Chovos Halevavos 2

When a person corrects his failings in terms of obeying Hashem and filling in what he has been lacking in terms of obeying Hashem, in terms of mishmaat Hashem. Now how did this shortcoming in obeying devar Hashem come about? So Rabbeinu Bachya says אם מחמת אי ידיעתו את השם וסוגי משמעתו. So what does it mean sugai mishma'ato? Sug, right, types of mishmaat, of obeying Hashem, different types of obeying Hashem, so that just means that one is ignorant of various dinim. That, that rachmana litzlan, the person did something he shouldn't have done on Shabbos because he didn't know hilchos Shabbos. He didn't know hilchos Shabbos. So that too is an occasion for teshuva, right? שגגות תלמוד עולות זדון. That too is an occasion for teshuva. A person has an obligation to, again, kefi kocho to know what, how to conduct himself. I think the Chofetz Chaim writes in the hakdama to the Chofetz Chaim, he said that when some of his contemporaries heard that he was writing a sefer in Shemiras Halashon, so they challenged him and said, you know, the Gemara says that מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין. You're not gonna, better there shouldn't be a sefer on Shemiras Halashon. מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין. So the Chofetz Chaim says that he answered that the Gemara says at the beginning of the fourth perek in Beitzah and that we only say מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין by a דבר שאינו מפורש בתורה. By a דבר שאינו מפורש בתורה, so then the assumption is that people don't really know about the din and that in fact they really are shogegin. But if it's a דבר המפורש בתורה, so then our assumption is that people are aware of the din and they're basically mezidin. So therefore this principle of מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין you only invoke with regard to a דבר שאינו מפורש בתורה. So the Chofetz Chaim says aderaba, he says without a sefer in Shemiras Halashon, he says no one will be able to talk. No one's gonna be able to open their mouth because I'll never know whether what I'm about to say is muttar or assur, is a dibbur shel hetter, a dibbur shel issur. He says I'll write a sefer and he says I'll give people relief, they'll be able to, they'll be able to be potzeh peh. So we have, we have a chiyuv again to, to acquaint ourselves with sugai mishma'ato. But what, what does he have in mind with the previous phrase, אם מחמת אי ידיעתו את השם? Is that something separate? So the mashma'us is that Rabbeinu Bachya here is, again, the idea is certainly correct and I think he's, I think he's hinting at it also. What if when I come to בית דין של מעלה and, and they ask me how come you did such and such on Shabbos? So I'll say that I didn't know that halacha. I didn't know that, that halacha in hilchos Shabbos. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do it. So then, so then they'll tell me, hayah lach lilmod, hayah lach lilmod. And then I'll say if I would have appreciated the importance of Shabbos, of keeping mitzvos Hashem, so then you can, then you can say to me that hayah li lilmod. But what if I didn't take these things seriously? I just, I was never, the person will claim I wasn't, no one ever told me, I never ever heard a mussar shmuess to take these things seriously, take these things seriously. Sort of מיום עמדי על דעתי I was on a certain track, not, not to take these things with such koved rosh, and I lived my life on that track. I lived my life on that track. So the Rabbeinu Bachya says achar sheyatza mimeno, a person again departed, he strayed from mishmaat Hashem v'ta'a bah. He, he erred in that area. ומלא מה שחסר לו ממנו, and teshuvah entails again filling in what a person has omitted, what's been lacking in, in obeying devar Hashem. And what's one cause for again for having sinned? מחמת אי ידיעתו את השם. You know, a person doesn't, didn't sufficiently know Hashem. De-hainu, de-hainu, and I'm speaking now beineinu l'vein atzmeinu. I'm, I'm not speaking about someone who, who was born into a totally assimilated family. I have no idea. Only the Ribbono Shel Olam can figure out such a case. I, I, I make no, no, no, I don't know how anyone can presume to stand in judgment on, on people who, who come from, from no background. So that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing someone who comes from a background but let's say the, he knows about Torah but it's always been kind of superficial. Always been kind of superficial. So Rabbeinu Bachya says, no, the אי ידיעת את השם, that gufa is something for which we're responsible. De-hainu, one way to define what it means to be human is that human beings have self-consciousness, right? Which the animal kingdom doesn't have, right? Animal kingdom, there's no, there's no self-consciousness, I don't mean self-consciousness in oh, everyone's looking at me because my shirt is stained. I don't mean self-consciousness in, in that sense. Self-consciousness again in the sense of being aware of oneself, being able to reflect on oneself, being able to reflect on the fact that one is alive, being able to reflect on well, why am I alive? What is life for? What's the meaning of life? Self-consciousness in that respect. So that's a defining and on one level, the defining human characteristic is that, that self-consciousness that we have. And what Rabbeinu Bachya is saying is for a person to go through life without paying, totally squandering that capacity of self-consciousness, that gufa is, is a cheit. And that's not a defense. The fact that, you know, the fact that well, again the way I sort of, the way I never thought differently. It never occurred to me to think about things more enduring or more important than making money and, and, and being able to indulge whatever pleasures I would like to enjoy. I just never really thought about anything beyond that. Says Rabbeinu Bachya, no, but that's what it means to be human. To be human means to have this capacity for self-consciousness and ultimately what that capacity for self-consciousness leads a person to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's where it leads a person ultimately. And it's not a defense, it's not a defense for me to say, you know, I just didn't think. I just didn't think because that's what it means to be human. In the animal kingdom that's no ta'ana. They don't have that capacity for, for self-consciousness. But that's what it means to be human. So a person can't say I, I lived my whole life and and I applied my, my intelligence to, to being smarter than everyone else in, in the market or, or scoring as high as I could to get into the top schools that I wanted to, but I never... The next paragraph, again, he has a phrase, I'm not sure what it means. היציאה ממשמעת השם שני סוגים. When one leaves, when one strays from obeying Hashem, so that can happen in one of two ways. אם בהמנעות מלעשות מה שצוה השם לעשותו. It can be that a person passively neglects to do what Hashem commanded, right? A person neglects a mitzvahs asei and his'almu mimenu, he ignores the mitzvahs asei,

