Shaarei Teshuva, Shaar 1 Ikar 7-8

So we left off in the middle of the Ikar seventh, hachna'ah, shiflus. The first mechayev of hachna'ah of shiflus in the context of teshuva is that it should be a natural byproduct, it should be generated as part of hakaras hachet. If a person appreciates the dimensions of what chet represents, so then he has to have the sense of shiflus. Rabbeinu Yona continues that there's a second mechayev in hachna'ah in shiflus in the context of teshuva:

ועוד נתחייב בעל התשובה על הכניעה, והוא שחייב להסיר מנפשו המדות שגרמו לו לחטוא ומעלות הפשע.

A person can't do teshuva, it's not a teshuva if a person is poised and positioned to simply repeat the chet. Nothing happens in a vacuum, right? Sometimes when we're asked why we did something, so we say just so. But it's not really that way. There's no such thing as just so. Everything happens for a reason. Everything there was some impulse, that impulse comes from somewhere. There's no such thing as ever really doing anything just so. Just so usually means that we haven't introspected sufficiently or we're in denial, whatever the case may be, of what that impulse was and where it came from. So it's intuitive and that's what Rabbeinu Yona is here teaching us, that a person in doing teshuva has to investigate what the shoresh hachet was. And it's only a genuine and realistic teshuva if a person looks to address the root cause of the chet. If water comes in through the roof, so it's all fine and good to put buckets around to catch the water, but you have to see why the water is coming in. You have to find the leak in the roof. והגאוה מסבבת כמה עבירות. Gaiva is responsible for many aveiros.

ומגברת יצר לב האדם עליו, שנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלקיך.

So what is this relationship between gaiva, this causal relationship between gaiva and aveiros? Part of the obsession with self, which is gaiva, is that a person will always seek and feel entitled to self-gratification. When a person always seeks and feels entitled to self-gratification, so he's a person who doesn't respect boundaries and he's a person who doesn't know limits, and mimeila, chet inevitably ensues. שנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת את השם אלוקיך. And the consequence of ram levavcha is

ושכחת את השם אלוקיך. ונאמר רום עיניים ורחב לב ניר רשעים חטאת. פירוש הגאווה ניר הרשעים כי ממנה יפרחו חטאים.

Same way from a field that's been plowed so there will be a crop, it will yield a crop, so too chata'im sprout from the fertile field of gaiva.

כאשנאמר ורם לבבך ושכחת. ונאמר בגאוות רשע ידלק עני ונאמר הדוברות על צדיק עתק בגאווה ונאמר כי נתנו חיתיתם בארץ חיים וכמו שעושים בני אדם ניר בשדה כדי לפרוש בו הזרע ויצאו בו תבואות כן עושים הרשעים את הגאווה ניר בלבבם וזורעים בו המחשבות הרעות להוליד ולהצמיח העבירות שהם פרי מחשבותם.

Maybe to try to understand a little bit more this dynamic, the relationship between gaiva and aveiros. The Itz'l of Volozhin in the hakdamah to Nefesh Hachaim, speaking of and describing his father's profound humility, so he writes that only

דרך הענווה האמיתית שיהיו כל ענייני הגוף נבזה ונמאס בעיניו ועצמו עד שלאפס ותוהו יחשבו מבלי הרגש בו עונג ונגע ורק בדרכי השם יגבהו לבם שיהיה לבם פתוח לתורה ועבודה וקדושה ואף בהשם ישמחו כי הושישו לבם מדוע נאה לו יתברך שמו.

So one aspect of genuine anava says Rav Itz'l is that a person is spurns, turns away from physical, bodily pleasures, has a sense of complete bittul for them. So this is sort of the opposite of what Rabbeinu Yonah is telling us in terms of gaiva instigating aveiros, so at the opposite end of the spectrum, anava results in this total. disinterest, transcending the pettiness of preoccupation with the inyanei olam. So let's try to understand. In emes is the the most absurd feeling or mindset in the world is ga'avah, because there's nothing more absurd or more nonsensical than when a person has ga'avah.

דע מאין באת ומטיפה סרוחה ולאן אתה הולך למקום עפר רמה ותולעה ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.

So as we say, היאך יתגאה אדם להבל דמה? It's the most absurd, there's nothing further removed from reality than when we feel ga'avah. Nothing. Nothing could be further removed or or further contradicted by reality than when a person experiences ga'avah. And yet. So the answer is that a person experiences ga'avah when he doesn't look outside of himself. A person is so caught up, doesn't look outside of himself, he doesn't look beyond himself. If he doesn't look outside of himself, he doesn't look beyond himself, he's not going to have perspective on himself either. To have accurate self-perception, a person has to be able to look outside of himself, a person has to look beyond himself. So if I'm blocking out all of reality, so then my mindset doesn't have to, it doesn't have to accord to reality. It doesn't serve as a check and balance. Ita in that Mishna in Avos of Akavya ben Mahalalel:

הסתכל בשלושה דברים ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה דע מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.

