Rambam Hilchos Teshuva, Perek 7

Today's Perek Aleph, Halacha Zayin. הרשות כל אדם נתונה לו כמשה רבנו. We're most familiar with the translation of permission for the word reshus, which contextually often is the correct translation, but what it means here and probably most basically it means the capacity, the ability. In Pirkei Avot, reshus refers to the governmental authorities because they have that ability, they have that capacity that they wield power. So הרשות כל אדם נתונה לו doesn't just mean permission, it means that the person has the ability, the person has the capacity. הרשות כל אדם נתונה לו כמשה רבנו meaning the reshus of bechira chofshis which allows a person to chart his own course, to determine his own destiny. So ישתדל אדם לעשות תשובה ולנעור כפיו מחטאיו, a person should exert himself, that's what yishtadel means, he should exert himself לעשות תשובה ולנעור כפיו מחטאיו to shake his hands free of his sins,

כדי שימות והוא בעל תשובה כדי שיזכה לחיי העולם הבא.

Well let's see Halacha Bet as well and try to reflect on them a little bit together.

ולעולם יראה אדם את עצמו כאלו נוטה למות שמא ימות בשעתו ונמצא עומד בחטאיו.

A person should see himself as though he were noteh lamut, approaching death, and that his death may be imminent. And if he doesn't do teshuvah, death will overtake him while he is still stuck in chet. Lefichach, consequently, that perspective should result in yashuv mechata'av miyad. A person should do teshuvah immediately. ולא יאמר כשאזקן אשוב, he shouldn't say that I can part of my plans for retirement, כשאזקן אשוב שמא ימות קודם שיזקן. No, maybe he's not going to be zocheh to reach that stage.

הוא ששלמה אמר בחכמתו בכל עת יהיו בגדיך לבנים ושמן על ראשך אל יחסר.

With Halacha Bet in mind, let's review Halacha Aleph and notice what the Rambam says:

הרשות כל אדם נתונה לו כמשה רבנו ישתדל אדם לעשות תשובה ולנעור כפיו מחטאיו כדי שימות והוא בעל תשובה כדי שיזכה לחיי העולם הבא.

What's the k'dei sheyamus of Halacha Aleph? See, if we didn't have Halacha Bet, so we might have thought, it wouldn't have fit too smoothly, but we might have thought the k'dei sheyamus is lest the person die, from our vantage point, prematurely. So he should do teshuvah, he should kaper on it. But that's clearly not what the Rambam's talking about in Halacha Bet. So what's the k'dei sheyamus of Halacha Aleph? What is the Rambam having in mind there? The makor for Halacha Bet is as the nossei keilim quote is the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot as elaborated in the Gemara שבת דף קנ"ג. Tnan hatam:

רבי אליעזר אומר שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. שאלו תלמידיו את רבי אליעזר וכי אדם יודע איזה יום ימות?

What kind of advice is that?

אמר להן וכל שכן ישוב היום שמא ימות למחר ונמצא כל ימיו בתשובה. ואף שלמה אמר בחכמתו בכל עת יהיו בגדיך לבנים ושמן על ראשך אל יחסר.

Now that's the Gemara the Rambam is elaborating. A famous yesod in the Mishnah and the Gemara gufa, but the following question emerges. It's a little funny. So Rabbi Eliezer says somewhat enigmatically שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. The talmidim don't understand how that's a practical directive and he says in hachi nami. So what I'm really telling you is always be doing teshuvah. So say that. Instead of saying something enigmatically and then leaving the Talmidim perplexed and explaining it, to just say it, say do teshuvah all the time. What's the why does he begin with שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך? So kimdomani that the the Maharal in in the Sefer Teshuvah picks up on this point, but the Rambam did also. To to understand the Rambam's answer, what the Rambam did with this question, so let's just review a basic idea. To go back to Perek Alef for a moment of Hilchos Teshuvah. Kol mitzvah shebaTorah as says the Rambam

בין עשה בין לא תעשה אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.

