Sha’ar 2:14, 4:17: Cheshbon Hanefesh during Aseres Yemei Teshuva.

Good morning Rabosai. I think yesterday we had seen the first half of הדרך החמישי מהעשרה סימני תשובה. So maybe let's continue here again. It's in

אות י"ד וראוי לכל יראי אלוהים. וראוי לכל יראי אלוהים למעט בעסקיו ולהיות ופניו נשחתים.

It means that one's mindset should be one of yira ve-fakhad. ולקבוע ביום ובלילה עתים. To set aside times both morning and day, lehisboded bachadarav, that a person should seclude himself, ve-lekhapeis drakhav ve-lachkor, and engage in cheshbon ha-nefesh. The instructions Rabbeinu Yona here provides us of the קביעת עתים ביום ובלילה should be appreciated both and understood both pragmatically as well as conceptually. Pragmatically, it's something that a person should practically be engaging in this cheshbon ha-nefesh day and night. But what that represents conceptually is that when you have something which is yom va-layla, it represents temidiyus. Let's say Talmud Torah. So Talmud Torah is bayom u-valayla. והגית בו יומם ולילה. And again, there too, A, it's telling us what to do practically. Even if a person only has X amount of hours within the 24-hour day to learn, he has to try to find that some of that X should be in the day, some of that X should be at night. So practically it means that. But what it represents conceptually is because Talmud Torah is supposed to be a constant in a person's life. There's a temidiyus to Talmud Torah and by not letting either a unit of day or a unit of night elapse without Talmud Torah, that's the way the person establishes its thick presence in his life. And that's what Rabbeinu Yona is telling us also, that the Aseres Yemei Teshuva cheshbon ha-nefesh conceptually is something temidi, something temidi. ve-lekhapeis drakhav ve-lachkor. So Rabbeinu Yona is paraphrasing from Megillas Eichah, nachpisa drakheinu ve-nachkora. What's pshat in that posuk? When Yirmiyahu HaNavi says the two verbs of nachpisa and ve-nachkora? We're not quite up to there yet, but when the Gemara finds the mokor for bedikas chametz le-ohr haner, so part of the derivation is from chipus. chipus means an exacting search. A person's looking even for small bits of chametz. You're not only looking for a whole loaf of bread. A person's looking for half a cookie also. He's looking for small pieces of chametz. chipus is a careful, painstaking, exacting search. What's nachkora? To investigate. Investigate already means to try to establish context and to try to frame what happened. If the chipos allows us to recognize and identify our chatoim, then nechkora tries to place them in context. If I did something, I did something for some reason. There’s some middah within me that expressed itself that way. Vdarashta v'chakarta in eidus means to establish zman u'makom. It means to establish context. So when we make our cheshbon hanefesh, what Yirmiyahu HaNavi tells us and what Rabbeinu Yonah here is reflecting is that A, we have to just look on a very concrete level. I said this, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't say this, but I should have said it. I did this, I didn't do that. I didn't do this, I should have done it, etc. Chipos. But then I have to understand why it happened. And I need to understand why it happened and how it happened for two reasons. Number one, because the teshuvah is not only as the Rambam tells in Perek Zayin of Hilchos Teshuvah, it’s not only on the concrete level of actions, but it’s on the level of midos raos as well. So I need to know what the root cause and source of the cheit is. The cheit on the level of action is often just a projection and reflection of cheit on the level of midos. So I need to I need to identify that. But I also need to identify it not only to know what I’m doing teshuvah for, but to know how I’m doing teshuvah. In order for teshuvah to be successful, so we need to strategize. As sincere as the resolve is that I’m not going to do this again, if that resolve is not accompanied by strategic planning, by how am I going to improve? How am I going to refine this middah? What’s my approach? So then the sincerity notwithstanding, it’s questionable if it will succeed. But if I understand what happened, why it happened, how it happened, and I understand what I need to do differently, I know what hanhagos I need to put into place, I know what safeguards I need to put into place, I know what my approach is, then the teshuvah can be'ezras Hashem be successful. Likadem ashmoros, the Rambam also describes in in Perek Gimmel of Hilchos Teshuvah, sorry just one second.

ובעניין זה נהגו כל בית ישראל להרבות בצדקה ובמעשים טובים ולעסוק במצוות מראש השנה ועד יום הכיפורים יותר מכל ימות השנה ונהגו כולם לקום בלילה בעשרה ימים אלו ולהתפלל בבתי כנסיות ודברי כיבושים עד שיאיר היום.

