Hilchos Teshuva Perek 9

בעזרת השם בלי נדר Sunday we will resume the regular kviyus in Sanhedrin and next Thursday we will begin our regular Thursday kviyus but today perhaps just to share one hera from still from Hilchos Teshuva, still from over Yom Tov. Take a look if you have a Rambam פרק תשובה הלכה א. פרק תשובה הלכה א just to refresh our memories, so the Rambam is talking about what the significance or what the status is of all the prosperity that the Torah promises us for shmiras hamitzvos in Olam Hazeh given that s'char is Olam Haba. So the Rambam says midway, almost midway at the midpoint through the halacha depending upon what text you're using, so one of the words varies אלא כך הוא חצי הדברים, the standard d'fus has

כך הוא הכרע הדברים. הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו תורה זו עץ חיים וכל העושה כל הכתוב בו ויודעו דעה גמורה נכונה זכה בהם לחיי העולם הבא. לפי גודל מעשיו וגודל חכמתו הוא זוכה שהבטיחנו בתורה שאם נעשה אותה בשמחה ובטובת נפש ונהגה בחכמתה תמיד שיסיר ממנו כל הדברים המונעים אותנו מלעשותה כגון חולי ומלחמה ורעב וכיוצא בהן וישפיע לנו כל הטובות המחזקים את ידינו לעשות את כל התורה כגון שובע ושלום וריבות כסף וזהב כדי שלא נעסוק כל ימינו בדברים שהגוף צריך להן אלא נשב פנויים ללמוד בחכמה ולעשות המצוה כדי שנזכה לחיי העולם הבא. וכן הוא אומר בתורה אחר שהבטיח בטובות עולם הזה וצדקה תהיה לנו.

So the Rambam says that all the prosperity in Olam Hazeh is not simply not ultimate s'char but is just a midda keneged midda in the sense that if we demonstrate that we want to devote ourselves and dedicate ourselves to Torah mitzvos so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides the circumstances that allow for that and conversely rachmana litzlan if we show that we're rachmana litzlan not interested in devoting ourselves to Torah mitzvos so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees to it that we don't really have the opportunity to do so. But the ultimate s'char is in Olam Haba and that's and the Rambam says וכן הוא אומר בתורה if you see this is the line we want to hone in on rabosai,

וכן הוא אומר בתורה אחר שהבטיח בטובות עולם הזה וצדקה תהיה לנו.

What does the Rambam have in mind with that line? So it's quite clear in context that the Rambam is saying that the phrase u-tzdaka tihye lanu refers to chayei Olam Haba right because again what's the Rambam's scheme, the Rambam's scheme is that

ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם ונתנה הארץ יבולה והשיג לכם דיש את בציר,

all of that is not the ultimate s'char, a little bit a question of semantics, maybe it's not even s'char at all but it's certainly not the ultimate s'char. It's just to facilitate but the ultimate s'char is Olam Haba and the Rambam says

וכן הוא אומר אחר שהבטיח בטובות עולם הזה וצדקה תהיה לנו,

so it's quite clear in context that the Rambam sees the phrase u-tzdaka tihye lanu as referring to chayei Olam Haba. So how exactly does that phrase u-tzdaka tihye lanu refer to chayei Olam Haba? So just to look up the pesukim here in context right before Shlishi in Va'eschanan, so the Torah says as follows

ויצונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה ליראה את ה' אלהינו לטוב לנו כל הימים לחיותנו כהיום הזה

and then the next pasuk is

וצדקה תהיה לנו כי נשמור לעשות את כל המצוה הזאת לפני ה' אלהינו כאשר צונו.

So somehow or other the phrase u-tzdaka tihye lanu for the Rambam is referring to chayei Olam Haba. So the emes is that there's la-chora there's a lot of help available here on the page in the Mikraos Gedolos. The Ibn Ezra says u-tzdaka tihye. יש אומרים מכאן רמז לשכר המצוות לעולם הבא. Okay, equally cryptic in terms of not spelling out what that remez is, but on the other hand, lechora just a confirmation that the way we're reading the Rambam again in context, I mean, it's just muchach u'muchrach that that's what the Rambam means, but further confirmation. יש אומרים מכאן רמז לשכר המצוות לעולם הבא. What is the remez? So mistama at first glance, it would seem to be like the Sforno says. The Sforno writes as follows:

לחיותנו כהיום הזה וצדקה תהיה לנו וזה שאמרתי לך לטוב לנו כל הימים רצוני לומר לטוב לנו בעולם הזה ובעולם הבא ולחיותנו כהיום הזה חיי שעה ולהיות לנו צדקה וזכות לפני השם בעולם הנצחי.