או בעשיית מה שהזהיר השם מלעשותו וכוונתו בכך להמרות פי השם.

So those last five words, very difficult to understand why Rabbeinu Bachya injects them, right? When you begin reading the sentence, you expect that what he's going to say is that a cheit can be passively neglecting a mitzvahs asei, right, it's a sin of omission, or it can be actively and rachmana litzlan being over on a lo sa'asei, it can be a sin of commission. So why does he describe the sin of commission, the active violation of a lo sa'asei as וכוונתו בכך להמרות פי השם? That it's his intention to rebel against Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now, that's not true, right? Chazal distinguish between a mumar lete'avon and a mumar lehach'is. A mumar lehach'is is one who's doing it because it's assur, one who's doing it because it's assur. Mumar lete'avon means, again, that a person gives in to his yeitzer, like the Rabbeinu Bachya said in the previous paragraph, that sins result מחמת התגברות יצרו על שכלו, that sort of this unthinking instinct, which I haven't refined, prevails over my seichel. So why does he describe every cheit as וכוונתו בכך להמרות פי השם? Again, it's certainly not right ledina. We certainly don't say that, right? In the beginning of Yoreh De'ah, so if a person distinguishes, if he's a mumar lehach'is, so then even though he's a mumar lehach'is with regard to one aveirah, he has the status of a מומר לכל התורה כולה. If he's a mumar lete'avon, so then he's only not ne'eman on that one thing for which he's a mumar lete'avon. So ella mai, could be that what Rabbeinu Bachya means is the following. He's not saying that every cheit, rachmana litzlan, makes us guilty of being a mumar lehach'is. But he is drawing the following distinction, and tremendously sobering. He says the difference between a mumar lehach'is and a mumar lete'avon is what his goal is. The mumar lete'avon, so his goal, again, is to satisfy his pleasure, right? He lusts for something and he regularly succumbs to that yeitzer, that's his goal. That's the goal he's seeking to attain. And even worse, rachmana litzlan, the mumar lehach'is, so his goal is to do the aveirah. His goal is to do it because the Ribono shel Olam says not to do it. But says Rabbeinu Bachya, don't underestimate a cheit lete'avon because even if the matarah, the goal, is attaining your ta'avah, the means, the means which a person is knowingly employing, is rebelling against Hashem. So yes, Rabbeinu Bachya says, I'm aware of that fundamental and really fundamental distinction and tremendous gap between rachmana litzlan mumar lete'avon and rachmana litzlan mumar lehach'is, but don't think, don't underestimate the severity of what it means to do a cheit with te'avon either. Because it's true that a cheit lete'avon, the matarah, the goal, may not be lehamros pi Hashem, but clearly if you ask what the means are. So what are the means that he's knowingly employing l'hasig ta'avaso? What are the means that he's employing? Says Rabbeinu Bachya, כוונתו בכך לא מטרתו בכך. He's not describing a mumar l'hachis, but what he's telling us is don't, don't, don't underestimate what's involved even in doing a cheit, rachmana l'tzlan, l'teavon. כוונתו בכך להמרות פי השם. Then skipping three or four lines, Rabbeinu Bachya continues,

