Reflections On Elul & Teshuva

The Rambam begins Hilchot Teshuva, it's the first source that we have in front of you. The Rambam tells us that whenever a person violates any of the Mitzvot haTorah, so after doing Teshuva, a person is obligated to be Mitvadeh, to articulate the Teshuva. Now the Rambam says in point four that the Ketzei Hamitvadeh, what elements, what what are the components of the Vidui? Generally we translate Vidui as confession, we'll see in a minute it's really inadequate in this context. אנא השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך, the Rambam explains that those three words are not synonyms, but that Chet when used together with Avon and Pesha, when these three words appear together, so Chet connotes unintentional sin, Avon intentional, and Pesha the worst of the three when it was Leha'chis, so it was rebellious. חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך ועשיתי כך וכך, a person specifies what the particular Chet was. והרי ניחמתי ובושתי במעשי, I have a sense of remorse Uvoshti and a sense of shame over my actions, ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה, and then the person has to be able to sincerely articulate resolve never to repeat the Chet. But let's hone in just on one word in that formula for Vidui, the word Voshti. The Vidui the Rambam gives us is clearly very streamlined, right, he distills into a few words and one of those words is Voshti. So clearly Vidui is a mirror for Teshuva, right? A person can only say in the Vidui what's true. So if something is indispensable for the Vidui, so clearly that means that it's indispensable for the Teshuva as well. If I have to be able to say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu Uvoshti, it means that as part of the Teshuva, as a result of the Teshuva, I have a sense of shame. Why is that so important? Why is it so crucial? Where the Rambam gets it from? We know, we know from the Pesukim in Slichos, such as Elokai boshti venichlamti, I think Ezra Hasofer says that, Boshti venichlamti, I I feel a sense of shame, even a sense of humiliation over my my Chataim. Al chataim in in the case of of Ezra. So we know the Rambam's sources, but why does it loom so large? What's missing if a person can sincerely say before Hakadosh Baruch Hu I have remorse over my Chet and what's more I have a sense of resolve never to repeat the Chet, but the person can't can't genuinely, honestly say Uvoshti, that I have a sense of shame, what what's missing? If you take a look at the second source that that you have here in front of you, one of the most famous halachot in in the Rambam. אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב, even though we can't know definitively the reason Hakadosh Baruch Hu legislates a particular Mitzvah, Remez yesh bo. If we can't identify the reason, but we we can have some insight into the religious experience of the mitzvah. So what's the remez in Tkiat shofar?

כלומר עורו ישנים משנתכם. קומו עורו ישנים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם.

Those of you who are asleep, awake, those of you who are in a deep slumber, also come emerge from that slumber. V'chipsu b'maaseichem, scrutinize your actions, v'chizru b'teshuva, repent, v'zichru bor'achem. Those last two words, zichru bor'achem, teshuva means to remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But let's let's try to understand that a little bit. Leaving aside the case of someone who is in the class of a tinok shenishba, someone who who didn't have a religious upbringing and simply doesn't know that what he or she is doing is wrong, leaving aside that case, every other case of chet, lots of different chata'im that that unfortunately that we do, but there is a common denominator. So sometimes, I don't know, whatever, fill in the blank, A, B, C, D, hopefully we don't get all the way to Z, but fill in fill in the blank of whatever chata'im that that we're guilty of. There is a common denominator. So like on the one hand they represent different weaknesses, different flaws, different yetzer haras. But there is one common denominator. And that common denominator is if we know it's wrong, A. B, we believe in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. C, we know that there's a din v'cheshbon. We know that that a person ultimately gives an accounting, is held accountable for whatever he, she did over the course of one's lifetime. So how does a person ever sin? Right, and in fact Akavya ben Mahalalel says, סתכל בשלושה דברים ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה. Akavya ben Mahalalel tells us how it's possible to totally avoid chet, how to eliminate chet entirely.

דע מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון.