The Rambam says histaklus ha-zos, referring to the first of the three, of me-ayin basa,

מביאו את האדם לידי ענווה. והתבוננות על מאין בא והסתכלות על אחריתו תביאהו לידי זלזול בקנייני העולם הזה והסתכלות בגדולת המצווה תביאהו לידי זריזות לקיים מצוותיו.

The sheilah is like this: why couldn't Akavya ben Mahalalel simplify things for us even further? We have enough trouble keeping these three things in mind. So why don't we condense it and streamline things more? Zol zein that a person does know me-ayin ba and that a person is... What are we supposed to gain from that histaklus on mei'ayin bo, says the Rambam, and the Rabbeinu Yona kimdumei says the same? Person is supposed to derive anavah from that. And le'an attah holekh doesn't- doesn't generate anavah? לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון is not a sobering and humbling thought? Of course they both do. So what do you need the mei'ayin bo for? Whatever the mei'ayin bo gives us, the perspective that gives us can be had from the le'an attah holekh and the לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. So ella mai? The vort is that if a person doesn't first break the gaivah, he'll never look le'an hu holekh. And you see, it's- it's- it's in the news, it's all over the world. Everyone- everyone has seen it. You see people who are bimei ziknah and beyond, and the gaivah drips. So how is that possible? The teretz is because if a person is locked into gaivah, he doesn't look le'an hu holekh. And he doesn't- that thought does not penetrate. The le'an attah holekh doesn't penetrate. He's so, again, if a person's so caught up in himself, he doesn't look le'an hu holekh. He doesn't look לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. Okay, so a person- it's easier to deny the future than to deny the past. The past is there already. It says Akavya ben Mahalalel, the first thing to do is again the essence of the gaivah is that the person again is just so caught up with himself, doesn't look outside of himself, doesn't look beyond himself. Okay, but mei'ayin bo, that- that's the hardest thing for a person to deny. And once- once that gaivah, that blinding, deafening, stultifying gaivah is broken, so then a person- then a person can have other hakkaros. He can come to other- other understandings. זלזול בקנייני עולם הזה, dallos hametzius. The ba'al gaivah is- is totally caught up with himself. A person who is a genuine anav clearly has succeeded in breaking out of that. He's not caught up in himself. He sees himself before Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He sees himself vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A person sees himself vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so he knows that what's physical is an olam cholef ve-over, that there's no- nothing enduring to it, no inherent value to it, and mimeila middas ha-anavah amitiss. So you- כל ענייני הגוף נבזה ונמאס בעיניו באמת. Inyanei ha-guf command our attention and are the object of our desire as long as a person is caught up within himself. If a person's caught up within himself, so we have the yetzer hara, so we have this nature, so we're naturally drawn. To attain anava amitis, a person has to have broken out of that jail cell. Has to have broken out of again just being caught up with himself, not looking beyond himself, not looking outside of himself. He's looking שאו מרום עיניכם וראו, he's looking outside himself. A person sees the ultimate reality of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that translates into

כובד ענייני הגוף ונבזה ונמאס בעיניו. מה שאמר חטאת זה בניונה פירוש ניר שם ניר חטאת וכל החטאים מהם.

Hatatos is a collective noun, like the word fish that it means many fish. vechol hatoyim meheim, k'mo chatas Yehuda או יהיה פירושו וחטאת even though there's no actual vav k'mo shemesh yarei'ach והטעם מלבד כי הגאווה גורמת חטאים. Ga'avah is not only the source and the catalyst of cheit, but hamida atzma chatas but it itself is sinful. כמו שנאמר תועבת ה' כל גבה לב. Then Rabbeinu Yona adds something amazing. In addition to everything he's sketched until now, ובעל הגאווה נמצא ביד יצרו. A person needs siyata d'shmaya in everything. He needs siyata d'shmaya in overcoming a yeitzer hara as well. A ba'al ga'avah forfeits rachmana litzlan that siyata d'shmaya כי אין עזר ה' עמו אחרי שהוא תועבת ה'. If it's something that Hakadosh Baruch Hu deems repugnant, so then clearly Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not kavyachol milveh eilav, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't join cooperatively with him to help him overcome the yeitzer hara. So ga'avah is a catalyst to aveiros, ga'avah is gufa an aveirah, and ga'avah causes a person to lose the siyata d'shmaya.

ועוד חייב בעל התשובה להיכנע לקיים עליו להתנהג על דרך שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה והוי שפל רוח בפני כל אדם.

Yet a third mechayev, yet a third dimension to hachna'ah in the context of teshuva is that it's part of the nihug of teshuva. Teshuva isn't just a limited to the moment of when a person has an audience before Hakadosh Baruch Hu and says the chatasi avisiti pashati. But then there's a lifestyle which a ba'al teshuva has to adopt.