So the the idiom that the Rambam uses for teshuvah is yashuv me-cheto. And that's a lashon mikra. I think in Sefer Yonah we're going to read וירא אלהים את מעשיהם כי שבו איש מדרכו הרעה something something like that the pasuk says. And when the Melech Ninveh issues his kol korei to do teshuvah, also the וישובו איש מדרכו הרעה ומן החמס אשר בכפיהם something something to that effect. That's the idiom lashuv mi. Here in Perek Zayin, the Rambam has a different idiom, Halacha Vav.

גדולה תשובה שמקרבת את האדם לשכינה שנאמר שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך.

So here the teshuvah word and shene'emar ולא שבתם עדי נאום ה' and shene'emar אם תשוב ישראל נאום ה' אלי תשוב. So here the teshuvah is described not as teshuvah mi, but teshuvah el or teshuvah ad. At least for now, we're not trying to understand what the difference between the el and ad is. And here too, it's a lashon hapesukim. So what's reflected in these two different idioms is that there's one level of teshuvah where the emphasis or the primary focus is that the person distances himself from the cheit. So he's recoiling, he's withdrawing, he's retreating, he's returning from the cheit, yashuv me-cheit. The person did such and such, עבר אדם על אחת מהן, one of the mitzvos haTorah, so he's now, again, he's retreating from that. He's moving away from the cheit. But the higher level of teshuvah and the ultimate level of teshuvah is when the focus and the goal is שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך. It's not just to move away from cheit, but to move towards and return to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And and that's the, if we'll sort of transpose the Rav's categories, a maiseh hamitzvah and a kiyum hamitzvah. So the kiyum of teshuvah on one level is the שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך, is the שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך. So take a look for a moment in perek gimmel of yesodei hatorah. Halacha yud.

מהו זה שביקש משה רבינו להשיג שאמר הראני נא את כבודך ביקש לדעת אמיתת הימצאו של הקדוש ברוך הוא עד שיהיה ידוע בליבו כמו ידיעת אחד מן האנשים שראה פניו ונחקקה צורתו בקרבו שנמצא אותו האיש נפרד בדעתו משאר האנשים כך ביקש משה רבינו להיות מציאות הקדוש ברוך הוא נפרדת בליבו משאר מציאות הנמצאים עד שידע אמיתת המצאו כמו שהיא

Lev meaning mind

כמו ידיעת אחד מן האנשים שראה פניו ונחקקה צורתו בקרבו שנמצא אותו האיש נפרד בדעתו משאר האנשים כך ביקש משה רבינו להיות מציאות הקדוש ברוך הוא נפרדת בליבו משאר מציאות הנמצאים עד שידע אמיתת המצאו כמו שהיא.

What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu answer him?

והשיבו ברוך הוא שאין כח בדעת האדם החי שהוא מחובר מגוף ונפש להשיג אמיתת דבר זה על בוריו והודיעו ברוך הוא מה שלא ידע אדם לפניו ולא ידע אחריו עד שהשיג מאמיתת הימצאו דבר שנפרד הקדוש ברוך הוא בדעתו משאר הנמצאים כמו שיפרד אחד מן האנשים שראה אחוריו והשיג כל גופו ומלבושו בדעתו משאר האנשים ועל דבר זה רמז הכתוב ואמר וראית את אחורי ופני לא יראו.