The inyan of likadem ashmoros, of lokum balaylah is on one level, it's an eis ratzon sort of in terms of a seguladike level that it’s an eis ratzon on a more nigladike level. what what it represents is that if the day ordinarily begins at at at dawn, at daybreak, so he is adding to his avoda as opposed to just diverting and B, there's something urgent. There's something that can't wait. להתעסק בדרכי התשובה ותיקון המעשה ולשפוך שיח. The pasuk which describes the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, which defines Aseres Yemei Teshuva is דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב. Dirshu means through teshuva and kera'uhu means through tefilla. So Aseres Yemei Teshuva as part of the teshuva is is a zman of tefilla, it's a special zman of tefilla. לשפוך שיח ולשאת תפילה ורינה. That's remarkable. Right? Rina is song. It's it's not bakasha, right? לשמוע אל הרינה ואל התפילה. Rina is song. Aseres Yemei Teshuva is not only a time for tefilla in the sense of bakasha, it's also a time for rina, for song. Heyos that the din of asere- one side of the coin of Aseres Yemei Teshuva is is the din. But the other side of that same coin is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu isn't don us from afar and he's certainly not don us in absentia. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu is don, so he as it were, he he comes face to face. Whenever there's din, there's behimtzo and there's biyoso karov. Which is why as sobering as the din is and should be, simultaneously it's not only tefilla, it's also rina because of the opportunity to be doreish Hashem behimtzo, to be koreh biyoso karov.

והעת רצון והתפילה נשמעת בו. כעניין שנאמר בעת רצון עניתיך וביום ישועה עזרתיך. ואמרו רבותינו ז"ל דרשו ה' בהמצאו אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים. ומצות עשה מן התורה להטהר אדם את רוחו לחזור בתשובה ביום הכיפורים.

This is one of two places where Rabbeinu Yonah famously says there's a special mitzvah of teshuva on Yom Kippur. He he returns to this again in Sha'ar Harvi'i. שנאמר מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו. And Rabbeinu Yonah there is sort of machriach p'shat in the pasuk. Lifnei Hashem titharu, the titharu is a is an imperative. It's not just that since Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to be mechaper for everything, you will be purified, but it's rather it's an imperative, purify yourselves. That's how the pasuk should be understood. How do we know that's p'shat in the pasuk? Rabbeinu Yonah says because we know from the chilukei kapara that Yom Kippur doesn't complete the kapara for everything. If rachmana litzlan there are aveiros chamuros, so then the kaparas Yom Kippur needs to be supplemented. So Rabbeinu Yonah says, what does it mean מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו? It means no, there's a mitzvah on the level of mikel chatoseichem. How does this differ then from the mitzvas teshuva all year long? There's a mitzvah to do teshuva all year long, right at the very beginning of Sha'ar Rishon, Rabbeinu Yonah quotes ולמדם והזהירם לשוב אם יחטאו לו. So the pshat says that there's more than one answer, but at least one answer lechora is that all year long the chiyuv teshuva is only when I'm aware of cheis. If I'm unaware of cheis, there's no chiyuv to be doresh vechoker to be looking to see if there's cheis that I missed that didn't register with me. On Yom Kippur, the mitzvah is להאיר רוחו לחזור בתשובה that there's a chiyuv even if I don't know, even if a person would think, "No, I just on erev Yom Kippur I just did teshuva for everything." On Yom Kippur there's a chiyuv that a person should be looking, similar to the chiyuv be'eis tzarah. The same way be'eis tzarah, the tzarah is mechayev a person to make a cheshbon hanefesh to see, to identify possible cheis, so too Yom Kippur. If you take a look in Shaar Revi'i, os yod zayin, Shaar Revi'i, os yod zayin,

ועל מה שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל כי על כריתות ומיתות בית דין תשובה ויום הכיפורים תולים ויסורים ממרקים. יש שאלה והלא כתיב מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו.

So doesn't the Torah say that Yom Kippur completes the kapara process for all chata'im? The answer to this is no,

כי מה שנאמר לפני ה' תטהרו מצות עשה על התשובה.

Titharu is not "you will", but "you should". שנחפש דרכינו ונחקור ונשובה אל ה' ביום הכפורים. So here Rabbeinu Yonah seems to be, again, what we said, that what's added and what's distinctive about mitzvas teshuva on Yom Kippur above and beyond the mitzvah all year long, again, is the nachpasah dracheinu venachkorah. Is the chiyuv to proactively make a cheshbon hanefesh even if there isn't a yedias hacheis, even if there isn't a hakaras hacheis.

על כן הזהירנו הכתוב לתת פנינו אל התשובה לפני ה' יתברך כי הוא יכפר עלינו ביום הזה על טהרתינו.

Okay, so we'll stop here. Bli neder we'll resume around 11:30. Okay, thank you rabosai. Have a very productive morning. Be well, be safe.