiritual illness, the spiritual sickness. Good. Jump ahead for a moment to os daled, rabosai. You have os daled here. ויש עון אשר לא תנקה הנפש ממנו ובלתי טהורה היא ואינה רצויה עד אשר המות יפריד בינה ובין הגוף אשר חטאה בו כמו שיש חולי שלא ינקה הגוף ממנו כל הימים והוא עון חילול השם.
Right, os daled of chillukei kaparos, so the last one is rachmana litzlan, chillul Hashem, where full kapara is only attained when a person dies. והוא עון חילול השם שנאמר והנה ששון ושמחה הרג בקר ושחט צאן כי לא היו משגיחים על דברי הנביאים ולא חרדים עליהם אבל היו קובעים בגלוי והקל חבריהם במיני שמחה.
Eat, drink and be merry, right? That's what והנה ששון ושמחה הרג בקר ושחט צאן, ignoring the mussar of the nevi'im, eat, drink and be merry. ונאמר על זה אם יכופר העון הזה לכם עד תמותון.
So you see explicitly the Navi says in that context, this avon of chillul Hashem will not be atoned for ad temutun. ונאמר ויהיו מלעיבים במלאכי האלקים ובוזים דבריו ומתעתעים בנביאיו עד עלות חמת השם בעמו
that they were insulting and scorning the words of the nevi'im until Hashem's wrath was so aroused, ad le'ein marpei. So what does ad le'ein marpei mean in this pasuk according to Rabbeinu Yonah? What does ad le'ein marpei mean in this pasuk, rabosai? The full refuah, meaning the full kapara. And this pasuk is a prooftext for what Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about. Again, the last of the chillukei kapara, that for chillul Hashem there's no full kapara until the person dies. And that's what ad le'ein marpei means. Now the Rambam quotes this same pasuk from Divrei Hayamim in perek vav of Hilchos Teshuva. The Rambam says that efshar, perek vav, halacha gimmel. ואפשר שיחטא האדם חטא גדול או חטאים הרבה. So notice these are the two types of rov that we just spoke about, right? ואפשר שיחטא האדם חטא גדול או חטאים הרבה, right? It can be over the top quantitatively or qualitatively. עד שיתן הדין לפני דיין האמת שתהא הפרעון מזה החוטא על החטאים אלו שעשה ברצונו ומדעתו שמונעים ממנו התשובה ואין מניחים לו רשות לשוב מרשעו כדי שימות ויאבד בחטאים אלו שעשה.
So kayadua, so the Rambam says that's the peshat by Paroh, ואני אקשה לב פרעה, that at a certain point Paroh had sinned so egregiously that his punishment was that he lost the ability to do teshuva. The Rambam says prooftexts to this middas hadin, הוא שהקדוש ברוך הוא אמר על ידי ישעיהו השמן לב העם הזה ואזניו הכבד ועיניו השע פן יראה בעיניו ובאזניו ישמע ולבבו יבין ושב ורפא לו,
meaning I'm going to desensitize them so that they won't do teshuva. V'chein hu omer, listen to this rabosai, if you have it take a look, it's vav gimmel here in teshuva. וכן הוא אומר ויהיו מלעיבים במלאכי האלקים ובוזים דבריו ומתעתעים בנביאיו עד עלות חמת השם בעמו עד לאין מרפא. כלומר חטאו ברצונם והרבו לפשוע עד שנתחייבו למנוע מהם התשובה שהיא המרפא.
So how did the Rambam... The same pasuk that that that we have here in Sha'arei Teshuvah, right? The same pasuk that Rabbeinu Yona quoted here in Ot Daled, the Rambam is quoting here in Vav Gimmel. But for Rabbeinu Yona, that pasuk illustrates the middah that for Chillul Hashem kapparah isn't complete until there's misah, which is another way of saying that there isn't complete kapparah while a person is still in Olam Hazeh. Whereas for the Rambam, that pasuk illustrates, not, that pasuk illustrates something else. That pasuk illustrates that there are exceptional, exceptional cases throughout the course of history where Hakadosh Baruch Hu has taken away the ability to do teshuvah, right? The Rambam obviously agrees with Rabbeinu Yona's chilluk of Chillul Hashem, he just says that's not what that pasuk is talking about. And possibly Rabbeinu Yona agrees with Halachah Gimmel here also, and he just also just doesn't think that's what that pasuk is takeh talking about. So what we have here again in in the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yona is for this pasuk in Divrei HaYamim, when the pasuk says that because they were mal'ivim bemallachei haelohim that it was עלות חמת ה' באפו עד לאין מרפא, so for Rabbeinu Yona, the ad le'ein marpe means that they won't get full kapparah while they're still in Olam Hazeh. That's what it means ad le'ein marpe. It's like it's like someone rachmana litzlan going to the doctor and getting a diagnosis and being told that, you know, you have to learn to live with this because this condition is is never going to there's no there's no cure. This condition is not going to to go away rachmana litzlan. That's what ad le'ein marpe means. And for the Rambam, ad le'ein marpe means no, this is illustrating the parallel category that that an individual or a group can sin so, so egregiously, can be so, so over the top that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is moneiah teshuvah. Okay, that's sort of that's those are the facts of the difference of opinion. But what it points to is is something again very, very important and we're just going to begin to talk about it today, but but it runs much deeper than than we're going to get to. The psukim which Rabbeinu Yona quotes and many and and other psukim which he doesn't quote here speak of refuah, speak of a person doing teshuvah and and there being a refuah. But there's a fundamental machlokes between the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yona, what is it that the navi is depicting as refuah? For the Rambam, what the navi depicts, what kitvei hakodesh depict as refuah is the teshuvah gufah is refuah. V'chein hu omer, we're reading here in Vav Gimmel: ויהיו מלעיבים במלאכי האלהים ובזים דבריו ומתעתעים בנביאיו עד עלות חמת ה' בעמו עד לאין מרפא.