Moshe Rabbeinu requested a level of yedias Hashem. There is a level of yedias Hashem which is never ever accessible. Right? As the Ramban in the Hakdama to Peirush al Hatorah says when Chazal talk about the nun sha'arei chochma and mem tes were given to Moshe Rabbeinu and the fiftieth shaar hachochma was not given to him. He says that shaar hachochma is a real understanding of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, of Elokus. And that a person can never have. Ilu yedativ hayisiv. That's the Ramban's lashon to say the same idea. So there's one level which is never ever attainable. But the Rambam here tells us that there is another level of yedias Hashem that a person can only attain after he leaves this world. Kol zman that a person is mechubar miguf vanefesh, so the physicality of our existence creates a certain ceiling which a person can't break through, even Moshe Rabbeinu. Even Moshe Rabbeinu can't break through that ceiling. כי לא יראני האדם וחי. The transition of vachai is while he is alive. That that reias hasechel that you're asking for Moshe Rabbeinu can't happen vachai while a person exists. This hybrid existence of guf veneshama, of a body and soul. In perek ches of hilchos tshuva, tomorrow's perek, halacha zayin. There's multiple nuschas here, but they all have the same thrust. Perek ches halacha zayin. Frankel prints kama chammad Dovid, some have kama kamma Dovid, some have kama chammad Dovid. How much he yearns, how much he coveted, how much he agitated for. It means the same thing. והתאוה לחיי העולם הבא. Dovid Hamelech had this incredible incredible desire, he pined for chayei olam haba. Shene'emar לולי האמנתי לראות בטוב השם בארץ החיים. Just turn back a little bit to Halacha Beis. Rambam's explaining what the ma'amar chazal of צדיקים יושבים ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ונהנים מזיו השכינה describing chayei olam habah. So the Rambam says talking about what the metaphor nehenin miziv hashchina is. The last line of Halacha Beis. ומהו זה שאמרו ונהנים מזיו השכינה that they're enjoying the splendor, the radiance of the Shechina,

שיודעים ומשיגים מאמתת הקדוש ברוך הוא מה שאינם יודעים והם בגוף האפל השפל.

This same idea be-Halacha from Yesodei HaTorah, right? That there's a level of yediya which a person can only obtain when he's no longer chained as it were to his physical existence. And that's the background to the כמה כמה כמה דוד לחיי עולם הבא because as the Rambam depicts in Perek Beis of Yesodei HaTorah, the mitzva of ahavas Hashem is הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר ומתאוה, right? Same lashon, right? Not coincidentally. Same lashon that he uses again by Dovid Hamelech that ומתאוה תאוה גדולה לדעת השם הגדול. Kemo she-amar Dovid and Dovid Hamelech is the again the paragon of this as well, צמאה נפשי לאלהים לאל חי. So mimeila that's the teshuka for olam habah. So what emerges is something extraordinary. And Rebbi Eliezer said שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. By inference what he means is what the Rambam presents in Halacha Beis that a person doesn't know when he's going to die and therefore should be kol yamav bitshuva. But why didn't he just say that? Because Rebbi Eliezer is saying something else also. A person does teshuva, Halacha Beis is a person does teshuva today out of concern lest he die. פן ימות שמא ימות. In Halacha Aleph a person does teshuva with the anticipation, with the plan of dying. With the tzipiya, not with the chashash. Bichdei she-yamusa in Halacha Aleph is bitzipiya she-yamusa because teshuva again ultimately is what? It's not just yashov me-cheit. Teshuva ultimately is שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם. Teshuva ultimately שובה ישראל עד השם אלהיך. Teshuva is kirvas Elokim. The kirvas Elokim depends upon yedi'as Hashem. The yedi'as Hashem is the ultimate in yedi'as Hashem based on everything a person does אין מעשה וחשבון ודעת וחכמה בשאול. A person has to lay the foundation, lay the groundwork here, but the ultimate, the ultimate yedi'as Hashem based on the groundwork, the foundation that a person establishes here is le'achar misa. So the teshuva is not teshuva not with the chashash, the concern shema yamusa, but it's with the anticipation, with the tzipiya she-yamusa. And then and that the teshuva will then allow for again בכדי שיזכה לחיי עולם הבא. And the בכדי שיזכה לחיי עולם הבא here of Halacha Aleph is not later in פרק י' הלכה א'. So the Rambam has, al yomar adam,

פרק י' הלכה א', אל יאמר אדם הריני עושה מצות התורה ועוסק בחכמתה כדי שאקבל הברכות הכתובות בתורה או כדי שאזכה לחיי העולם הבא.

Al yomar adam, a person should not say that.

ואפרוש מן העבירות שהזהירה תורה מהן כדי שאנצל מן הקללות הכתובות בתורה או כדי שלא אכרת מחיי העולם הבא. אין ראוי לעבוד את השם על דרך זו שהעובד על דרך זו הוא עובד מיראה ואינה מעלת הנביאים ולא מעלת החכמים.

