כל מצוה שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.
So, in an apparent redundancy, the Rambam has two phrases for Teshuvah: kshey'aseh Teshuvah and veyashuv mechato. We wouldn't have noticed if only one of those had appeared. The sentence would have read very smoothly and from our vantage point, completely comprehensible: כשיעשה תשובה חייב להתוודות or כשישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות. Yet, the Rambam has two phrases. In Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Teshuvah, Halacha Daled: אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר עורו ישנים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם. אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל.
They are wallowing, they're, again, immersed all year long with hevel varik, with futility, with emptiness, which won't benefit them. הביטו לנפשותיכם והטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה.
So, famously, the Rambam interprets tkiat shofar as a wake-up call for Teshuvah. What's so extraordinary, this profound insight I heard from my father, zecher tzadik livracha, is that when the Rambam then describes the audience for this wake-up call for Teshuvah, so it would seem pretty obvious that a wake-up call for Teshuvah is addressed to choteim. You have to do Teshuvah on chet. So, to whom is a wake-up call for Teshuvah addressed? To us because we're choteim. But that's not how the Rambam says it. The Rambam says eilu, again, who are the yeshenim, who are the people who are spiritually sleepwalking through life? He doesn't say choteim. השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק.
It's only at the end the Rambam speaks of darko hara'ah. But initially, again, the spiritual sleepwalkers are not defined in terms of being adukim bechet, but they're defined that their focus in life is nonsense, things which are futile, things which are purely transient and are not being integrated into something into. some greater significant goal, שוכחים את אמת בהבלי הזמן. An extraordinary thing. The Rambam says chet is a result. Chet is a consequence. The cause is that is when the center of gravity in in life is empty, is vacuous. Being disproportionately busy with money, being disproportionately busy with pleasure, being disproportionately being being concerned with kavod, being all that's part of the hevel verik that that the Rambam describes. That's the environment in which chet grows. Ad kan shamati. If you take a look, the Rambam actually says this again in Perek Tes. Take a look in Perek Tes of Hilchot Teshuva where the Rambam addresses the question if שכר בהאי עלמא ליכא so what what's how do we understand all the parshiyot in the Torah where the Torah speaks of the benefits that we'll reap in olam hazeh for for Torah and mitzvot? So says the Rambam, הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו I don't know, two fists of the way through. Hakadosh Baruch Hu in in Perek Tet, it's in the mitza lines, after they branch off to the left before they branch off to the right. הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו תורה זו עץ חיים וכל העושה כל הכתוב בה ויודעו דעה גמורה נכונה זוכה בה לחיי העולם הבא לפי גודל מעשיו וגודל חכמתו יזכה והבטיחנו בתורה שאם נעשה אותה בשמחה ובטובת נפש ונהגה בחכמתה תמיד שיסיר ממנו כל הדברים המונעים אותנו מלעשותה כגון חולי ומלחמה ורעב וכיוצא בהן וישפיע לנו כל הטובות המחזיקות ידינו לעשות את כל התורה כגון שובע ושלום וריבוי כסף וזהב כדי שלא נעסוק כל ימינו בדברים שהגוף צריך להן אלא נשב פנויים ללמוד בחכמה ולעשות המצוה כדי שנזכה לחיי העולם הבא וכן הוא אומר בתורה אחר שהבטיח בטובות עולם הזה וצדקה תהיה לנו וגומר.