Klomar, listen rabosai: חטאו ברצונם והרבו לפשוע עד שנתחייבו למנוע מהם התשובה שהיא המרפא.
Meforash, right? The refuah, when it says v'shav verafa lo, it's not A v'shav B verafa lo. V'shav which is gufah the refuah, right, not not A and B. A v'shav and no, that's not how the Rambam understood it. Further reflection, I mean this this you don't need any more than than this Rambam in Vav Gimmel, but it never hurts to point to another Rambam, never a downside. But if you go, if you go back to Perek Bet of Hilchos De'os, cholei haguf, the Rambam again is using this analogy: cholei haguf, sometimes people with with a physical malady טועמים המר מתוק והמתוק מר. Not quite COVID but halfway there, right? Their sense of taste is is affected. What's bitter they taste as sweet and what's sweet they taste as bitter. V'yesh min hacholi... and the coals ashes, ושונא המאכלות הטובים כגון הפת והבשר. הכל לפי רוב החולי.
So too, כך בני אדם שנפשותיהם חולות מתאוים ואוהבים הדעות הרעות. People whose nefashos who have a spiritual malady. So the analog to this physical phenomenon, the spiritual analog to that is that they אוהבים הדעות הרעות ושונאים הדרך הטובה ומתעצלים ללכת בה. והיא כבדה עליהם מאד לפי חלים. וכן ישעיהו אומר באנשים הללו הוי האומרים לרע טוב ולטוב רע שמים חשך לאור ואור לחשך שמים מר למתוק ומתוק למר.
Skipping a little bit to Halacha Bies. Hakeitzad hi rfu'aso? So what's the rfu'ah for the choli hanefesh? מי שהוא בעל חמה אומרים לו להנהיג עצמו שאם הוכה וקולל לא ירגיש כלל. אם היה גבה לב,
I skipped some pieces, אם היה גבה לב ינהיג עצמו בבזיון הרבה. So here too the rfu'ah is what the person does. The rfu'ah is the teshuva itself. Right? The same thing that המרפא שהיא התשובה is that is clearly what underlies here in Perek Beis of Hilchos Dei'os as well. So compare contrast that to to the opening line we have here in in Sha'arei Teshuva. כדרך שיש לגוף חולי ומדוה kein yesh lanefesh. ומדוה הנפש וחליו מדותיה הרעות וחטאיה. Now, ובשוב רשע מדרכו הרעה ירפא השם יתברך חולי הנפש החוטאת.
Kemo shene'emar, Hakodosh Boruch Hu doesn't do the teshuva, the person does the teshuva, right? But the rasha does the teshuva, but then Hakodosh Boruch Hu bestows the rfu'ah. ובשוב רשע מדרכו הרעה ירפא השם יתברך חולי הנפש החוטאת
Kemo shene'emar השם חנני רפאה נפשי כי חטאתי לך v'ne'emar v'shav v'rafa lo. So according to Rabbeinu Yona the pshat in the posuk v'shav v'rafa lo is A: v'shav, and B: v'rafa lo. And this difference, so for Rabbeinu Yona it's not the teshuva, and again clearly this is, you know, you can compare trying to learn a sugya sometimes to, you know, peeling away layers. You know, you know you get from the most superficial understanding to one layer deeper to a third. So we're certainly haven't gotten to the deeper layers here. But for Rabbeinu Yona when the pesukim speak of rfu'ah in context of teshuva what it means is in the aftermath of teshuva a person is is healed by Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And for the Rambam when the pesukim speak of teshuva, the pesukim mean that the person, teshuva heals, teshuva cures. That's why for the Rambam when it said ad l'ein marpei, so what does that posuk mean? If there's no rfu'ah, that posuk is miforash talking about this Paroh category of of sinners. Mashehein kein for Rabbeinu Yona ad l'ein marpei means ad l'ein kapara, ad l'ein what Hakodosh Boruch Hu does. That posuk's not talking about the Paroh category, it's talking about the chillul Hashem category where the person can do teshuva, but as long as he's in olam hazeh he doesn't get the full kapara, the full rfu'ah. Okay, so what what we need to try בלי נדר בעזרת השם next week, to hopefully we'll pick up with this, is to try and understand what what underlies this difference between the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah in terms of whether the teshuva gufa affects the cure and the healing process, or whether no, the teshuva is teshuva, and then the refuah is HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs to, as it were, step in to affect the refuah. So בלי נדר בעזרת השם we'll begin with this.