והיה הדבר בעשייתו מה שהזהיר השם יתעלה וישתרומם עליו הרי אופן מילוי חובתו תהיה בהישמר מלחזור לכל סוגי אותו המעשה וינהג בהיפוכו עם קבלת גדרי התשובה ותנאיה אשר נבארם לקמן בשער הזה אם ירצה השם. והמשל לכך בעניינים הטבעיים כאדם שחלה גופו מחמת המאכל אם מפני שחדל לאכול מה שבו קיום בריאותו ואם מפני שאכל מה שהזיקו וקלקל בריאותו. אם הייתה מחלתו מחסור מזון שתתמיד בו בריאותו הרי אופן החזרתו לאיזונו יהיה בריבוי שימושו במיני המזונות והרפואות המתאימים לטבעו עד שיחזור לגבול המיצוע. וכאשר ישוב למצבו הראשון הטבעי ינהג במזונות באופן הממוצע.

So basically the Rabbeinu Bachya here precedes the Rambam, and maybe the Rambam, there's every reason to think that the Rambam had this in mind when the Rambam discusses it in Shmona Perakim. So Rabbeinu Bachya says that if a person, right, sees upon making a cheshbon hanefesh that he has sinned, and by definition, to sin means to veer off what the Torah says is the derech hayashar to one of the two extremes, to one of the two extremes, that the tikun for that is to temporarily overcompensate. Right? And the Rabbeinu Bachya already gives the mashal that the Rambam does as well, משל למה הדבר דומה, he says, from refuas haguf. For instance, let's say a person is anemic, right? So then the doctor will say that the person should eat lots of, lots of red meat. So that will boost the iron. So he has to, he has to overcompensate. On the other hand, if a person has high cholesterol, so then the doctor will tell him he has to totally avoid the red meat. And then when these problems are solved, the person's no longer anemic, the person's cholesterol level goes down, so then the doctor will say, have a moderate amount. Have a moderate amount, right? But very often in, in terms of refuas haguf, to, to recreate or reinstate the balance, the equilibrium, you have to temporarily overcompensate. You have to temporarily overcompensate. And Rabbeinu Bachya, take a look, the Rambam has this in Shmona Perakim as well, says that the same is true in terms of refuas hanefesh as well. In terms of refuas hanefesh, when a person does, when a person does anything, הן לטוב הן למוטב. So we have to be aware that whatever we do is important for two reasons. A, everything a person ever does or ever says is important. Is important. B, anything a person does or says leaves an impact. It makes an imprint. It helps cultivate a certain habit, a certain disposition, a certain inclination. And again, הן לטוב הן למוטב. If a person does something good, he does a mitzvah, so then he's developing a good habit. But rachmana l'tzlan, a person does something bad, so he's developing that bad habit. And therefore the way to undo it, again, is with the same reinforcement, again, the same repetition. but pointing in the opposite direction. Okay, so that's the approach of Rabbeinu Bachya and the Rambam that in compensating for chet, one has to temporarily overcompensate and go in the opposite direction. Okay, let's take a little bit here and take a look a little bit at Perek Bet. חלקי התשובה הם שלושה. The word Chelkei is sort of, I don't know what the, I don't know if there was, if there was another possible translation or not, but what Rabbeinu Bachya is describing here in Perek Bet is, well again, חלקי התשובה הם שלושה, it's not the, it's what comes afterwards that gets a little confusing. Meaning there are three elements of teshuva. And then what he describes in each of these next paragraphs is the first element of teshuva is awareness of chet. Right? And that's what Rabbeinu Bachya says, but as long as all you have is awareness of chet, it doesn't stop you from engaging in the chet. But the first chelek of teshuva is awareness of chet.

