Elul 5784 – Hilchos Teshuva 12: Teshuva and Teshuva Gemurah

פרק ב' הלכה א' Eizehu teshuvah gemurah?

זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשות ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כוח.

Keitzad?

הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה ולאחר זמן נתייחד עמה והוא עומד באהבתו בה ובכח גופו ובמדינה שעבר בה ופירש ולא עבר הרי זהו בעל תשובה גמורה.

So as the Nossei Kelim quote, the Rambam here is presenting the example, the illustration of the Gemara in Yoma. But it's interesting that the Gemara in Yoma introduces this illustration as the Lechem Mishneh quotes, היכי דמי בעל תשובה. That's the Gemara's lead-in. היכי דמי בעל תשובה. And the Rambam poses the question, Eizehu teshuvah gemurah. Despite the fact that the Rambam's punchline is, זהו בעל תשובה גמורה, then at the end, the Rambam then shifts back to the Lashon Chazal. So why does the Rambam initially present it Eizehu teshuvah gemurah, again very conspicuously changing the Lashon Chazal? In Pachad Yitzchak, Rav Hutner points out that there is a very, very significant machlokes between the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah as follows. The Rambam writes in פרק ב' הלכה ב' it's reflected in פרק א' הלכה א' as well that the definition of teshuvah is in the nusach haviduy is ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה. That the resolve which has to accompany the teshuvah, which is an integral part of the teshuvah, is that under no circumstances will I ever repeat this cheit. Similarly in

פרק ב' הלכה ב' ויעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם.

The person invites Hakadosh Baruch Hu to serve as his witness that his resolve is such that he's never going to repeat the cheit. Le'umas ze, Rav Hutner points out that if you look in Sha'ar Rishon, so Rabbeinu Yonah has the ikkar azivas hacheit twice. He has it initially as ha'ikkar hasheini,

עזיבת החטא כי יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו ויגמור בכל לבבו כי לא יוסיף לשוב בדרך ההוא עוד.

So that's ha'ikkar hasheini. If you look towards the end of the Sha'ar Rishon, ha'ikkar hatish'a asar, azivas cheto. Again, azivas hacheit. But here Rabbeinu Yonah adds בהזדמן והוא בתוקף תאותו. I'm skipping a few lines. Rabbeinu Yonah says if a person is able to accomplish this, הנה הוא לפני השם במדרגה העליונה מן התשובה. So it's meforash here, Rav Hutner points out, that according to Rabbeinu Yonah, it is considered teshuvah if a person under normal circumstances in the future will resist the temptation to cheit. But if he'll be subjected to extreme provocation, extremely trying circumstances, extreme provocation, so then Rabbeinu Yonah says it's still a teshuvah even if the person can't withstand that magnitude of nisayon and the person who can withstand that, הנה הוא לפני השם במדרגה העליונה מן התשובה, but clearly there is a lower madregah which has already cleared the bar of teshuvah. And the Rambam clearly doesn't buy that, right? The Rambam says the viduy has to be ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה, no exceptions. So that's a very significant machlokes between the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah. U'lichora, what's the difference between saying eizehu teshuvah or היכי דמי בעל תשובה? What does the lashon ba'al teshuvah suggest? The lashon ba'al teshuvah suggests that a person is, again, he's not only someone who has done teshuvah, but he's a master of teshuvah. Right? What's the difference between... being playing chess and being a grandmaster how well you play chess, right? That that the baal teshuva, the baal teshuva means that that there's a mastery. Now, Rabbeinu Yona understands that lashon of היכי דמי בעל תשובה is that there are different definitions of teshuva gufa. For Rabbeinu Yona, the baseline of teshuva is to resist the normal type of temptation. But to resist the most the strongest provocation, the most extreme provocation, that's already a madrega elyona of teshuva. And that that the illustration of אותו אשה ואותו מקום, that's the illustration of baal teshuva. So Rabbeinu Yona understands everyone agrees that the semantics of baal teshuva means that this is a person who's a master of teshuva, he's doing teshuva at its highest level. For Rabbeinu Yona, that intimates that there's a madrega tachtona that there are two different that there's a sliding definition of teshuva. For the Rambam, no, teshuva, there is no two forms of teshuva. Teshuva means איני חוזר לדבר זה לעולם. That that is an absolute defining element of teshuva. So what's the why does the Gemara mean baal teshuva? No, what the Gemara means that if he's doing it באותו פרק באותו זמן באותו מקום means he's doing the teshuva in the most optimal way. He's still at the same stage of life, he's not waiting till he's till he's older, he's doing it the same stage of life, but it's not that there's two different types of teshuva, there's one teshuva which can be fulfilled optimally or suboptimally. There's one mitzvah of many many mitzvos, a person eats matzah, eats it lete'avon, so he's he's performed the mitzvah optimally. He eats it not lete'avon and he performed the mitzvah suboptimally. It's not different definitions of of achilas matzah. That's what it is for the Rambam. So the that's what the Rambam is saying, don't if I would intro the Rambam says zehu teshuva gemura lafukei from Rabbeinu Yona. That's what the Rambam means zehu teshuva gemura means there's only one definition of teshuva. The way the person complies with that, conforms with that optimally is bimei bachurosecha באותו זמן באותו מקום. And for Rabbeinu Yona, no, היכי דמי בעל תשובה is telling us no, the person's a baal teshuva because he's doing the higher definition of teshuva. There there are actually two different definitions of of teshuva.