So how does chet ever happen? Why is there such a long list of al chets in the Yom Kippur Machzor and why is it that that we have to be misvadeh ten times, eight times the al chets, ten times with the ashamnus? How does chet ever happen? Now the combination of knowing that something is wrong, knowing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees, hears what I'm doing, knowing that I'm accountable, doesn't that eliminate chet entirely? So the answer is it does. But the problem is that we forget about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And the common denominator, again leaving aside that tinok shenishba case, leaving aside the case of someone who who doesn't know any better, leaving aside that case, there is a common denominator. Yes, there's diversity and diversification in chet and which which reflect different weaknesses, different shortcomings, different inadequacies. But the one common denominator is that a person forgets Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is no longer on the radar. Because if Hakadosh Baruch Hu is on the radar, it doesn't matter what my weakness is, it doesn't matter what my character flaw is, I'll overcome it. משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you have someone comes in to take an exam and there's an awful lot riding on this exam. For whatever reason, the person didn't or wasn't able to prepare adequately. So so he rationalizes to himself that he's going to cheat. We're good at rationalizing, not so hard to do. And he's poised to cheat, he has devised the method how he's going to cheat. Only thing is the exam's being proctored and he sees that the proctor is staring at him the entire time. So the fact that he has this character flaw that he's ready to cheat, a character flaw to which he would give in, to which he would succumb, but if he sees the proctor staring at him the whole time and he knows that he's not going to get away with it, then he doesn't cheat. And the only way a person does cheat, that character flaw... that flaw, that weakness in middos ha'emes. The only way that materializes and the only way that translates into cheating is if the person thinks the partner is not looking or forgets that there's a partner in the room. That there's an equation between cheit and forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If, let's take that one step further, if there's an equation between cheit and forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu, then clearly that implies that there's going to be a second equation between teshuvah and remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If in every cheit there's this element of rachmana litzlan forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so then the focus, not the exclusive focus, the focus of, maybe the primary focus of every teshuvah has to be remembering Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that's what this Rambam in פרק ג הלכה ד is telling us, that tekiat shofar which is a wake up call, which is a call to teshuvah is a call ultimately for zichru borachem, remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Well when does a person experience bushah? So let's say that I'm walking into a room and I very clumsily trip over my own feet. So am I going to be embarrassed or not? So the answer is it depends. If the room was empty and no one saw me in that moment of foolishness and clumsiness, so I may be bruised and I may be angry with myself, but I'm not going to be embarrassed because no one witnessed my foolishness. If the room was full of people and everyone saw it, so then I'll feel very embarrassed. הנני באתי בשתי במעשי. So why is a person embarrassed? What triggers bushah about cheit? Most chata'im happen in private. Most people don't announce their chata'im from the rooftops, they don't broadcast them. If they do, they don't really consider them chata'im. Most people, most of us are nichshal in private. So what are we embarrassed about? People don't really know. מוטב שהחוטא יודע שלו. Everyone knows his or her own shortcuts, not davka that other people know it. So whose presence is triggering that bushah? Whose presence is triggering that embarrassment? Kevayachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That the person has to be able to say boshti because if a person can't say boshti in the teshuvah, so then there's no zichru borachem. The essence of cheit, the indispensable element of cheit is rachmana litzlan forgetting Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which means the indispensable and primary focus of teshuvah is zichru borachem. So now, unlike the moment of cheit, now at the moment of teshuvah, so now I am aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence. So now I'm embarrassed to own up to what I did. I'm embarrassed to articulate what I did. And that's why this sense of bushah is so crucial. If you take a look, it's not here in the sheet, I apologize, but if you take a look in Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuvah. So Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuvah is divided into four shearim, the first of which is devoted to listing the various yesodot, the various fundamental elements of teshuvah. So it's the yesod hashishi which is bushah. And Rabbeinu Yonah says what we just discussed. Rabbeinu Yonah says that the reason bushah is so vital and so pivotal is because cheit originally happened אין זה אלא היות השם נשכח. HaKadosh Baruch Hu isn't a presence in a person's life and that's why the tikkun for that, the corresponding corrective measure for that, is that a person experiences a sense of busha. Rabbeinu Yona quotes the Gemara and says that כל העושה דבר עבירה ומתבייש בו so listen to this remarkable climax of the Maamar Chazal. כל העושה דבר עבירה ומתבייש בו. A person, rachmana litzlan, is guilty of an aveira, but then has a sense of busha, a sense of shame, so mochelin lo, says the Gemara, the person is forgiven al kol avonvosav. If a person has a