Doing Teshuva B’Simcha

Hi good morning Rabbosai. I hope everyone is well. The Noam Elimelech has in Parshas Haazinu he quotes from the בעל שם טוב הקדוש. He says, just want to be basically two lines, maybe it's even a little less than two lines:

דהנה תשובה היא מצות עשה מן התורה ולכן צריך לעשותה בשמחה,

meaning that we find that the Torah has the expectation of that we'll be oveid Hashem b'simcha:

תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב.

And the Baal Shem Tov says we don't find that the Torah makes an exception. We don't find that the Torah says, but ha'yos that as Rabbeinu Yonah says, the the ikker of teshuvah is merirus haleiv, and yet we don't find that teshuvah is an exception to this mandate of avodas Hashem b'simcha. So apparently it isn't. Ad kan devarav that we're quoting. He goes on to talk about some other inyanim that are that we're not focusing on at the moment. But what's takeh the pshat? How, how if if the ikker of teshuvah is merirus haleiv, whenever we engage in cheshbon hanefesh, you know, if if you get a test paper back and you want to get a hundred and you know you didn't get a hundred, so there's going to be, you know, it's not going to be a purely enjoyable experience to review the results. So how do they coexist? How does the merirus haleiv and the teshuvah coexist? So first of all, even before we make any headway in thinking about that question, I don't know, a human being is capable of contradictory states simultaneously. I think that we all know from experience that, you know, that a person is capable of happiness tinged with sadness, that a person can be simultaneously happy and sad. So the fact that it's a logical contradiction, the ikker of teshuvah being merirus haleiv and simcha is davar vehipucho, it's a logical contradiction, but we recognize that maybe in the world of logic that's an impossibility, but in our world, in the world of human experience, it's very much a viable combination. Okay, that's just sort of in general. But in particular, how do we how does it coexist? So a little bit of a mashal perhaps is as follows. Let's say imagine you have someone, lo aleinu, with a very serious illness who has to undergo some very very difficult treatment. However, in this instance, in this hypothetical case, he has a guarantee that the treatment is going to be successful. That guarantee in no way is going to diminish the physical effects of the treatment. The treatment is still going to be a very difficult treatment to endure. But unlike other cases, in this case there's a guarantee that the treatment will be successful. And without the treatment, it's no go. It's no go. It's not really a question of optional treatment. So when he comes in to the treatment center, so if he'll be greeted and asked what he's experiencing, what he's feeling, is he happy to be there? Does he in the worst way not want to be there? So the answer will be this logically contradictory but Humanly very real combination that he can't imagine anything more difficult and more miserable, and he certainly feels that. On the other hand, he's thrilled to be here because of the promise and the guarantee of success and of a cure. And הבא ליטהר מסייעין לו when a person takes a step on the path of teshuvah, so he has that guarantee. He doesn't have a guarantee that the treatment is gonna be amusing, that the treatment is gonna be enjoyable on every and all levels, but he does have a guarantee that it will succeed and succeed a hundred percent. So what is he feeling? He's feeling both. He can simultaneously feel the merirus halev which is part of teshuvah, whatever hours or whatever time, days, whatever is invested, but simultaneously knowing where it's guaranteed that this path is leading. So there's a tremendous simcha, tremendous simcha not only at the prospect of success, but there's a sense of relief that a person feels just in knowing that the process is underway. Even before the person gets there, knowing that the process is underway is something which is tremendously relieving, encouraging, and uplifting. And that's sort of one level on which to understand this dialectical combination that even mitzvas teshuvah is besimcha and it doesn't preclude that simcha shel mitzvah. Okay good, so we'll stop here for now rabosai. Bli neder im yirtzeh hashem we'll resume with Avos at 11:30 rabosai. Have a very good and productive morning, everyone should be well, be safe, be-ezras hashem.