Rambam says pshat like this: משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you get a cleaning lady to come clean the house for the day. So I think it's pretty pretty much accepted that if it's a whole day job that you you give lunch. And maybe it's also depending upon the particulars of the arrangement, maybe there's also carfare to cover whatever transportation expenses there are. Now clearly that doesn't get deducted from from the pay at the end of the day, you know, whatever the hourly or or daily rate is, you don't deduct, well you know, that bagel cost the you know cost a dollar fifty and and the can of tuna fish cost me another two dollars so now I'm deducting three fifty. No, that's not it's it's very much contingent upon her working, I'm not giving a free lunch. Miedach gisa, it's not it's not a down payment on on the wages, it's it's something additional which facilitates the the day's work. So Rambam says that's what the pshat is in in Everything the Torah describes in terms of this-worldly benefits that accrue as a result of being involved in Torah mitzvos, that's what it is. It's the lunch to be able to put in the day's work. It's the karfiya, it's the facilitator that Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu provides us with the support system that will help facilitate our focus on Torah mitzvos. And now the Rambam is about to say the converse, the reverse. V'chein hodiyanu ba'Torah—you see it in the posuk
—וכן הודיענו בתורה שנעזוב התורה מדעתנו ונעסוק בהבלי הזמן כעניין שנאמר וישמן ישורון ויבעט שדיין האמת יסיר מהעוזב כל טובות עולם הזה שהחזיקו ידיהם לבעוט ומביא עליהם כל הרעות המונעות אותם מלקנות עולם הבא כדי שיאבדו ברשעם. Let's say the cleaning lady shows up and doesn't lift a finger and she's sitting there on her phone all day long. So not only are you certainly not going to serve lunch—but she showed up at nine in the morning and come lunch time she hasn't lifted a finger, she's just been on her phone all day doing whatever she's doing—you're not going to serve her lunch. And what's more, at a certain point you're going to ask her to leave because she's not there as a house guest, she's there because there was an understanding, there was an arrangement. That's what the Rambam says. So if we abandon Torah, so then Ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu withdraws the support system on the contrary and says, if you're not interested in Torah, then there's no reason for you to be insulated from all the problems in olam hazeh. He says it even stronger. Okay, but notice how he, in terms of lifestyle, how the Rambam expresses the contrast. The first הבטיחנו בתורה שאם נעשה אותה בשמחה ובנעימה ובחכמתה תמיד. So na'aseh osah means, right, we're fulfilling the mitzvos and we're learning Torah. So what should the opposite be? The opposite should be that we're doing aveiros. What's the opposite in the Rambam's formulation? וכן הודיענו בתורה שנעזוב התורה מדעתנו ונעסוק בהבלי הזמן. Same thing. He's not describing the antithesis of being focused on Torah. The opposite of being devoted to Torah and learning Torah and fulfilling mitzvos, the Rambam doesn't depict as aveiros, but he depicts as being osek behavlei hazman. The same point as we saw in Perek 3. He's going to say it a second time again when he recaps here at the end: אם עזבתם את ה' ושגיתם במאכל ומשתה וזנות ודומה להם מביא עליכם כל הקללות.
So v'shagisem bema'achal u'mishteh doesn't mean that it doesn't have the best hashgachos in the world, the ma'achal u'mishteh can have top-grade hashgachos. Doesn't mean that they didn't say brachos necessarily. So that's a very fundamental insight. Again, there's an environment in which cheit grows. Cheit doesn't just appear, it doesn't just sprout. Coming back to aleph-aleph, so he touches on the pshat. When the Rambam describes, again we said why the two phases, so the Rambam says כשייעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו. Maybe that's the pshat. And if you look at what the ingenuity and beauty of the first phrase is, that the Rambam speaks of teshuvah without mentioning cheit. Why? Because he's hanging on Torah. That's exactly the point that he makes later in Perek 3 and he makes later in Perek 9, that teshuvah needs to address not only the concrete discrete chato'im, but it needs to address the lifestyle which provided an environment. conducive and supportive and inviting and even ensuring chet. מדרכי התשובה להיות השב צועק תמיד לפני השם. But maybe but maybe the following objection can or should be raised. Now nicha, the pshat in perek gimmel, perek tes, it’s mefurash, there’s no two ways about it, it’s mefurash b’divrei ha’Rambam. But is that really what he means here in perek aleph as well? Perek aleph he’s talking about a person did a single chet. So if he’s only nicha in perek gimmel and perek tes, he’s talking about a person whose whole life is somewhat out of balance, in need of re-orientation. But here he’s talking about עברה על אחת מהן. Is this really the context for the Rambam to have made this point again? You hear the question, rabosai? Let’s see. Let’s look in פרק ב' הלכה ד'. פרק ב' הלכה ד' is mind-boggling. Midarkei ha’teshuva, let’s see פרק ב' הלכה ד', rabosai. מדרכי התשובה להיות השב צועק תמיד לפני השם בבכי ובתחנונים ועושה צדקה כפי כוחו ומתרחק הרבה מן הדבר שחטא בו ומשנה שמו כלומר שאני אחר ואיני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים ומשנה מעשיו כולן לטובה ולדרך ישרה וגולה ממקומו שגלות מכפרת עוון מפני שגורמת לו להיכנע ולהיות עניו ושפל רוח.