sense, a sincere, genuine sense of busha for this particular chet, chet X, whatever the chet happens to have been, umisvayeish bo and has a sense, experiences a sense of busha over that chet, so then מוחלים לו על כל עוונותיו. So why should that be? If I have chataim A through Z and I'm embarrassed about E and I'm embarrassed about J, so why does that count towards teshuva and why does that help a person receive mechila, forgiveness for all the other chataim? Because the answer is that the busha means that a person now has a—now is aware of HaKadosh Baruch Hu's presence, which is a response, which is a tikkun for all one's—all one's chataim, all one's aveiras. What I'm about to say will sound simplistic, so simplistic as to the point of being foolish, but maybe it is but maybe it isn't, I don't know. The jury will be out on that one. Sometimes when we do teshuva, think about the following scenario and consider that that's a scenario which isn't entirely fictional, but it's very much real to life. Let's say, I don't know, whatever the aveira is, we've got that proud tradition of sinas chinam, lashon hara. So let's say a person is being misvadeh on Yom Kippur or in the days leading up to Yom Kippur, in the month leading up to Yom Kippur, a person is being misvadeh on that chet of sinas chinam. And the person is saying with complete sincerity, wholeheartedly, "I feel so terrible at the fact that—that I engaged in sinas chinam, that I harbor such feelings towards a fellow—fellow Jew. Sinas chinam is something which is so insidious. It's such a terrible, terrible middah. I feel disgusted that—that I'm sullied with sinas chinam. I'm determined to uproot it and I'm determined never to harbor such feelings, never to have such an attitude towards—towards a fellow Jew." Pretty good, huh? Pretty good teshuva, no? What's missing? Ribbono Shel Olam is missing. Sometimes when we do teshuva, as it were, the chet takes on a life of its own. It sort of gets spun off. Sometimes we have a business and the business has—it spins off one—one section of the business and it becomes its own company, it becomes its own corporation. So sometimes when we think about chataim, especially chataim that have to do with middos ra'os, we focus so much on the insidiousness of that middah that we don't trace. the source of that value back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and in terms of the cheit and in terms of the teshuvah, we're not thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Every every teshuvah has to be על חטא שחטאנו לפניך. The word lifanecha has to be underscored and and has to be in in bold bold print. The Rambam says that the Chazal built into our schedule constant reminders of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In פרק א' הלכות ברכות, the Rambam says that the reason Anshei Knesses Hagedolah introduced so many brachos, so that whenever whenever you turn around, it's it's time to to say a bracha, the reason Chazal did that is כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד. If if we don't say the brachos by rote, sort of just mumble them automatically, but if we say brachos thoughtfully, so there's no greater reminder of Hakadosh Baruch Hu than saying a bracha, especially because we address Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the second person in in the bracha. When when do you use the second person? When do you use the third person? Let's say you're talking to a sibling, talking about a sibling, so so you say you, or you say he or she, him or her. So what determines whether you use the second person or the third person? So if your brother or sister is not here and you're talking about your brother or sister, you're talking about he, she, him, her. If you're talking to your brother or sister because he or she is is right here, so then it's you. It's not it's not he, it's not she, it's you. We address Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the when you think about it, the liberty that Anshei Knesses Hagedolah allowed us to address Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the second person is really staggering. Right, when we talk to a great person, so we don't have the chutzpah to address that person in in the in the second person. We address him in the third person. And yet Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we talk to Him in the second person. Why? Because Chazal wanted to impress upon us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is here. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is is present. We're in His presence. The Rambam says if we were to say brachos thoughtfully, deliberately, thoughtfully, it would achieve the goal that Chazal had in mind, כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד. It's one of the reminders that Chazal built into our our schedule. Another powerful reminder is there's so much that we do, the way a person comports himself or herself, the way a person carries himself or herself throughout the day, the way a person talks, the refinement with which a person talks, acts, etc., all is ultimately a reflection of a commitment to Torah mitzvos. If a person would always have in mind that link, again not let the code of behavior sort of take on its own, a life of its own, but a person would have an awareness of, yeah, the reason this is an appropriate way to act, speak, etc., the reason this is inappropriate is one's Torah'dik, one's not Torah'dik, one is is in accordance with the ratzon Hashem, one not. When we trace back our shmiras hamitzvos to Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is metzaveh, so then every time we're doing a mitzvah, every every time that the Torah is is molding and shaping and directing what we do, there would be an awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Let's let's perhaps reread the the second source that that you have here in front of you, again from where the Rambam talks about tkiyos shofar. We'll we'll read from from the beginning.

אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר.

So this is the the the message that's encoded by the blowing of the shofar. Awaken, vechapsu bema'asechem and vechizru bitshuva, scrutinize your actions, do teshuva, remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So in a word, the shofar is a call to teshuva. A call to teshuva. Now, to whom is a call to teshuva, to whom does that call go out? So if you would have asked me, a call to teshuva, the audience, the intended audience, are people who have sinned. To whom else is a call for teshuva issued? But what does the Rambam go on to say?

אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק.

To whom is the kol shofar intended? Look at this, this is absolutely staggering.

אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק.

The wake-up call for teshuva is addressed to those who forget truth because they're distracted by the ephemeral futilities, by all the chumriyut without any broader redeeming context. Veshogim kol shnatam, and their entire year, their entire life, they're immersed behevel varik with futility, with emptiness, with hollowness, אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל, which doesn't give any true spiritual benefit, which won't save them. So what didn't the Rambam say here? What didn't he mention? He didn't mention chet. And this is extraordinary. This observation I heard from my father zichrono livracha, that the Rambam has a call for teshuva and he identifies the audience for whom that call to teshuva is intended. He doesn't identify them as chote'im, as sinners, as people who have sinned, people who are involved with mamashut. People whose life is empty, whose life is vacuous, who are not involved with substance. Let's continue. Eventually, the Rambam gets to chet. He makes his way to chet. Habitu lenafshotechem line four, look, look be concerned with your souls, vehetivu darchechem uma'alelechem, improve your ways and your actions, your habits, ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה, and let each one of you abandon, forsake evil ways ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה, and not good thoughts. So eventually darko hara'ah, eventually the Rambam speaks in terms of ra and tov, in terms of chet. The opposite initially, hear this, this is so powerful what the Rambam is telling us. The opposite initially, the antithesis of Torah and mitzvot is emptiness, is mamashut, is being busy and preoccupied with nonsense, with pettiness, with everything that's transient and not with anything of substance and of enduring value. Eventually, eventually that translates into formal chet also as it were. Eventually if a person's life is empty, so inevitably they're going to be... official and and formal chata'im that will also inevitably ensue. It's a remarkable thing. The opposite of of tohu is is hashlamah. And and you see the Rambam says it again. If you take a look on on the same page, the Rambam's addressing a question that given that reward is in olam haba, so how are we to understand what the Torah talks about in Parshas Bechukosai and and elsewhere of all the bracha that ensues in olam hazeh when we dedicate ourselves to Torah and mitzvos? אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם, so then you know what's going to happen. Venosati gishmeichem be'itam, you're going to have bountiful crops and and there's going to be an overflow of in terms of what the the yield will be. Venasati gishmeichem be'itam and and the the rains will always be timely etc. So what's that all about if schar is really in olam haba? So the Rambam answers as follows. If you see it's around I don't know 10 maybe a dozen lines down, in this text it's כך הוא הכרע כל הדברים. The different text, כך הוא הכרע כל הדברים. It's about 10 dozen lines down. הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו, this is the this is the peshat. This is the the way to understand and and frame all those promises and guarantees about how about prosperity in olam hazeh.

הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו תורה זו עץ חיים. וכל העושה כל הכתוב בה ויודע דעה גבורה נכונה זוכה בו לחיי עולם הבא.

There there are two requirements. A person has to have proper belief, יודע דעה גבורה נכונה, and a person has to have proper action, וכל העושה כל הכתוב בה. If a person has those two things to his credit, proper belief, proper action, so then Torah is the is the bridge to eternal life,

זוכה בו לחיי עולם הבא. ולפי גודל מעשיו ורוב חכמתו הוא זוכה.

