Shaar 2:1: Role of Thought in Teshuva, Combatting Bad Thoughts

Good morning rabosai. In the introductory paragraph here in Shaar Hasheini: ומיראת ה' ואהבתו והבושת מלפניו תוסף מעלה תמיד. Each of these three, be it Yiras Hashem, be it Ahavas Hashem, be it the awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu which instills within a person a healthy sense of inhibition, leads a person to live a constant life of aliyah, a constant life of ascent. ותשקוד על נקיון כפיך, a person will be constantly mindful of nikyon kapayim, וכרות רעיונים מורדים משער אפך, and to excise rebellious thoughts, rebellious ideas from his thoughts. Let's perhaps for this morning just for a moment or two focus on that phrase: the role of machshava in a person's life within our attempt to do teshuva. The Rambam as well in Perek Beis of Hilchos Teshuva also highlights the importance of including machshava within one's teshuva. Often we just think of teshuva more on the practical level of if rachmana litzlan I spoke lashon hara not to speak lashon hara, rachmana litzlan I did X, not to now refrain from doing X. And both Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rambam as we're about to see bli neder im yirtzeh Hashem are telling us that teshuva is something broader. So the Rambam writes in Perek Beis of Hilchos Teshuva Halacha Beis: ומהי התשובה הוא שיעזוב החוטא חטאו. He has to abandon the cheit. ve-yisirenu mi-machshavto. And not only on a practical level does he abandon the cheit, does he forsake the cheit, but he has to remove it from his thoughts. ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד and a person resolves not to repeat the cheit she-ne'emar: יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. So Yeshayahu Hanavi underscores the importance and the need for the aziva not only of a person's active habits of darko but of ish aven machshovosav. What does it mean to ya'azov machshovosav? So it can and does mean multiple things and should be understood on multiple levels, but for this morning perhaps just to mention two levels, two of the meanings of יעזוב איש און מחשבותיו or in the phrase of Rabbeinu Yonah: וכרות רעיונים מורדים משער אפך. The mashal le-ma hadavar domeh is as follows. Let's say you have two people, both of whom go to the The physician for checkup and the physician finds that each of the two is not on a good path, that his current trajectory is not good. Maybe it's a combination of a sedentary lifestyle and the type of diet that the person eats, and the physician tells each of the two that they have to introduce very significant serious change in both those areas. Both of them have been living this way for quite a long period of time. Both of these have been living that way for a long time, so it's a very formidable challenge. One of them reacts and says, "It's a tall order you're giving me, Doc, and I don't know, but I'll tell you I'm going to do my best." And the other one reacts and says, "I hear what you're saying and I hear how crucial and how vital it is, so I'm going to do it." So there's a nuanced difference between those two reactions, but one which can make all the difference in the world. The first one is already anticipating at the time he's declaring his resolve, is already anticipating possible failure. The second one says, "It's inconceivable that I'll continue given what you're telling me, Doctor. It's just inconceivable to me. I don't know how I'm going to do it and I'm going to have to sit down and strategize and find out the most effective way to do it, but one thing I know is since it has to be done, I'm going to do it." Yasirenu mimachshavto means that a person doesn't allow even a hava amina of chet to remain with him. Because if something is a hava amina, it's one short step before it becomes a maskana. One line later, there's only one line from the hava amina to the maskana. And וכרות והגיונות מדמי סעפיך means that there's a sense of resolve of if it has to be done, then I'm going to do it. Sometimes when you see advertisements or you read advertisements, the advertisement guarantees that they're going to be 99.5 percent success. So it's quite clear when you read such a guarantee that basically there's zero guarantee there. And any lack of success, then they're just going to turn on and tell you, "Well, we said that it couldn't be 100 percent," so they ich veis against them identity theft. You sign up with us and you pay us a certain amount of money, but that's just a side point, and we guarantee you 99 point whatever percent that it's going to be successful. You come back to them two weeks later and tell them that your identity was stolen, "No, we told you it's only 99.5 percent successful." So when a person makes allowances initially, it means that a person is geared for not succeeding. Again, sometimes that can be obviously for commercial purposes. In order for something to be doable and feasible, it begins with a machshava. It begins with a machshava that it's doable and feasible. And when on the level of machshava we already entertain the slightest doubt, so then on that mushrooms on a practical level. And that's what it means יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו, that's one level of what it means.

יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו וכרות רעיונות מודים משפתיך.

Another, I don't know that necessarily that this is what Rabbeinu Yonah is thinking about, but in terms of our avoda, another level on which targeting machshava is so important is that a person sometimes finds himself entertaining or preoccupied with machshavos which are not tehoros. It can be in inyanei kedusha vetahara, maybe it could be in inyanei hashkafa, obviously two different dynamics. And there too, agam that at this moment it's only in the realm of machshava, but a, the machshava itself isn't conducive to kedusha vetahara and b, a person never knows when a machshava becomes a shoresh which is poreh. How does a person respond to that challenge? So the Rambam writes that it's true, it's very, very true psychologically, and the Rambam actually clearly knows of this insight. A person can't tell himself, it's counterproductive for a person to tell himself what not to think. A person can't tell himself if a person's on a diet and shouldn't eat chocolate cake, so a person can't tell himself I'm not going to think about chocolate cake. It's a tarté de-sasré, it's counterproductive. A person can't tell himself what not to think about. So how does a person then respond to unwelcome machshavos, machshavos which are not again in which run against the grain of kedusha vetahara? So the Rambam says that such machshavos only come בלב הפנוי מן החכמה. When there's a vacuum in terms of what a person is thinking, so then our minds are open to being infiltrated by unwelcome machshavos. And the more a person is engaged productively, so the less room and the less potential there is for unwelcome machshavos. And the same way that works preemptively, it also works responsively, it also works therapeutically. A person finds himself with again unwelcome machshavos which don't promote kedusha vetahara, so a person should engage his mind in machshavos of Torah, in machshavos of kedusha vetahara. And that's in this context it's the asei tov which allows the person to succeed in the sur mera. But by engaging oneself productively, it just doesn't leave the room, it doesn't leave the vacuum, and that's how a person accomplishes the vecheros the unwelcome raionos madim mesafatekha.