As the Kesef Mishneh already points out, that the Rambam builds this halacha from the meimra of Rabbi Yitzchak, ארבעה דברים מקרעים גזר דינו של אדם, tza’aka, tzidka, shinuy hashem, and shinuy ma’aseh. And v’yeish omrim, af shinuy makom. So that meimra of Rabbi Yitzchak provides the raw materials for how the Rambam constructed this halacha. Okay. The Rambam is talking about teshuva for one chet. How do we know that? ומתרחק הרבה מן הדבר שחטא בו. Not devarim shechata bahem, hadavar shechata bo. So but yet in the very next breath the Rambam says meshaneh shemo, and what does the shinuy hashem express and represent? כלומר שאני אחר ואיני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים. osan hama’asim. And then the Rambam continues and says ומשנה מעשיו כולן לטובה. So on the one hand the Rambam is talking about teshuva for a single specific chet, ומתרחק הרבה מן הדבר שחטא בו. And u’me’idach gisa, the Rambam says that the darkei ha’teshuva is that the person has to express substantively and somewhat symbolically, that איני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים, ומשנה מעשיו כולן לטובה.
Okay. That’s how the Rambam learns pshat in Rabbi Yitzchak’s shinuy ma’aseh. Shinuy ma’aseh clearly means something, this is the hasaga, the question which is raised in Rashi, that מקרעים גזר דינו של אדם seems to be something more than just basic teshuva. So for shinui maaseh therefore means if he's a bank robber, it probably means more than just switching careers and desisting from robbing banks. And the Rambam says what it does mean is משנה מעשיו כולם לטובה. So well here what you see here lechora is as follows. I think in Chovot HaLevavot what's commented on the fact that the Rav speaks in one of the derashot how the nevi'im compare chet to illness, to sickness, and teshuva is compared to healing, to refuah, v'shav v'rafa lo. That chet isn't only a self-contained illness or sickness. Chet, משל למה הדבר דומה. There are some symptoms that a trained doctor, even though he'll see just one symptom, will recognize as being symptomatic of some systemic problem. You know, a neurologist can notice a certain symptom of a serious neurological condition, even though the symptom itself, even though what hamedubar is one symptom, and the symptom itself may not be so pronounced or so seemingly significant, but because of his knowledge and experience, he recognizes that there's something much more indicated by the symptom than the symptom itself consists of. Chet is clearly, the only pshat in this Rambam is that chet in most instances—I'm not talking about Moshe Rabbeinu, I'm not talking about every instance, I'm not saying that there aren't exceptions to this—but the stam de-milsa, the presumption is that a single chet is symptomatic of a systemic problem. That's the pshat in the Rambam, that's what this Rambam is saying. משנה שמו כלומר שאני אחר? We're talking about a single chet, and yet the reaction has to be to reach a point that איני אותו האיש אני אחר ואיני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים.
Why? Because the single chet is symptomatic of something systemic. Just before we try to a little bit understand that, I don't think we're going to understand it fully or comprehensively, but so that's why coming back to alef-alef, ayni hachi nami. The question we asked, which seemed like a very good question, seemed like a very strong objection, would the Rambam really be talking about kesheyaseh teshuva in the sense that we interpreted if he's only talking about a single chet? So the answer is yes. That's exactly what he tells us later in פרק ב' הלכה ד', that we should see chet, again, the same way when the doctor—again, it's obviously not true in terms of the mashal it's not true of every symptom—but but this is true of some symptoms. The phenomenon does exist that there are certain, certain, again, symptoms which may be to the layman is something self-contained or even superficial and the doctor sees the symptom for what it really is. So cheit is symptomatic of systemic problems, systemic shortcomings, systemic deficiencies. How so? So we'll give a little bit of... try to give a little bit of the explanation and ve'chochma techayeh be'aleha. In that same Rambam, פרק ג הלכה ד, in the wake-up call for teshuvah, עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם.