האחד אדם בעל תשובה כאשר אינו מוצא דרך לעבירה וכאשר מתאפשרת לו מתגבר יצרו על שכלו ואינו נמנע ממנה וכאשר גומר אותה רואה את רוע פועלו ומתחרט על מה שעשה הרי זה שב בפיו לא בלבו ובלשונו ולא במעשיו והוא חייב עונש מאת השם יתברך ויתעלה.

Meaning if a person just has awareness of chet, but he's not struggling against the chet, okay, so you need the awareness of chet, that's a chelek of teshuva, but it doesn't, having that alone doesn't make a person a ba’al teshuva. Hachelek hasheini. What's the next element that a person needs?

אדם השב בלבו ואיבריו פירוש מתקומם בשכלו נגד יצרו ומשתמש בכישרונו הנפשי ונאבק עם תאוותו עד שנוצחן ועוצרן ממה ששנוא לפני השם יתברך ויתעלה.

A person struggles against chet. A person struggles against chet. This isn't enough because as the Rabbeinu Bachya continues,

אלא שנפשו שואפת תמיד להמרות משמעת השם ומשתוקק לדבר עבירה ומשתדל לרסנו אולם פעמים נוצחתו ופעמים נוצחה.

He still has that strong drive ומשתוקק לדבר עבירה ומשתדל לרסנו. However, פעמים נוצחתו ופעמים נוצחה. Sometimes the yetzer prevails, sometimes he prevails. הרי זה בדרך התשובה. Now that he has this second element of not only awareness of chet, but he's struggling against chet, so at least he's on the road to teshuva. הרי זה בדרך תשובה. Hachelek hashelishi, the third element when you have it in a person, אדם שנשתלמו בו כל תנאי התשובה, if you have all three elements, גבר שכלו על תאוותו. Means that he's no longer struggling. He's no longer פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. Right? Very often, very often we reach a point where we not only have hakaras hachet, awareness of chet, but there's a certain ambivalence. But it's still an ambivalence. An ambivalence of, you know, ultimately, ultimately what principle governs my life? And very often we're פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. There's a principle again of measuring everything by hatzlacha in olam hazeh. Measuring by what seems to be most real but is most unreal, tangible, concrete. And a person can't decide. On the one hand there is awareness of chet, and there is a struggle, but a person is פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. Can I really be mochel on the higher salary to ensure that I'll have more time to learn and in general to be involved? standard of living which will result from that unequivocal commitment. Hachelek hasheni, the reason it's a struggle, the reason he can't prevail is because, again, he's פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. Whether or not he lives for olam hazeh, or whether he lives for values which resonate into olam haba. And that's that's a big struggle. That's why Rabbeinu Bachya says that hachelek hashlishi is