So the Sforno says that what is that the way the pasuk is to be understood is after we're promised לטוב לנו כל הימים לחיותנו כהיום הזה. So what else is there? I mean, what more of a bracha can you give a person? You tell him he's going to have arichas yamim v'shanim and he's going to have a long, wonderful life overflowing with bracha v'hatzlacha. So what else can you wish the person? So what's left for the next pasuk of u'tzedakah tihiyeh lanu? So the Sforno says, no, that's that's what the Ibn Ezra means. That's the remez lechayei olam haba. And more. That it's going to be לטוב לנו לחיותנו כהיום הזה and even more. What's beyond that? What's beyond the לטוב לנו לחיותנו כהיום הזה? What's beyond that is olam haba, is chayei nitzchiim. The emes is it goes back to the Targum Yonasan. If you take a look at the תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל on this pasuk, so the Targum Yonasan teitches u'tzedakah tihiyeh lanu that zachus, lashon zachus, l'alma d'asai. It goes back to the Targum Yonasan. So how are we teitching the word tzedakah then in this pasuk? So in either one of two ways. I mean, the way the Sforno says explicitly and lechora this is in line with what the תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל says that וצדקה וזכות לפני ה' אלהינו בעולם הנצחי. Tzedakah here has the sense of zachus. That so that ki nishmor la'asos, so then there will be an ongoing zachus that we have lifnei Hashem Elokeinu. Okay, so the pashtus is that's how the Rambam read the pasuk also, because again in context, clearly the Rambam says u'tzedakah tihiyeh lanu is a remez lechayei olam haba. The emes is though that something lechora remarkable that emerges. At the end of the Moreh, the Rambam discusses what the word tzedakah means. And what's the difference between the word tzedakah and the word tzedek? So the Rambam says as follows: He says that the word tzedek is if you pay back a loan. If you borrow fifty dollars and you repay that loan, that's tzedek. You're doing what justice dictates. You're doing what's required lefi shuras hadin. If you pay a worker his wages, that's tzedek. It's not tzedakah, that's tzedek. He says when you do something which is morally warranted, not necessarily legally warranted as in the case of repaying a loan or as in the case of of paying schar sachir, that's tzedakah. Why do you call that tzedakah? How does the word, again, so we generally translate tzedakah and correctly as charity. So how does the word charity derive from the same shoresh as the word tzedek, which means justice, which means what's warranted, what's dictated? So the Rambam says an amazing, amazing teitch. He says because when you engage in an act of tzedakah, so you're acting בצדק עם נפשך המשכלת. So a remarkable... Alisha do you have it in your computer? Yeah, in gimmel nun gimmel do you have it? Thank you. Thank you. Hachukim hara'uyim alecha Alisha sent me... hachukim hara'uyim alecha Alisha sent me... hachukim hara'uyim alecha Alisha sent me... hachukim hara'uyim alecha וזה הוא מפני מעלות המידות. We refer to that as tzedakah. Umipnei zeh amar, listen to this amazing and amazing explanation of etymology here that the Rambam gives. Umipnei zeh amar

בהשבת המשכון ולך תהיה צדקה כי כשתלך בדרך מעלות המידות כבר עשית צדק לנפשך המשכלת.

So when you engage in acts of tzedakah, you're doing right by your nefesh. When you engage in again what's when a ba'al chov returns a mashkon, when he returns the oni's pillow or or bigdei laylah that he should have them at night even though the loan hasn't been repaid. So that's an act of charity, but to engage in that act of charity is to do tzedek, is to act lifnim mishuras hadin in terms of what your nafshacha hamaskeles requires, how it should act.

ומפני זה תקרא כל מעלת מידה צדקה. אמר והאמין בה' ויחשבה לו צדקה. וכן אמרו וצדקה תהיה לנו.