The same that Rambam already highlights that theme of zechru borachem in פרק ב הלכה א when the Rambam is illustrating teshuvah gemurah, so he says that all the other factors remain constant and the only thing that changes is the person's teshuvah and that's why the first time he succumbed, on the second time he does teshuvah. And then the Rambam says hu she'Shlomo amar, this is what Shlomo HaMelech is describing in Kohelet when he says וזכור את בוראך בימי בחורותיך. So the Rambam is depicting teshuvah gemurah. Shlomo HaMelech doesn't use the verb shav, teshuvah, doesn't say anything about teshuvah, he talks about zechru borachem. So it's clear what the Rambam is telling us that at the heart of teshuvah is remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That in turn clearly clearly indicates that just as there's an identification between doing teshuvah and remembering Hashem, there's also an identification between cheit and forgetting Hashem. Rabbeinu Yonah says that also in Sha'arei Teshuvah in Sha'ar Rishon ikar hashishi. He says how is it that when we're mindful of being in the presence of others so there's a healthy sense of inhibition, there's all kinds of things that maybe we should do and would do but because we're in the presence of others so that has a very healthy inhibiting effect upon us. So how is it that we ever sin in the presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu? So why doesn't that have the same healthy inhibiting effect? So he says there's only one answer to that question: אין זה אלא היות השם יתברך רחוק מכל כליותיו. It's because we're maseiach da'at from that only reality, that ultimate reality. So that's what the Rambam is also reflecting that, again leaving aside the category of tinok shenishba, and that's what the Rambam says that teshuvah is zechru borachem, that's what Shlomo HaMelech is talking about. Zechru borachem means to do teshuvah because cheit means to forget Hashem. Again, it's true that every cheit also has its own individual dynamic, but there is a common denominator. Whatever the weakness, the temptation, whatever it is, we would be inhibited if we were acutely aware. So that's one perspective on how cheit is symptomatic of something systemic. And is it just pshat that for 30 seconds I lost my focus and I lost my concentration, or is it more likely that I walk around most of the time if not all the time like that? And okay, so fortunately we have certain mitzvah habits which keep us on the straight and narrow even when we're not mindful of Hashem. But cheit highlights, it's symptomatic of something systemic. Every cheit, again, be-mesader, the character of things, and be-shva, almost all cheit also usually points to a failure in terms of self-discipline. It's really, really the case that a person is only lax discipline in one area. Self-discipline is a quality which is then a person's called upon to exhibit in every area in life. Okay, so two perspectives on how cheit fits and how it serves as a symptom, but there's probably much more to understand and to think about and to ponder here. He begins aleph-aleph in teshuva and writes כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.
So in one of the drashos that's presented in Al HaTeshuva, so the Rav explains what does it mean lifnei Keil? It means the Rav is saying that the definition of mitzvah's viduy is something very much even to a degree the same as mitzvah's tefillah. What's unique about mitzvah's tefillah? What's unique about mitzvah's tefillah is every moment of a person's existence he's lifnei HaKeil. When it says in the Aseres Hadibros לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני, so the Ramban says it means in my presence. So... Covers up everything, right? It's not that there's a nook or some way where avoda zara is chas veshalom muteres. So everything is lifnei hakel, everything is lifnei hakel, but we're not always talking to Hashem. We're not dialoguing with Hashem, not lifnei hakel in that sense, right? Tefilla is lifnei hakel in the sense that other things are not, right? We're talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we're in His presence, you know kiveyachol we're in the palace and we've been granted a royal audience. But that doesn't define every mitzvah. That's what defines mitzvas tefilla and that's what the Rav says, that's what defines vidui also. היתודה לפני הקל ברוך הוא. Again, this certainly gels well with what we were just talking about before in terms of zecher berachamim, but it's its own point. But here, so ad kan I'll take away from Al Hateshuva, and I think the Rav says that's the pshat in ana. What's the pshat? If you think keitzad misvadeh? אנא השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך ועשיתי כך וכך הרי נחמתי ובושתי במעשי ולוא אוסיף עוד לדבר הזה.
