Degrees of Teshuva

Ak be'asor lachodesh.

כל אכין ורקין שבתורה מיעוטן מחפר הוא על השבים ואינו מחפר על שאינן שבים לשון רש"י מדברי רבותינו. ואם כן יהיה טעם הכתוב.

So in the Ramban, ta'am often means the meaning, not the reason.

ואם כן יהיה טעם הכתוב כי באחד לחודש יהיה לכם לכולכם יום זכרון תרועה שתהיו כולכם נידונים לפניו אך יהיה למקצתכם בעשור לחודש הזה יום הכפורים והנה הוא כטעם בלבד.

So the Ramban here reveals something, he wouldn't call it a revelation, but reveals something extraordinary. I think if so the machlokes Rabbi and Chachamim, Rabbi is of the opinion Yom Kippur is mechaper even leshainam shavim, even without teshuva, whereas according to the Chachamim, Yom Kippur is only mechaper lashavim. Okay, so clearly this drasha Rashi is quoting is aliba deChachamim. But I think if we were asked to sort of summarize or paraphrase what that opinion is, is Yom Kippur, to benefit from Yom Kippur, to take advantage of Yom Kippur, take advantage in a positive sense of the term, so a person has to do teshuva and rachmana litzlan a person doesn't do teshuva so then he squanders Yom Kippur. I think that's the way we would paraphrase the view of the Chachamim. What the Ramban shows is that's not what they're saying. They're saying it's not Yom Kippur.

ואם כן יהיה טעם הכתוב כי באחד לחודש יהיה לכם לכולכם.

The first day of the month is Yom HaDin universally.

יהיה לכם לכולכם יום זכרון תרועה שתהיו כולכם נידונים לפניו אך יהיה למקצתכם בעשור לחודש הזה יום הכפורים.

I mean, it's asur bemilacha, it's also be'achila ushtiya and all the Chamisha Inuyim, but it's not Yom Kippur. You see that? And k'loyar, the Ramban is saying that's just the if the drashas Chazal, let's say the Torah had given, had planted the seed for the drasha, ich vays on the pasuk of כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם, in the phrase yechaper aleichem. So then it wouldn't have been a miyut in the yom, but where the Torah places the miyut, so what emerges is that the correct formulation is not that it's Yom Kippur but a person who wasn't shav failed to take advantage of that extraordinary inestimable opportunity, but it's rather no, it's not Yom Kippur for him. It's something extraordinary. Again, a person can't decide well I'm not going to do teshuva anyway so I might as well have a pastrami on rye. No, it's asur bachamisha inuyim and asur bemilacha anyway, but it's not it's not Yom Kippur for him. I keep forgetting that Tuesday we don't have the sefarim here. The הלכות תשובה פרק א הלכה ג. Thank you.

בזמן הזה שאין בית המקדש קיים ואין לנו מזבח כפרה אין שם אלא תשובה.

We don't have the Seir Hamishtaleach, we don't have Chataos and Ashamos, we don't have Malkos, we don't have Misas Beis Din, we don't have all the things that mechaper.

בזמן הזה שאין בית המקדש קיים ואין לנו מזבח כפרה אין שם אלא תשובה. התשובה מכפרת על כל העבירות אפילו רשע כל ימיו ועשה תשובה באחרונה אין מזכירין לו שום דבר מרשעו

shenemar verishas harasha.

לא יכשל בה ביום שובו מרשעו. ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים שנאמר כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם.