So what does the Rambam say here? So he says an amazing teitch, you hear this teitch Rabbi Stein? He says that what underlies the use of the word tzedakah for acts of charity, of charitableness, is that when a person is acting charitably, he's doing right by himself. He's doing right by his nefesh hamaskeles. That the semantics of tzedek is to do what's right, what shuras hadin dictates. So when I repay a loan, so that's tzedek. When I pay a worker his wages, that's tzedek. When I give tzedakah, so I'm not repaying a loan, I don't owe him, I don't owe him those fifty dollars. That's an act of charity, but to carry out that moral, to fulfill that moral obligation, so that's to do tzedek by one's own nefesh hamaskeles. Extraordinary etymology the Rambam gives us. And he says and he gives three examples of three psukim where that's the way the Torah is using the word tzedakah. A. ulecha tihiyeh tzedakah by by בעל חוב שקנה משכון. B. והאמין בה' ויחשבה לו צדקה. And finally our pasuk in Va'etchanan utzedakah tihiyeh lanu. So then how does this shtim with our Rambam here in Hilchos Teshuva? Again our Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva tes-aleph says that the phrase utzedakah tihiyeh lanu like the Ibn Ezra, like the Targum Yonasan, like the Sforno later. is a remez to sechar Olam Haba. That that's again k'ma'at meforash when you just read the Rambam carefully in context. M'idach gisa okay so how would we have based on this Rambam in Tes Aleph not taking any other Rambams into account so we would have said that the Rambam is translating stoka either as the Targum Yonason and the Sfornos say that that that there will be a zechus that we have before HaKadosh Baruch Hu beyond l'chayoseinu k'hayom hazeh stoka somehow translating as zechus or maybe we would have said that it's an act of charity on HaKadosh Baruch Hu's part that beyond l'chayoseinu k'hayom hazeh he's going to give us even more. But either way okay fine but now comes the Rambam in in the Moreh and tells us no that the pshat in the word u-stoka in the phrase u-stoka tihiyeh lanu is that when we fulfill mitzvos we'll do right by ourselves the same way when the bal chov returns the mashkon to the ani he's doing right by himself and that's what the lashon stoka really means it means to do right by yourself in terms of living up to the to the standards and the dictates of one's nefesh hamaskeles. So where where is the remez to chayei Olam Haba how how does that how do you see if that's what the phrase means a remez to chayei Olam Haba? You hear the kasha over there? Yeah you hear okay so something extraordinary here mamesh extraordinary when you go back to פרק ח הלכה א for a minute where the Rambam first began talking about chayei Olam Haba so around six seven lines into the Rambam so the Rambam writes השכר הצדיקים הוא שיזכו לנועם זה referring to to Olam Haba

ויהיו בטובה זו ופורענות הרשעים הוא שלא יזכו לחיים אלו אלא יכרתו וימותו וכל מי שאינו זוכה לחיים אלו הוא המת שאינו חיה לעולם אלא נכרת ברשעו ואובד כבהמה וזהו הכרת הכתובה בתורה.

What does the Rambam add with those two words of oveid kabehemah? Rambam says that that the ultimate punishment the punishment of of those who are classified as reshaim rachmana litzlan is that they're nichras from chayei Olam Haba and then he adds ve-oveid kabehemah an extra shock that that's the rasha is is losing chayei Olam Haba so an extra bit of that category of losing is kares what what does the Rambam have in mind with with oveid kabehemah over there? Mamesh epes a pele if you go back we're we're going to sort of look at this next Rambam mi-kufya but אף על פי כן if you take a look in

פרק ד מיסודי התורה הלכה ח נפש כל בשר היא צורתה שנתן לה הקל

but tzurah means the defining essential quality of of something. So let's say if I have if I have two two lumps of clay so the tzurah is the shape what sort of distinguishes this the clay over here from the clay over here the shape that I form it into right so we usually translate the word as tzurah but but that's a sort of a narrow concrete example of it but really what what the the way the Rambam and and others are using the the term tzurah means a a defining essential quality when you're talking about something that's purely physical so its defining essential quality if they're made of the same matter is going to be the shape right this is this playdough and that's playdough so what So נפש כל בשר היא צורתו שנתן לו האל. So what's the tzura of a person? What's the defining essential quality of the person? The nefesh.

והדעת היתירה המצויה בנפשו של אדם היא צורת האדם השלם בדעתו. ועל צורה זו נאמר בתורה נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו,

Parshas Hashavua.

