Elements of Teshuva.

And the gidrei ha-teshuva he says they are the four essential elements which comprise teshuva. הראשון החרטה על מה שקודם לו מן העבירות. Regret, remorse. והשני שיעזבם ויסור מהם that he changes his ways. והשלישי שיתודה בהם ויבקש המחילה עליהם that he confesses and implores Hakadosh Baruch Hu for forgiveness. והרביעי שיקבל על נפשו שלא ישוב לעשותם בלבו ובמצפונו. Again we had that combination I think yesterday also be-libo u-ve-matzpuno. Again whatever these things meant yesterday they mean the same thing today as they meant yesterday, I guess yesterday we didn't know what it meant either. The kabbalah l'haba is the fourth element.

והחרטה אות על גנות מעשהו בעיניו. כמו שנאמר מי יודע ישוב ונחם והשאיר אחריו ברכה. ואמר במי שהתעלו על חטאו אין איש נחם על רעתו. ואנחנו רואים כזה בין בני אדם. כשמראה החוטא לחברו החרטה על מה שחטא לו היא עשויה בחזקה למחול לו.

Chovos ha-Levavos doesn't say this fully but maybe what he's intimating is the following. There is a certain commensurability here. When a person asks mechila, be it bein adam l'chavero as he gives the mashal, be it from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So in effect what we're asking is Ribbono shel Olam הגם שעשיתי כך וכך so please forgive me and it should be as if I didn't do it. That's in effect what bakashas mechila is. Mechilas chov is if I owe you a hundred dollars and you're mochem li l'chol, so then it's erased. So that's what the substance of bakashas mechila is, that Ribbono shel Olam it should be as if I didn't do it. Charata when it's charata me'ikara is that the person wishes he hadn't done it. So there is as it were a type of midda k'neged midda that if the person has this genuine sense of regret and remorse, the fact that it's an אות על גנות מעשהו בעיניו, the fact that it clearly indicates that the way one views that action or past actions is no, it's something bad, it's something that shouldn't have been done, oh so that's your attitude towards it, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu says okay so I can follow suit. But if that's not my attitude, no okay maybe I'm going to act differently in the future but I don't have a charata me'ikara, so then how can I ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu to adopt that attitude. And you're thinking that's what Chovos ha-Levavos is illustrating, ואנחנו רואים כזה בין בני אדם, that we sort of it's something intuitive right? So let's move forward, let's, that's the way we're going to relate to each other as if you hadn't done it. But if, if I see mitzidecha that you don't feel that way, so why should I feel that way mitzidi? Vehaziva, azivas hachet, the fact that the person doesn't persist in chet, but abandons the chet,

עושה על לבו אמונתו בגמול ובעונש, כמו שאמר יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו.

And thus presumably the pasuk is just intended as a raya that azivas hachet is a critical essential element. But I don't know, does the pasuk, the pasuk doesn't seem to support the teitch that the Chovos Halevavos is giving, right? The Chovos Halevavos, a, he initially stated that one of the four essential elements of teshuva is azivas hachet. And now he's giving a teitch that azivas hachet indicates, it reflects a genuine belief in, and therefore in this context concern with, s'char va'onesh. But the pasuk just is not intended for that, lich'ora. The pasuk is just intended to support the identification of azivas hachet as a crucial element of teshuva. See, there's a very, very important yesod here which underlies this comment from the Chovos Halevavos. Genuine belief, maybe we shouldn't use the word belief, maybe the English word belief doesn't capture what emuna in Lashon Hakodesh expresses. So let's not translate, the danger of translation. Emuna is not limited to the realm of thought or belief. Genuine emuna translates into action. And whenever there's a disparity between what we believe and how we behave, which is chet, we know what we're supposed to do. Okay, so maybe here and there, maybe there's a s'fika that we need to learn, but basically in broad strokes we know what we're supposed to be doing. But we're not always doing it. So we would describe that as a failure in implementation. The Chovos Halevavos is saying no, it points to an inadequacy in the emuna. Because genuine emuna, again I don't know that the word belief or faith really captures it, I'm not sure that either of those English words has this connotation, genuine emuna is something that translates. Genuine emuna is something that is discernible in how a person behaves. It's not only an How many Americans believe in God, how many don't believe in God and you check off the box. No, checking off the box isn't belief. Belief is if it's reflected in how you live. If it's not reflected in how you live, then I don't know what kind of belief is that. It's not. Again, the word in, I don't know that if you look up the word in the dictionary that it's contained in the dictionary definition. And that's what the Chovos HaLevavos is saying that העזיבה תוסף בירור אמונתו בגמול ובעונש. For us to say that, of course we believe in schar va'onesh. I say the Ani Ma'amin's every morning after davening. It's the, what is it, the eleventh, what is it? But if it's not discernible in my actions, so that's not emunah.