So the halacha is kulo pele. The Rambam begins the halacha by saying that the only mechaper we have left is teshuva and then he concludes the halacha by saying עצמו של יום הכיפורים is mechaper. But ella mai? No, so according to this Ramban the pshat in the shitas hachachamim that Yom Kippur is only mechaper lashavim, so it's not again according to our initial paraphrase Yom Kippur is mechaper. Teshuva is a condition. משל מה הדבר דומה? Let's say someone will say he's giving out free donuts for anyone wearing a blue shirt. Okay, so that's a condition. There's the giveaway and there's a condition. So Yom Kippur is mechaper and there's a condition of teshuva. No, according to the Ramban that's not the pshat, right? According to the Ramban that it becomes, it's Yom Kippur for someone who shav. So that then means that there isn't a distinct mechaper of Yom Kippur. And mimela the Rambam is also nicha. Right? The Rambam where again at the beginning of the halacha he says that אין שם מזבח כפרה אלא התשובה. The only mechaper we have bazman hazeh, only in quotation marks, but it works for everything. The only mechaper we have bazman hazeh is teshuva. And then the Rambam turns around and says that ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים. But according to this Ramban no hein hein hadvarim. Because really the pshat is, really the pshat in hachachamim is, is that teshuva is mechaperes on Yom HaKippurim. Teshuva is mechaperes on Yom HaKippurim. I was looking to see in the meforshim so he's not misyaches. The Ramban doesn't, he's coming from a totally different angle. The Ksav HaKabbala. Ksav HaKabbala says has the following kedarko on the one hand tremendously mechudash on the other hand just so anchored. קרא את היום הזה בלשון כפרה ולא בלשון סליחה. Yeah, why isn't it the, why isn't it Yom Haselicha, Yom Hamechila? What's pshat that it's Yom HaKippurim?

נראה לי או נראה לומר שבא להורות על אופן מחילת העוונות שיהיה על ידי התורה לנו ביום הזה והוא העבודה והתשובה אשר רק בצירוף אלה ביום הקדוש הזה נעשה החסד העליון למחילה וסליחת העוונות וכמאמרם אין יום הכיפורים מכפר אלא עם התשובה.

If you have it on the computer I'm in Vayikra chof-gimmel chof-zayin in the Ksav HaKabbala. Vayikra chof-gimmel chof-zayin Ksav HaKabbala.

וכמאמרם אין יום הכיפורים מכפר אלא עם התשובה וזה נכלל בלשון כיפורים.

And he goes on to, I mean he goes on to show the שורש כ-פ-ר, it means to atone, it means atonement, but it also means to cleanse, to remove. And he says the lashon Yom HaKippurim is that the Torah intends, is a double entendre, that the Torah intends both meanings. The Torah says when the person cleanses himself so then mimela it's a day of atonement.

וזה נכלל בלשון כיפורים כי כבר פירש רש"י על פסוק בישעיהו כל כפרה לשון סילוק דבר ותרגומו שם לאעדויוסה וכן פירש הרד"ק כל כפרה לשון הסרה.