Fine, in the Frankel edition it's on the very same page, פרק ט' הלכה ב', the previous Halacha. ומפני זה התאוו כל ישראל ונביאיהם וחכמיהם לימות המשיח because they're going to be a utopian existence. ומפני זה התאוו כל ישראל ונביאיהם וחכמיהם ימות המשיח. What are they going to? How are they going to take advantage of that utopia?

כדי שינוחו ממלכות הרשעה שאינה מנחת להם לישראל לעסוק בתורה ובמצוות כהוגן.

And when there will be no impediments, no interference, so vimtzu lahem margo'a, they'll have their tranquility veyizku bachochma כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא. And who is it? Who is it who mis'aveh yemot hamashiach? Hanevi'im vehachachamim, right? The same nevi'im vehachachamim that the Rambam tells us are not motivated by כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא. So the answer is obvious that a person can can desire can be מתאווה חיי העולם הבא for either of two very different reasons. A person can be מתאווה חיי העולם הבא because it represents personal immortality. The most powerful human instinct which we all have is a person wants to live, a person doesn't want to die. The most powerful instinct every healthy, mentally, psychologically, emotionally healthy, every healthy person has, a person wants to live, a person does not does not want to die. People when when people are are young in the prime of life, so they they sign living wills. The living will says if I can't get my backhand over the net, if I can no longer play three sets of tennis, then obviously life is no longer worth living, so don't bother treating me and just just let me die. That's what they think. Because when a person's young and healthy, so a person takes life for granted, doesn't realize how much he just desires life and identifies life with all the extras. It's like little kids. They identify a meal with dessert. They don't they don't cheshbon that they need the protein, that they need the the fruits and vegetables to give their body energy. No, they they take that for granted, they're not attuned to that, they're just interested in the kol minei metika for dessert, the ribuy veyoter miyoter, kol minei metika for dessert. So we're not all that smarter than than the little kids. So we we don't realize the basic desire for life. But then when people get natzar, they realize no, life isn't about playing tennis. They realize it's just the basic desire to be alive. But at that point, then the kids are busy putting them in hospice and the hospice comfort care. So one one reason to to desire, one one reason, one one reason to to be מתאווה חיי העולם הבא is that a person craves personal immortality because again it's the most basic human instinct is to live, to be alive. But ultimately a person realizes they can't do that olam hazeh. So a person wants olam haba, a person wants olam haba. That's very good. Rambam says chachamim unevi'im are holding on a higher level. But a person can can desire chayei olam haba for a different reason. For that reason of כמה כמה כמה כמה דאבייד חיי העולם הבא because of the yedias Hashem, the kirvas Elokim which is possible only in in olam haba. That's what the Rambam is describing here in פרק ז הלכה א. That's what the kedai sheyamus is and that's the כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא. It's not that the Rambam is is just looking to incentivize by appealing to to doing a teshuva meyirah. No, the Rav explains in פרק ז הלכות תשובה where the Rambam talks about teshuva me'ahava, so the כדי שיזכו לחיי העולם הבא is not a what but that's what the person wants and therefore that's pshat in kedai sheyamus. Kedai sheyamus is not shema yamut of halacha daled, it's kedai, in order to. You know why you're doing teshuva? You're doing teshuva in order to die. That's step number one of the process is to do teshuva and step number two of the process is to die. That's the that's the process and that's the כמה כמה כמה דאבייד. Again, obviously obviously the kedai sheyamus builds on what a person accomplishes in this world. So It's klur and that's how the Rambam learns pshat in Rabbi Eliezer. שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך so Rabbi Eliezer is saying two things. שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך again so what we generally see right away in Rabbi Eliezer's statement what he explains to the talmidim so since we don't know when that is so l'maiseh maybe that means tomorrow misasecha so shuv yom echad or maybe yom doesn't even mean day. Maybe yom just means המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. The Nefesh HaChaim explains that doesn't mean that HaKadosh Baruch Hu presses the button once a day at 6 o'clock in the morning. It means constantly. It means every moment. So shuv yom echad means a moment before the moment before misah not davka that it means a day. That's one thing Rabbi Eliezer was saying. But another thing Rabbi Eliezer is saying is שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. The reason Rabbi Eliezer expressed it that way is he's also compressing into what he's saying halacha acharei. The שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך. The teshuva is k'dai sheyamos. The teshuva is the hachana. The teshuva is in order that not chashash lest but in order that. And again the pshat is klur. Again this next point one can say as k'rabayhu reisha but it's not k'rabayhu reisha it's just to notice a precision another yet another precision of leshonos haRambam in light of this havana. If you go back to a friend of mine suggested this next point. If you go back to

