Elul 5784 – Hilchos Teshuva 5: What Is NOT in Viduy

כיצד מתוודע אומר אנא השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך ועשיתי כך וכך והרי נחמתי ובושתי במעשי ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר זה זהו עיקרו של וידוי.

There's much to talk about what the Rambam includes in the ikaro shel vidui, but for today very briefly to talk about what he omits from the ikaro shel vidui. If you look for instance in the Sefer haChinuch, when the Sefer haChinuch gives us the basic, the bare bones of vidui, he includes bakashat mechila. For that matter, the Rambam himself does in Sefer haMitzvos, but the Rambam here in the Yad does not include the סלח לנו מחל לנו כפר לנו in the ikaro shel vidui. So what's the implication of that? So in our mind, we very much identify teshuvah with kapara. It's certainly correct that teshuvah mechaperes. בזמן שאין בית המקדש קיים, the Rambam writes in halacha gimmel,

ואין לנו מזבח כפרה אין שם אלא תשובה התשובה מכפרת על כל העבירות.

It's absolutely correct that teshuvah is mechaper, but and therefore, in our minds and because of Rachmana litzlan, because of the liability of cheit, so we desperately want and are focused on that kapara, but the thrust of this Rambam is to recognize that teshuvah lachud, kapara lachud. What teshuvah means is that a person repairs his soul. What teshuvah means is that a person closes the distance that cheit imposed between himself and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He's shav me-cheto, he's shav el Hashem. That's what teshuvah is. It's a, that's what the essence of teshuvah is, that's what teshuvah consists of. It's a byproduct, it's a corollary, it's a very welcome dividend be-chesed ha-borei that teshuvah is also mechaper, but the definition of teshuvah, the definition of teshuvah is not an instrument of kapara. It's interesting that when the Rambam talks about the ta'amei mitzvos of teshuvah, he says that teshuvah is min ha-de'os, de'os not in the Rambam's sense, this is a translation, de'os in our sense of beliefs, she-hi min ha-de'os

שבלעדי האמונה בהן לא תסתדר מציאותם של אנשים בני תורה.

If you don't believe in teshuvah, then you're not going to be able to hold up. Why? Because inevitably we sin, שבהכרח אדם טועה ונכשל. We sin, we give in to a ta'ava, we give in to anger, we make a bad choice. Inevitably, invariably we sin. Now let's pay careful attention to this next line. ואילו האמין האדם ששבר זה לא ניתן לאיחוי לעולם. If a person, counter-positive, if a person were to believe that this rupture can't be repaired, haya matmid be-ta'uso, so he would continue on the wrong path. Not, the Rambam doesn't say that ve-ilu he'emin ha-adam that the onesh which is assigned to this cheit is now unavoidable and is inevitably happening. No, the Rambam is talking about the effect. If a person felt that he was permanently held down by cheit, if a person felt that he was permanently distanced from Hakadosh Baruch Hu by cheit, no mention of onesh, not talking about onesh, we're talking about the spiritual contaminating effect of cheit, the spiritual distance imposed by cheit, a person would be misyayeish, a person would give up, and that's again, sort of lishitaso again, that it's crucial. Of course, of course teshuva is mechaperes, but that's not what teshuva is. That's a very, very welcome vivid dividend of teshuva, and hence the Rambam says that the ikar of vidui doesn't include the bakasha of bakashas mechila.