כלומר שתהיה לו צורה היודעת ומשגת הדעות שאין להם גולם עד שידמה להם. ואינו אומר על צורה זו הניכרת לעינים שהיא הפה והחוטם והלסתות ושאר רושם הגוף שזו תואר שמה. ואינה הנפש המצויה בכל נפש חיה שבו אוכל ושותה מוליד ומרגיש ומהרהר אלא הדעה שהיא צורת הנפש ובצורת הנפש הכתוב מדבר.

So the Rambam says that the Tzelem Elokim, Tzelem Elokim is both potential and it's potential that has to be actualized. But the Tzelem Elokim of a person is the capacity ultimately to know Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but it means a capacity to know and understand and relate to and grasp incorporeal reality. שתהיה לו צורה היודעת ומשגת הדעות שאין להם גולם. And golem means that there's nothing physical about them, there's no body, there's nothing physical. So the Tzelem Elokim of a person is his capacity and then if he cultivates that, if he exercises that, if he realizes that, the Tzelem Elokim is not just the potential but becomes actualized, is the capacity again to know and understand, to relate to incorporeal reality, which obviously ultimately means to relate to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to know and relate to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

אין צורת הנפש הזאת מחוברת מן היסודות כדי שתיפרד להם ואינה מכח הנשמה עד שתהיה צריכה לנשמה כמו שהנשמה צריכה לגוף אלא מאת השם מן השמים היא לפיכך כשיפרד הגולם שהוא מחובר מן היסודות ותאבד הנשמה,

Rambam uses the term neshama differently than we do,

לא תיכרת הצורה הזאת לפי שאינה צריכה לנשמה במעשיה אלא יודעת ומשגת הדעות הפרודות מן הגולמים ויודעת בורא הכל ועומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים.