פרק ב הלכה א. איזו היא תשובה גמורה זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ויש בידו לעשות ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כוח כיצד הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה אחת ואחר זמן נתייחד עמה והוא עומד באהבתו בה ובכוח גופו ובמדינה שעבר בה ופירש ולא עבר זה הוא בעל תשובה גמורה ששלמה אומר זכור את בוראך בימי בחורותיך עד שלא יבואו ימי הרעה והגיעו שנים אשר תאמר אין לי בהם חפץ ואם לא שב אלא בימי זקנותו ובעת שאי אפשר לו לעשות מה שהיה אף על פי שאינה תשובה מעולה מועלת היא לו ובעל תשובה הוא אפילו עבר כל ימיו ועשה תשובה ביום מיתתו ומת בתשובתו כל עוונותיו נמחלים.

If you take a look in the Sefer HaTeshuva the three-volume work on the Rambam based on the Rambam's Hilchos Teshuva so he has a correct ha'arah here that the Rambam describes teshuva bimei ziknuso. So again not only is it mo'eles but the person attains the status of being a ba'al teshuva. The teshuva b'yom misaso the Rambam doesn't say הרי זה בעל תשובה וכל עוונותיו נמחלים. He just says avonosav nimchalim. And the pshat is simple. Pshat is ba'al teshuva means that a person lives his life and moves forward having done teshuva. So even if I do the teshuva l'eis ziknah okay and then I live a while afterwards so I lived having done teshuva. I lived as a ba'al teshuva. Ma she'ein kein when a person does teshuva mamash b'yom misaso so then he's not a ba'al teshuva because ba'al teshuva again means someone who lives post the teshuva who lives having done teshuva. And it's klur that that's the pshat here in the פרק ב הלכה א. So now I don't know if this is the Rambam who's living a thousand years after the Tannaim. Always like Akiva like hafleh va-feleh. Look at this tosefta over here. Unbelievable. Although it's just going on the mishnah at the end ומי שחבל ונעשה תשובה מלקיים מצוות קדש עצמך. So we said if halacha bet could have thought kadesh atzmecha means lest he die or something. No. So what does the Rambam say? Halacha alef, קדש עצמך הוא בעל תשובה. In halacha bet, the Rambam says לפיכך ישוב מחטאו מיד. He doesn't mention the lashon baal teshuva. Mamash hafleh va-feleh because that's exactly the pshat that we were saying in halachas alef and bet. Halacha alef is not shema yamus. It's not shema yamus. No, it's not shema. It's kadesh atzmecha. It's kadesh atzmecha. But it's not based on a shema yamus. Aderaba, the anticipation is that he's going to continue to live. But the point is that again, the ultimate kirvas Elokim is a two-step process, a two-stage process. The teshuva doing as much as he can in Olam Hazeh and then the misa. That's how David HaMelech is going to get to the כמה המה כמה כמה דבר. It's קדש עצמך הוא בעל תשובה. Halacha bet where he's talking about the chashash shema yamus. Person who's doing teshuva michashash shema yamus, he's not going to become a baal teshuva because the whole teshuva is being motivated by maybe rachmana litzlan his time is going to be up in a minute from now. Hafleh va-feleh. There's so many indications from the Rambam's early works, from Peirush HaMishnayos and Sefer HaMitzvos, things he wrote earlier, that he had all this work done then. It just took him time. He was so total, he was so immersed in Torah, just working day and night from the Almohad, the precursors of today's Muslim reshaim, and then the way he was so meshubad in Egypt. Took him time to find everything. But mamash he had everything worked out. You see from things he says in Peirush HaMishnayos that he had his whole scheme of taamei hamitzvos worked out. He tells you in the hakdama to Sefer HaMitzvos that Sefer HaMitzvos is an introductory volume for the Yad HaChazaka that he's planning to write. And the way he's going to write the Yad HaChazaka is he's going to have topical arrangement such as hilchos such and such, and then he'll break it down into prakim. And he gives you an example, he says I'm going to have hilchos tefillin and he tells you how many prakim he's going to have in it and it's the whole thing. It's unbelievable. Hafleh va-feleh. Okay, maybe one more halacha.