ואמר ומי שהתמיד על חטאו בעוון בצעו קצפתי ואכהו הסתר ואקצוף. וכמו זה נראה בין בני אדם כי כאשר יימנע המריע לחברו מחטוא אליו אחר החרטה אז יראוי למחול לו ולעבור על פשעו.

If you want someone to forgive you for your having beat them up yesterday, you can't really ask them for forgiveness as you're beating them up today. It's not going to fly.

ובקשת המחילה תוסף על כניעתו ושפלותו לפני האלוקים והתוודותו בעוון וסיבת המחילה לו כמו שנאמר ומודה ועוזב ירוחם. ואמר בהפך זה הנני נשפט אותך על אומרך לא חטאתי. ואמר מכסה פשעיו לא יצליח. וכזה נראה בין בני אדם כי האחד לחברו שיכנע לו ויודה שחטא לו והרע לו ויבקש ממנו המחילה ויכיר חברו ממנו שהוא מתחרט על מה שקדם ממנו החטא לא יתעכב מלמחול לו מעבור על פשעו ויסיר מה שיש לו בלבו מן הנטירה.

So we're going to sort of, not today, but we're going to more likely tomorrow be'ezrat Hashem come back and sort of maybe modify or contextualize this more. But what the Chovos HaLevavos explains here about bakashas mechila is tremendously important. We sort of think of to get mechila, let's say sometimes you can, sometimes you qualify for certain tax abatements. Okay, so in order to get the tax abatement, you have to file an application. You don't get it unless you file an application. So mechila also, a person can based on teshuva, a person can qualify for mechila, but you have to apply. You have to ask, Ribono Shel Olam, selach lanu, mechal lanu, kaper lanu. And the Chovos HaLevavos, the teitsch that he gives for bakashas hamechila explains that no, that's not the only role of bakashas mechila. Bakashas mechila, it's not that based on teshuva so now a person applies for mechila. No, it's an integral part of the teshuva because there's something very humbling about asking mechila, as we know. It's true when we have to ask mechila bein adam le'chavero and it should be true when we ask mechila from that that we filed based on teshuva that we should be granted the chesed of mechila, but it's no, it's gufa part of the teshuva because bakashas mechila, the person has to humble himself to ask for mechila. Is there something, is when, when the Chovot HaLevavot says כזה עניינו בבני אדם, is that just a way of just explaining it, explaining it more? Is there like some like deeper shita behind it? We're going to, we know we're going to do this perek again tomorrow, so sort of we need to have two go-rounds. I think at least for today, I think he's he's trying to explain how it's kind of intuitive to us. This this idea is intuitive to us because it's part of our everyday experience. אבל הקבלה שלא ישנה, yishne to repeat, right? Mishneh is double, Mishneh Lechem is double, so yishne is to repeat.

אבל הקבלה שלא ישנה אות על ידיעתו ברוע מעשהו ובגודל חטאו כמו שנאמר אם עול פעלתי לא אוסיף. ונאמר

Asher lo yoshienu

ולא נאמר עוד אלוהינו למעשה ידינו. ונאמר בהפך היהפוך כושי עורו ונמר חברבורותיו גם אתם תוכלו להיטיב לימודי הרע. וכמו זה

again,

כזה עניין בין בני אדם שיקבל החוטא לחברו על עצמו שלא ישנה להרע לו ויראה החרטה והעזיבה ויתוודה יהיה זה גמר סיבת המחילה לו והסר האשם ממנו ודחות העונש מעליו. וכשיתקבצו בשאר אלו הארבעה גדרים בתנאיהם אשר אנו עתידים לבארם בפרק הבא יכפר לו הבורא עוונו ויעבור על פשעו. ואם יהיה עוון ממה שנאמר בו ולא ינקה כשבועת שוא ואשת איש מיקל הבורא ענשו בעולם הזה ומטיב לו בעולם הבא וייכנס בכת הצדיקים כמו שנאמר ולציון גואל ולשבי פשע ביעקב ואומר שובה ישראל עד ה' אלוהיך כי כשלת בעוונך ואומר אם תשוב ואשיבך לפני תעמוד.

And what do those psukim indicate? That the meforshim said because earlier, preceding the pasuk of אם תשוב ואשיבך לפני תעמוד, so the navi has compared the chataim of Klal Yisrael to that of a of a wife who was unfaithful to her husband. So the Chovot HaLevavot seems to be saying, so you see sort of from the mashal that in terms of din shamayim, so even that is healed ultimately by teshuva. Okay, we'll stop here for today bli neder, tomorrow we'll we'll go through this perek again.