אדם שנשלמו בו כל תנאי התשובה, גבר שכלו על תאוותו,

meaning that because he's no longer פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. He's no longer, you'll pay attention to the Selichos of Rosh Hashana, he's no longer oved lishnei adonim. He's no longer serving two masters. No, גבר שכלו על תאוותו, he doesn't equivocate. It's clear again what I live for. I live again for values of nitzchiyus, for avodas Hashem. I don't live for the values of olam hazeh. And consequently קיבל על עצמו לעשות חשבון נפשו. Now as long as when he's no longer equivocating he can make a proper cheshbon hanefesh, ירא את הבורא יתעלה ובוש ממנו. So that's what's necessary to go from struggling to conquering means that there can't be any equivocation. A person can't be פוסח על שתי הסעיפים. This is something which is very difficult. It's something which we shouldn't underestimate. Again, to be פוסח על שתי הסעיפים in terms of whether or not a person should eat a piece of chazer, no, okay, so baruch Hashem, that's not a nisayon, baruch Hashem. But to be פוסח על שתי הסעיפים, again, to walk away from a job in a law firm where the first year salary is $120,000 a year, and to live a much more modest lifestyle, but a lifestyle where you'll be koveia itim latorah, es hamitzvos, tzorchei tzibur, gemilus chasadim. Not to be פוסח על שתי הסעיפים there, we shouldn't for a moment underestimate, or we shouldn't for a moment delude ourselves into thinking that because we're not פוסח על שתי הסעיפים when it comes to eating a piece of chazer, that we're not פוסח על שתי הסעיפים at the next stage. And it's at the next stage where we get stuck too often. It's at the next stage where a person is more concerned with what do people think? My friends, my bosses, rather than what the Ribbono Shel Olam thinks. When a person thinks and rationalizes, but I'll have more money, so I'll give more tzedakah, and that there is a time for such a cheshbon, but not nearly as many times as we make the cheshbon. And therefore it's justified, this this this bondage of working till 10 o'clock at night every night is justified. We shouldn't underestimate to what extent we're entangled in in such a struggle. And that's what Rabbeinu Bachya is saying, we have to move from hachelek hasheni to hachelek hashlishi, there has to be an unequivocal, unambiguous commitment, commitment to I live, I live for the Ribbono Shel Olam, which means I live for His Torah, which means that I live for the values which according to His Torah are values of Godliness. And now let me go back and make a cheshbon hanefesh. It doesn't mean that I don't need a job, that's not the the implication, but it certainly may have implications as to what job and how many hours it's it's going I'm going to allow it to preoccupy in my life. But finally, just one other comment here in the end of Perek Bet. Rabbeinu Bachya says once one has this unequivocal commitment that he's no longer פוסח על שתי הסעיפים, he's no longer oved lishnei hadonim, so then, A, a person realizes

חשב בלבו על גודל עונו ופשעו והכיר רוממות מעלת מי שהמרה מצותו ועבר על דברו.

Rabbeinu Bachya again says says something very, very sobering, very sobering. So generally we emphasize, and this this is correct also, in a cheit, if I did a certain cheit, so it reflects a weakness I have in that area. It reflects again a strong yetzer hara I have in that area. A person can can have a weakness in terms of anger, in terms of cynicism, in terms of unkindness. A person can have a weakness again in terms of certain taivos. But Rabbeinu Bachya says that's true and we have to recognize that, but in every cheit, in every cheit, again it's it's so sobering. In every cheit Rabbeinu Bachya says there's also a lack of appreciation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's not only that in a cheit there's an unsanctified, unrefined instinct or middah, yeah, there is, but that can only remain unsanctified and unrefined and it can only prevail if there's a lack of appreciation for what a mitzvah represents. A mitzvah represents Devar Hashem. This is the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. How can it be any contest between my yetzer hara and the Devar Hashem if I have any, if I have the slightest appreciation of who Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, how can it be? Rabbeinu Bachya says when a person is makir cheit, part of that process of understanding of hakara is הכיר רוממות מעלת מי שהמרה מצותו ועבר על דברו, that a person recognizes the exalted ma'alah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu whose word the chotei contravenes. That every cheit is not just a weakness in one of my middos, a weakness in one of my taivos, but it's also rachmana litzlan a flawed understanding of who Hakadosh Baruch Hu is and hence what the Devar Hashem is. Okay, we know next week we will have one more comment on Perek Bet and then hopefully we'll try to get through the next couple of perakim.