ועוד חייב בעל התשובה להיכנע לקיים עליו להתנהג על דרך שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה והוי שפל רוח בפני כל אדם.

Veyasig mizeh, there will be dividends to this as well, שלא יכעס ולא יקפיד על חברו. If a person sees himself vis-a-vis everyone with a sense of shiflus, you can't get angry, can't be a kapdan. Anger always, 99.9 percent of the time, the pshat in anger, whether we honestly completely verbalize it this way or not, but this is what it really is. Anger is, "Why did you do this to me? Why did I deserve that you should do this to me? Who are you to do this to me?" That's if the sentiment of anger, the driving force of anger would be verbalized honestly, so that's how it would be verbalized. If a person is שפל רוח לפני כל אדם yatzay mizeh

שלא יכעס ולא יקפיד על חברו וגם על כל הדבר אשר ישמע אל יתן לבו.

If a person is slighted, if a person is insulted, he should turn away, he shouldn't take it to heart,

להעביר על מדותיו ולהתכפר על עונותיו כמו שאמרו ז"ל המעביר על מדותיו מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו

mida k'neged mida. This is an incredible, says Rabbeinu Yonah, an incredible opportunity. וזה פתח תקוה נכבד מאד. This is an incredible opportunity. Rabbeinu Yonah says something which, if only it wasn't so poshut to remember, but if only, if only, if only a person can remember and let this be a lens through which he sees things that happen. He says if a person is slighted, if a person is insulted, if a person is disrespected, if in any way encroached upon, he says the emes is it's an incredible opportunity. We see it as sort of an attack that either has to be fended off or at best, that a person sort of has to be misgaber, it's a nisayon not to be provoked, not to react in kind and certainly not to overreact. At best, we take it as a nisayon. Says Rabbeinu Yonah, but really, really, it's more than, avadai it is a nisayon, but it's much more than that. It's an unbelievable opportunity. When a person is put in the position where he has the opportunity to be ma'avir al midosov and thereby to trigger a mida k'neged mida, the emes is no, the emes, a person on one level, he's not mechuyav to suffer insult. He's not mechuyav to be encroached upon, he's not mechuyav to allow that figurative trespassing. And אף על פי כן he does, so the mida k'neged mida, the emes is a person isn't really entitled to be forgiven, he's not really entitled to kapara. But mida k'neged mida, a person is ma'avir al midosov, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מוחל לו על כל עונותיו. Okay, let's just see. Ha'ikar hashemini is only a few lines. Ha'ikar hashemini, meaning the ikar hashemini was more hachna'ah as a mindset, hachna'ah as an inner orientation. Ha'ikar hashemini is hachna'ah b'ma'aseh. That a person should exhibit practically hachna'ah, and specifically sheyisnoheig b'ma'aneh rach. A person should conduct himself, he should be soft-spoken, כעניין שנאמר מענה רך ישיב חמה v'kol namuch. A person should speak softly,

כי זה מדרך השפלות כמו שנאמר ושפלת מארץ תדברי ומעפר תשח תשח אמרתך בהיפך ממה שנאמר על העושר בגובה.

The first and and yitachen what that reflects is the main expression of Hachna'ah B'ma'aseh is that at first the soft spoken. Rabbenu Yonah is about to add ולא יתעסק בנוי המלבושים והתכשיטים. A person shouldn't be all spiffed up. Should dress properly. Shouldn't call attention to himself by walking around with dirty tattered clothing either. But

ולא יתעסק בנוי המלבושים והתכשיטים. כמו שנאמר ואתה הורד עדיך מעליך ונאמר באחאב ויצום וישכב בשק ויהלך אט. ויאמר השם יתברך הזה ראית כי נכנע אחאב.

So he mentions also again the simplicity of dress, the walking softly, Vayehalekh At,

בהפך מדרך המלכים שהם מהלכים ברוב חיל וקול המון ויהיו תמיד עיניו שפלות.

His eyes should look down כענין שנאמר ושפל עינים יושע. So is there any significance to the fact that the first of these various hanhagot, forms of behavior, that Rabbenu Yonah mentions is the Ma'aneh Rakh? Yitachen that more than anything else a person projects himself by the way he speaks. And it's projected other ways also, the way a person dresses, the way a person walks. It's projected other ways also. But above all, above all, the way a person speaks. Unless a person is a very good actor. Unless a person is a very good actor, you hear in the way a person talks whether a person is edel, a person's not edel. Their persona is reflected, is projected in the way a person talks. And m'meila yitachen that's the pshat that first and foremost of practical Hachna'ah is the Ma'aneh Rakh. Vesimanei Hachna'ah and all these different practical expressions of Hachna'ah, like

מענה רך וקול הנמוך ושחות העין יחייבו להכניע את לבו. אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות,

so if a person acts with Hachna'ah, it reminds him to have a genuine sense of Hachna'ah.