Okay, so we know where it comes from. The Kohen Gadol was misvadeh beana. Moshe Rabbeinu, Kohen Gadol in turn gets it from Moshe Rabbeinu. אנא חטא העם הזה חטאה גדולה ויעשו להם אלהי זהב.
So it's the source is clear, but how does it, you know, just what's the... so when we say אנא השם הושיעה נא, how do we translate ana? אנא השם הושיעה נא. What's the English translation of ana? Please. Please. So what's please? I mean just what's the how what's the meaning? How does it make sense? So the Rav actually references the pasuk you say at the beginning of Selichos about כדלים וכרשים דפקנו דלתיך. But since the vidui is lifnei hakel, so the ana is asking to be admitted. Is asking Hakadosh Baruch Hu to open the door. That's what the ana is. The ana is the כדלים וכרשים דפקנו דלתיך. That's the pshat in ana. Okay, again, ad kan what we're citing from Al Hateshuva and you'll take a look there, there's more of an arichus. But I just wanted to present a question and maybe maybe an answer as well. Take a look in הלכות תפילה פרק ד הלכה טז. Keitzad hi hakavana? You see it in the Rambam? הלכות תפילה פרק ד הלכה טז. שיפנה לבו מכל מחשבות,
that he should clear his mind of all other thoughts, ויראה עצמו כאילו הוא עומד לפני השכינה. Lefichach, because this is what the kavana, the requisite kavana, and the tefilla without kavana isn't tefilla, lefichach צריך לישב מעט קודם התפילה כדי לכוון את לבו. A person can't just jump into that. Okay, so on the one hand this is what the Rav was referring to, that tefilla also is lifne. But what's the difference in the leshonos? Here it's כאילו הוא עומד לפני השכינה and in Hilchos Teshuva by vidui it's lifnei hakel. The question is even more charged because if anything it seems like the reality of lifnei Hakal is greater by vidui than it is by tefillah. By tefillah it's ke'ilu and by vidui it's not ke'ilu. By vidui it's lifnei Hakal and here it's ke'ilu lifnei hashechina. Maybe the answer is like this. Ma debafumei the Rav used to say. It took me decades until I began to understand what he was saying. But he used to say that tefillah and nevuah are I don't remember the exact words two sides of a coin. The only difference is that nevuah Hashem speaks to the person and in tefillah a person speaks to Hashem. Ad kan divaro. When we look at the hachana that the Rambam says for tefillah again go back to ד טז הלכה ד כיצד היא הכוונה שיפנה ליבו מכל המחשבות ויראה עצמו כאילו הוא עומד לפני השכינה.
Part of the Rambam's description of how the person who ultimately becomes a navi prepares is הולך ומזרז עצמו ומלמד נפשו שלא תהיה לו מחשבה כלל באחד מדברים בטלים ולא מהבלי הזמן וסכלותיו.
One of the ways the Rambam describes nevuah and in יסודי התורה ז ה is tishreh alav shechina. So maybe that's the pshat. The ke'ilu is not saying that the reality of lifnei Hakal of tefillah is less than the reality of lifnei Hakal by vidui. Adaraba. It's saying that by tefillah the reason it's a ke'ilu is because the lifnei Hakal of vidui means that when we're misvadeh we're talking to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what it means to talk to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Not in any sense that you would compare to nevuah or something. But the Rambam is trying to say that when a person is getting ready to davening again it's what the Rav said. He should think of it as being on the level the level of communication is that which is the flip side of nevuah. And so that ka'ilu is really, if a person thinks that three times a day he's having nevuah, because he's not of sound mind, but that's not what the Rambam is saying and that isn't the takeaway here. So that's a ka'ilu. But the fact that it's a ka'ilu is because it's lifnei hashchina and again and shchina is one of the terms the Rambam associates with nevuah. So that's a ka'ilu. But it's not—again, at first glance, the ka'ilu looks like the lifnei hakel of tefillah is of a lower degree than the lifnei hakel of viduy but it's aderaba. It's that it aspires to a heightened awareness. But that's davka a ka'ilu. It's ka'ilu—omeid lifnei—when we go down that Mincha, we're not about to experience nevuah. That isn't really what—that's not what's about to happen. That's a ka'ilu. But that's the level on which the person should try to elevate himself to in terms of his preparation and in terms of the davening.