Hilchos Teshuva 9: Yom Kippur – Extending Our Lease on Life

The Rambam in Perek Bet Hilchos Teshuva Halachos Zayin and Chet,

יום הכפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל ליחיד ולרבים והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל. לפיכך חייבין הכל לעשות תשובה ולהתודות ביום הכפורים.

Then in Halacha Chet, the Rambam based on the Gemara at the end of Masechet Yoma says that הוידוי שנהגו בו כל ישראל אבל חטאנו, vehu ikar haviduy. The Avodas Hamelech, I think it’s the Avodas Hamelech who asks that earlier in Perek Alef Halacha Alef, when the Rambam gives us the nusach haviduy, the Rambam says keitzad misvadin.

כיצד מתודה אומר אנא השם חטאתי עויתי פשעתי לפניך ועשיתי כך וכך והרי נחמתי ובושתי במעשי ולעולם איני חוזר לדבר הזה.

Now, just in case we miss the stira, the Rambam here too says זהו עיקרו של וידוי. So here, the ikaro shel viduy is the nichamti uvoshti, לעולם איני חוזר לדבר הזה, peirud hachet, asisi kach vekach, all those elements in Perek Alef Halacha Alef, and here in Perek Bet Halacha Chet based on the Gemara in Yoma, the Rambam says aval chatanu. Okay, maybe he means chatanu avinu pashanu, but vehu ikar haviduy. So maybe for today, just one possible answer as follows. We also find the Mishna in Sanhedrin in Nigmar Hadin says that when someone would be taken out to be given misas beis din, so he would be encouraged to be misvade. And if he didn’t know how to say viduy on his own, so they would teach him to say תהי מיתתי כפרה על כל עונותי. And that’s the source, not just for those who are receiving misas beis din, but for anyone to be misvade kodem misaso. And the lashon, if a person again doesn’t have the lashon that that the person would be instructed, is תהי מיתתי כפרה על כל עונותי. So that also lacks all the elements of the Rambam’s viduy in Perek Alef Halacha Alef. So clearly, there’s a different din for viduy bishas misa. It’s understood that, right, that kabbalah l'haba is not, is not, not relevant in, in, in that context. Peirud hachet also isn’t, isn’t relevant. When a person is doing teshuva bishas misa, so then a person is doing teshuva for a lifetime as a whole. It’s not, he’s not identifying at 11:52 on Chof Gimmel Tammuz I did such and such. The teshuva is, relates to a lifetime as a whole. The context of the teshuva, the reality of the moment is, is one which substitutes for articulating nichamti uvoshti. It’s, it’s all-encompassing, it’s sufficient the person says תהי מיתתי כפרה על כל עונותי. Maybe the pshat is like this. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, so we hope that hakadosh baruch hu, everyone agrees בין הרמב"ן בין לתוספות that the din of Rosh Hashana Yom Kippur, if not exclusively, is also on chayei olam hazeh. So that means that every year hakadosh baruch hu renews, we hope, we pray, our lease on life for another year. There’s no long-term lease. There’s no, the landlord doesn’t give a ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty-year lease. He gives one-year leases which are subject at his discretion to, to renewal. On Yom Kippur, a person is supposed to feel that he’s right now at the end of his lease. He has no guarantee that the, that the lease is going to be renewed. The viduy of Yom Kippur is modeled after the viduy bishas misa and that’s why the aval chatanu is the ikar, is the equivalent of again, he’s... A person's not going to say תהא מיתתי כפרה על כל עוונותי, but the Aval Chatanu in conjunction with the Kapara of Itzumo Shel Yom, it has the din of the Viddui besha'as misa. Let me go there first. Okay, thank you. Thank you.