So the Rambam says it's the Tzelem Elokim of a person that that is zocheh lechayei netzach. So the Tzelem Elokim again is the tzura of a person. It's the defining essential quality of what it means to be human and it's the Tzelem Elokim which is עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים. If a person realizes his Tzelem Elokim, if a person again, he knows, believes the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim minimally and beyond אלו דברים שאין להם שיעור, מ"ט שערי בינה, contingent on godol ma'asav, so then that's עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים. Hanogea le'inyaneinu, and listen to this rabosai, something extraordinary. Hanogea le'inyaneinu that the Rambam says again the Tzelem Elokim is that which is the defining essential human quality and it's that which is עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים. So now kumt ois, he comes back to Perek Ches of Hilchos Teshuva. So we ask what is the Rambam adding there? What is... What does he need? What does he add with those two words aved k'beheimah? Hafla va'feleh! So the Rambam is saying for a person to be nichras, rachmana litzlan, mecha'yei olam haba, that's sub-human. Because the defining quality of what it means to be human doesn't mean that a person walks erect, that's not the defining quality of what it means to be human. The defining quality of what it means to be human is to have the potential and to actualize that potential tzelem elokim and that is something that's it's that which becomes eternal about a person's existence. So in other words, the normal course of events for someone who's created betzelem elokim is that he should be zocheh l'chayei olam haba. And how extraordinary it is, the Rambam says, if a person's nichras meira'asho, the Rambam says you have to understand it's not stam that this is an onesh, there's something sub-human about that. That's his... the mehus of a person is the tzelem elokim and the tzelem elokim is that which is capable of achieving, of attaining, of becoming nitzchi. When a person doesn't become nitzchi, he's aved k'beheimah. There's something sub-human about that. How did the Rambam explain utzdakah tihyeh lanu? Pshat is the Rambam says like this, utzdakah tihyeh lanu like he says in the Moreh. Utzdakah tihyeh lanu means that a person acts בצדק כלפי נפשו המשכלת. But when a person acts בצדק כלפי נפשו המשכלת, that's not at odds with what the Targum Yonasan, with what the Ibn Ezra, with... aderaba! Heim heim hadvarim, it's mamash the two things hainu hach. It's not two different pshatim. The utzdakah tihyeh lanu is again a person is created betzelem elokim. What does it mean to be created betzelem elokim? It means to have a capacity to connect to that which is nitzchi and thereby become nitzchi. That's what it means to be created betzelem elokim. So utzdakah tihyeh lanu, if a person's going to do right by the dictates of nafsho hamaskeles, so what does that mean? It means that a person's going to end up in olam haba. That's what it means to do right by one's nafsho hamaskeles. That's what the Rambam is telling us. When a person rachmana litzlan loses his olam haba, he's nichras k'beheimah, he's aved k'beheimah. He's not dying a human death without having earned special reward. No, he lowered himself. He lowered himself on the human level. A person is on track, a person's created betzelem elokim. The tzelem elokim is that which is the capacity for nitzchiyus because it's the capacity to relate to that which is nitzchi. Everything which is physical is, what's physical comes into being and passes out of being. There's a constant cycle of birth and decay, birth and decay, birth and decay. What's physical is always choleif v'oveir and what's not physical, so that that עומדת לעולם ולעולמי עולמים. So a person has that capacity to connect to that, that's what his tzelem elokim is, to connect to that. So that's what it means to be a person. נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו. It doesn't mean to walk erect and it doesn't mean... it doesn't mean to just have the capacity of language. That's what it means to be human. A person doesn't realize that potential, he's aved k'beheimah. Aved k'beheimah. That's the pshat utzdakah tihyeh lanu. Utzdakah tihyeh lanu like the Rambam says in the Moreh. You give the ba'al chov... ba'al chov gives the loveh back his mashkon, it's an act of charity and if he does charity, he's doing right by himself. He's doing tzedek by what nafsho hamaskeles dictates, the standards, the midos that he should display, the standards by which he should live. If a person earns... so then what's the ultimate utzdakah tihyeh lanu of a person? What's... is that a person becomes a ben olam haba. Emphasis that the Ramban has a very - Ramban has a very similar idea at the end of Acharei Mos that the Ramban where he talks about the different types of kares, Ramban has this amazing insight. He says the fact that the Torah talks- the Torah talks explicitly about an onesh of kares and again the Torah only talks beremiza about olam haba. And he says the answer is, and again there's one very very clear overlap between the Rambam and the Ramban, there's also one very obvious difference in terms of in in other important respects that that we're not getting into. But the Ramban says from the fact that the Torah stresses the onesh of kares so that's a chiddush. So you see that that again the normal course of events is that the Nishmas Elokim sheba'adam is nitzchis. The Nishmas Elokim sheba'adam is is is a davar nitzchi. That's why the Torah says this is gavar chiddush, this is gavar chiddush. It's like saying that if you take your hand and you bang it against the wall, so say you're prone to breaking a hand. So what does that mean? And if you don't do it, I don't need to tell you the hand's not going to break. That's the status quo, that's the that's the normal course of events. So what am I going to emphasize? I'm going to tell you the chiddush. No, if you don't watch out and you go banging with your fist on the wall, so then you're prone to breaking that bone. Ramban says the onesh kares is a tremendous chizuk, בטחון גדול בהשארת הנפש which again in in some respects is very very much along the same lines of this idea that we're seeing in the Rambam that just for a person to be true which is what tzedakah means for the Rambam, just for a person to be true to who he is, to what he is, to how he was created means that he should be a ben olam haba. And just as the - and it's again it's the same idea just as the Rambam tells us the rachmana litzlan an onesh of kares is a chiddush, is a chiddush. And that's what the Rambam says if rachmana litzlan a person incurs that he's being oveid kebeheimah, he's not dying like a person, he's being oveid kebeheimah. One of the biggest avodos of life is obtaining self-knowledge because everyone is כשם שאין פרצופיהם שוים כך דעותיהם שוות. Everyone's a yachid, everyone has a different and therefore unique combination of kochos hanefesh and how to best utilize them, how to best express them, so requires self-knowledge. And it's one of the biggest avodos in life. And without blurring the individuality of self-knowledge as the very term underscores that what the Rambam or the Ramban are telling us is that the dominant feature, the that we were created in a way that our lives should result in metziyus. And whatever the, however I cross the t's and dot the i's, and it's crucial, it's crucial. However each of us individually crosses the t's and dots the i's, but that profile that a person has in terms of the self-knowledge, the dominant feature of that has to be the understanding and the recognition and the appreciation that each one of us, again, the Rambam would emphasize being created b'tzalmo Elokim, but maybe the Ramban would emphasize with ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, but for our present purposes that doesn't make a difference. The dominant feature of that self-knowledge is that a person is created to live in such a way that his life is a bridge to metziyus.