And again, each of those two elements, proper action and proper belief, contribute to what the person's share in olam haba is. Vehivtichanu baTorah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu guarantees us, he promises us in the Torah שנעשה אותה בשמחה ובטובת נפש. If we'll fulfill Torah joyously, venehgeh bechochmosah tamid and and we'll be preoccupied with the chochmas haTorah, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu will see that we want to devote ourselves to Torah, we're devoting ourselves to Torah, so then he'll facilitate שיסיר ממנו כל הדברים המונעים אותנו מלעשותה. He'll remove all the impediments kegon choli, sickness Rachmana litzlan, umilchama and war, vera'av and famine veyotzei bahem. And what's more, not only will Hakadosh Baruch Hu remove the deterrents, the impediments, but וישפיע עלינו כל הטובות המחזיקות את ידינו לעשות התורה. But he'll give us the the necessary support system, kegon parnasa. plenty of, the food will be plentiful and there will be peace in the world, and we'll have plenty of money to take care of all our needs, כדי שלא נעסוק כל ימינו בדבר שצריך לנו, so that we shouldn't be preoccupied our whole lives just with the mundane and the physical, אלא נשב פנויים ללמוד בחכמה ולעשות המצוה, so that again we'll have the opportunity to devote ourselves to those two elements of belief, of the wisdom of Torah and kiyum hamitzvos. Now let's skip, skip one line. Vechein hodianu batorah, so that's on the one hand, right? So on the one hand is if we, if not, if we mekayem mitzvos hatorah, so then Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends us all the brochos. Now comes the counterpoint, right? The counterpoint to what happens chas v'shalom when we're not devoting ourselves to לעשותם בשמחה לקיים המצוות והתורה. What's the opposite? Vechein hodianu batorah שנזוב התורה ונדעת, so what does that mean? So we're expecting the next few words to say, and the person's not keeping, the person's not eating neveilos v'treifos, a person's not keeping Shabbos, etc. No, what does the Rambam say? She'im azavta hatorah, if we forsake the Torah, and what happens? Venisasek behavlei hazman and we become preoccupied with nonsense, with foolishness, with vacuity. That's what the opposite of Torah is. The opposite of Torah is havlei hazman. In line five from the end of this excerpt, again where the Rambam is recapping and reviewing the point, so he says again with the antithesis of עבדתם את ה' בשמחה, עבדתם את ה' בשמחה is around ten lines from the bottom. So if עבדתם את ה' בשמחה, Hakadosh Boruch Hu showers His brochos to abundance and permanence and give you the support system. But if, five lines from the end, what's the opposite of avodas Hashem? אם עזבתם את ה', how, very interestingly, veshagitem and you're mired in, you're immersed in ma'achal umishteh, etc. A person's just busy with the physical for no redeeming purpose, not as part of the balanced life that a person has to maintain health v'chulu v'chulu. No, that's the focus of one's life. The focus of one's life is just the here and now without any transcendent context or goal. That's the opposite of Torah. Could be if you come back to the very first halacha we had looked at and there is a seemingly very cryptic phrase. Let's read this from the beginning. Kol mitzvos shebatorah, all the mitzvos in the Torah