Now the question is is there any is there any nafka mina practically to to this conceptual difference that it's not the pshat that if a person God forbid doesn't do teshuva on Yom Kippur, it's not the pshat that he isn't tapping into he's not benefiting from Yom Kippur that that he didn't show up for the amnesty but the pshat is no that that aspect of Yom Kippur wasn't Yom Kippur for him ach it's not Yom Kippur for everyone. It's a יום האסור במלאכה for everyone it's a yom ha'asur with the chamesh inuyim for everyone but it's not it's not Yom Kippur for everyone. Is is there a is there a nafka mina? So possibly I don't know you can don't know פנים לכאן ופנים לכאן it could be that what we're about to say you could argue is true either way or maybe it's only true davka according to this this new havana. There are certainly levels and gradations in teshuva. How so? I mean either a person has azivas hachet and חרטה לשעבר וקבלה להבא or he doesn't. So how how are there madregos? And again according to the Rambam there's no room for partial kabbalah l'haba. Kabbalah l'haba is all or nothing. Oh. But in charata l'shavar of course there are madregos. A person can look back at a chet and can look back a person can look back at something he did that wasn't the good thing to do. That was a bad thing to do. And that was a very bad thing to do. That was a terrible thing to do. That was the worst possible thing in the world to do. There are different that that there are different degrees of hakaras hachet corresponding to which there are different degrees of charata of of remorse. And and one can't equate a teshuva where where the where the hakaras hachet is is complete where where the hakaras hachet maybe is somewhat lacking. One can't equate the teshuva where the person has a profound sense of remorse to the point of of anguish to where a person has genuine regret but it would be an exaggeration to describe it as as anguish. So according to the Ramban lichora and again the Ramban is just so it's not the Ramban he's showing us that that's the what the drashas Chazal is but according to the Ramban lichora that that it's Yom Kippur to the degree that a person does teshuva so how much of a Yom Kippur it is also depends on how much of a teshuva there is it's not an all or nothing. I don't know maybe maybe again this next half you know is there a contrast? So I guess you you could argue both sides of you know maybe if Yom Kippur is mechaper but to get in the door you you have to do teshuva okay so if he did a teshuva in a bedieved'dik way I don't know maybe that's enough maybe that gets you in the door maybe you wouldn't have madregos madregos I don't know you can argue it either way but but clearly clearly it's it's irrelevant there's no point in arguing it because clearly clearly unless you're just moving for argument okay but but clearly clearly According to the way the Ramban explains it, so it's it's compelling that there will be madregos of kapora reflecting the madrega of the teshuvah, which depends upon the degree of the hakoras hachet and and and charata. The the Chovos Halevavos, I I looked for it a bit but I couldn't find it to give you the exact mareh makom, I couldn't find where it was, but Chovos Halevavos says this. Chovos Halevavos says—again, he's speaking about chasidim, you know, before the term became identified with the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov—says chasidim have the following practice: he says they do teshuvah on their teshuvah. And what what that reflects—I mean, it's certainly not meforush what we're talking about, but but it certainly reflects the same yesod in terms of the madregos of teshuvah, because the way he explains the teshuvah on the teshuvah is that where the person was holding last year, so when he looked at his chet, so he had the sensitivity to to a certain point to recognize what's wrong and what's bad about it. But now, having gotten to a higher madrega, so he has greater sensitivity, greater understanding, greater insight, so now he understands, so now he says gevald, the way I apologized, as it were, teshuvah, right, the way I apologized last year, it was as if I was making light of the chet. Let's say משל למה הדבר דומה. Let let let's say, I don't know, a person's running and he runs over someone and knocks the person over and the person suffers a concussion, and then he comes over to him the next day and extends his hand and says, "I want to apologize for bumping into you." So mustama he has to apologize for the apology, at a certain point, when he when he understands, when it dawns on him that he didn't stam bump into the guy, no, he ran the guy over and gave him a concussion, so he's going to apologize for for the apology, because the apology made light of what he did. The apology was sincere; that was the degree to which he to which he understood the offense at that point. But when he understands the offense more fully, so then he's going to apologize for for the apology. I mean, and you're thinking, I could just be misunderstanding, but aren't aren't you sort of like, the point of this is like a person grows over their life? Like the point is they're at level A at point one, at level B at point two. They're not necessarily—are they—they're not expected to be—I mean, somebody who's who's whatever's at one level's not expected to be necessarily in a higher level at that point. No, I'm I'm maskim. What we're talking about can happen for either of in either of two very different scenarios. You're absolutely correct, and and it's a very, very important contextualization that you're giving. It can happen for either of two reasons: it can happen either because the person is not yet in a position to—again, which is the way I was more describing it, in in terms of the Chovos Halevavos—the person is not yet in a position to recognize it fully, or sometimes it can be that he just does teshuvah superficially, right? It can happen for either of two, and and presumably the way that registers is going to is going to differ depending upon which of those two scenarios it is. But I'm just trying to think, the point is if somebody's just not at a certain level yet to recognize it, so you're supposed to ask mechila on on your level. Exactly, again, but but but again, just to try to to review, just to make sure the point is clear, the objectively incomplete hakarat hachet can happen for either of two reasons. It can either happen because the person is not on the madrega to have the hakarat hachet, which is what you're talking about, and you're 100% correct, in which case it's only going to be a middat chasidut to do teshuva on the teshuva. It's certainly not going to be something that he's doing me'ikar hadin. Or, it can be because he's not reaching down deep enough, in which case that would be a very different scenario, right? But what you're saying is 100% true, 100% true. And so you say teshuva me'ahava versus teshuva meyira, Hashem reacts differently to those. Is that also? That, I think that's very much part of what we're talking about. That's, but I think what we're suggesting is that maybe, you know, there will be even more, you know, more gradations than just two of teshuva meyira, teshuva me'ahava. Maybe even within teshuva meyira there are madregos madregos. But yeah, that certainly is a binyan av for what we're talking about, because in one case the teshuva is a fact that זדונות נעשות לו כשגגות and in the other case the teshuva is a fact that זדונות נעשות לו כזכויות, so that's very much a binyan av for what we're talking about, but we're suggesting that maybe even within not lav davka that what that means is that within teshuva meyira that everything is, everything is the same, everything is alike. Okay, we'll stop here.