בין עשה ובין לא תעשה, אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן,

any mitzvah of the Torah whether it's a positive commandment or a negative commandment, if a person violated, again either omission or commission, any one of them בין בזדון ובין בשגגה whether it was willful or whether it was unintentional כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות. What are those two phrases? No, that's just repetitious, כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו. When he does teshuva and he repents from his sin. Ela mai according to what we're discussing, no, this kesheyaseh teshuva means that there's an overall, a person recalibrates, a person reorients. Everything happens in a context, there's a source, there's a root, there's a cause for everything we do. We never do anything just so. Sometimes when asked, we answer just so. But that's not really true. There's always a context, there's always a source, there's always a certain momentum which generates and is responsible for what we do. She'asa teshuva means I'm not focusing on the specific cheit just yet. I'm focusing on that broader picture. Maybe my disproportionate involvement with the havlei hazman, my involvement with the havlei hazman not for any redeeming purpose. She'asa teshuva and then specifically yashuv mecheto. Then a person also targets the individual aveira. Maybe one final comment. Let's in that first source again, the Keitzad Mitvadin in 9:4. Keitzad Mitvadin? אנה השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך ועשיתי כך וכך. I sinned before you HaKadosh Baruch Hu, I've been guilty of such and such an aveira, והרי ניחמתי ובושתי במעשי, and I'm, I have a sense of remorse and I'm embarrassed at the actions, ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה. And I've resolved to never repeat this cheit. זה עיקרה של וידוי. This has all the essential elements of viduy. The Rambam's formulation is remarkable not only for what he does say, but also for what he doesn't say. Well, what's missing? What doesn't the Rambam include? We say it all the time and we interject it within our Al Cheit after every ten or so, so we insert it. We say וסלחת לנו ומחלת לנו וכפרת לנו, right? A bakashas mechila. Asking for forgiveness, asking for atonement. Rambam doesn't mention it. Obviously, the Rambam doesn't question, as a matter of fact, the context that he goes on to discuss in this halacha, that's what he's talking about. Of course the Rambam agrees that teshuva is a source of kapara and that a person attains kapara, atonement, forgiveness through doing teshuva. It's not that the Rambam questions that, that's what again in his very halacha he goes on to talk about that. But that's a byproduct of teshuva. That's a corollary of teshuva. But the essence of teshuva is that a person... we sort of think of teshuva in very pragmatic terms. If you park at a hydrant, so you get a $250 ticket. It would be nice if there was someone who could give an amnesty that you don't have to pay that $250 ticket, because that's a very heavy fine to have to pay. So we think of teshuva in very pragmatic terms as trying to get that amnesty because teshuva is an amnesty and teshuva can get us that amnesty, it's true. But the fact that teshuva can lead to that result doesn't mean that that's what the driving force of teshuva is. The driving force of teshuva is that a person, if a person is guilty of cheit, so a person doesn't want to remain mired in cheit. Even lu yetzuyar, even leaving aside again that obviously very... welcome and desired benefit of the amnesty. But Chet means that the person's Neshama is sullied. Chet means that a person distances himself or herself from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Those are the driving forces behind Teshuva. Yes, then Teshuva also, it's a Midat Hachesed of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that Teshuva also has as a by-product, as a corollary of Kappara, of Selicha u'mechila. But Teshuva is not simply a pragmatic way to try to get that amnesty. It's a catharsis. It's a way a person cleanses his, her Neshama from the stain of Chet. It's the way a person comes closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what Teshuva is. That's what Teshuva is, and that's what has to be reflected in the Vidui. That's what's articulated. Then, yes, there's a very, very, very welcome and desired dividend that we very much welcome and very much desire, but that's a dividend. It's not the essence of Teshuva. Maybe one final point. I think the context of Elul also, I'm just putting myself a little bit reflect on Elul as well. When you learn the Rambam's Hilchot Teshuva, again, noticing not only what he does say, but also what he doesn't say, Rambam doesn't talk about Chodesh Elul. He talks about Aseret Yemei Teshuva. When you learn Hilchot Teshuva, you'll find that the Rambam talks about Aseret Yemei Teshuva, talks about saying Selichot during Aseret Yemei Teshuva, talks about trying to do extra Mitzvot and Ma'asim Tovim to tip the scales during Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Rambam doesn't have any special Hanhagot for the month of Elul. We're used to, Ashkenazim are used to Teki'at Shofar, Sefardim are used to saying Selichot. We associate, even almost identify Elul with Teki'at Shofar and saying L'David Hashem Ori. We certainly associate Elul and maybe to a degree even identify Elul with these special Elul Hanhagot. There is no Chodesh Elul in the Rambam. And how is that? There is not that much in Chazal either. So what is one to make of that? The answer is that when you have special Hanhagot for Chodesh Elul, the truth is that one has to be careful that it doesn't distract us from what the primary focus of Chodesh Elul is supposed to be. The primary focus of Chodesh Elul is not to blow Shofar and it's not to say Selichot. It's rather to introduce change into our lives that will continue beyond Elul, that will continue beyond Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Not just to adopt extra measures for this 30-day period before Rosh Hashana, 40-day period before Yom Hakippurim. Yes, we do that also, be it Selichot, be it Teki'at Shofar. We do that also. But what Elul really is devoted to is Elul is a time, there's no Kedushat Hayom in Elul, it's not even called Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo. Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo defines Aseret Yemei Teshuva. Elul sort of in terms of what the days are intrinsically, they're more or less comparable to the days of the rest of the year. And that's Bechavana, that's intentional. Because Elul is a time to look to see, not just what extra effort can I make for a month or for 40 days. Elul is a time to see what permanent upgrade and improvement and enhancement can I make in my life. And that's why the Rambam doesn't have special Hanhagot for Chodesh Elul. Because what should I be doing in Chodesh Elul? I should be figuring out how I can Daven better, for instance. Not just for Chodesh Elul, but for every subsequent tefillah. I should be thinking how I can improve my bein adam l'chaveiro, not just for Chodesh Elul, but introduce change, improvement that will remain a part of a person's life, not just to have the temporary extra measures leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Hi everyone, thank you for coming to Torah with Rosh Yeshiva every Monday night at eight. If you want to be on the committee to help organize things for Torah with Rosh Yeshiva, please come up to me and sign up. Should I stop recording?