אל תאמר שאין תשובה אלא מעבירות שיש בהן מעשה כגון זנות וגזל וגניבה. כשם שצריך אדם לשוב מאלו כך צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו ולשוב מהן.

So that is a very powerful diyuk, not really a diyuk, it's a very powerful shift in the leshonos haRambam that jumps off the page here. When the Rambam talks about teshuva from concrete maasim, so the Rambam says צריך אדם לשוב מאלו. When he talks about doing teshuva for all the middos raos that a person has, he doesn't just say צריך אדם לשוב מאלו, he says צריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו ולשוב מהן. A person doesn't have to be that honest about himself if he robbed a bank, he robbed a bank. So unless you subscribe to fake news and think that you can just deny all of reality, very difficult to deny the fact if a person robbed a bank, he robbed a bank. There it's concrete, it's as it were tangible. With the slightest atonement to reality, a person knows it. But when it comes to the middos ra'os that are internal, so that requires a drisha v'chakira, that requires tsarich lachapeis. A person has to be looking, a person has to be searching, soul-searching, and based on that soul-searching making a cheshbon hanefesh to identify what middos ra'os he has, he has within himself. min hacha'as, min haeivah, min hakinah, min hatachrus, min hahital, מן רדיפת הממון והכבוד, miredifas hamachalos, v'chayotze bahen.

מן הכל צריך לחזור בתשובה. ואלו העוונות קשים מאותן שיש בהן מעשה. שבזמן שאדם נשקע בהן,

kasheh hu lifrosh, v'chein hu omer, יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. Previously the Rambam quoted this pasuk in perek bais, halacha bais. What is teshuva? sheya'azov hachotei cheto, v'yesirenu mimachshavto, ויגמור בלבו שלא יעשהו עוד, as it's said, יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו. So apparently this pasuk has two levels of interpretation according to the Rambam. In perek bais, he's quoting the pasuk without having mentioned anything about teshuva relating to the middos ra'os that a person has. In perek bais, teshuva is just again relating to the concrete, the tangible. So apparently the derech there refers to the derech which of how a person acts. And the machshava is also much more narrowly understood as the machshava of that particular cheit. Of v'yesirenu mimachshavto. So if he ate a cheeseburger, so the machshava means the machshava about committing, rachmana litzlan, that particular cheit. Here the Rambam says that once we recognize that teshuva is supposed to target and respond not only to the concrete and tangible ma'asim, but also to the deos ra'os that a person has, so the peshat is that that's what the derech and the machshava mean, that a person is living a life of redifas hamamon and kavod and redifas ma'achalos and it's those dominant interests which preoccupy his mind and The derech halimud is something sort of an intangible that that then is is applied and implemented in context of of every every sugya, every every blatt Gemara. So the darko here is is sort of the the intangible which which underlies the the practical rather than just being the the sum total of of a person's actions. And so too the machshavos are not just the machshava narrowly defined, but machshava in the sense of, again, this is what's on my mind. What's on my mind is acquiring more money, more kavod, more more more enjoyment or approval. There's something else, something else which is which is quite quite extraordinary here. משל מה הדבר דומה: let's say at the beginning of the semester the the professor distributes a syllabus and and it says on the syllabus that the required reading for the course is pages one through twenty and and the reading has to be completed by by the end of the by the end of the semester. Then vayehi hayom he walks in and he says, "Oh, forgot to tell you. Really, that assignment is due tomorrow. And also, there's a typo. It doesn't say one through twenty; it's supposed to say one through two thousand." So if you want to make it due tomorrow, make it due tomorrow. You want to upgrade it from page twenty to page two thousand, that's also okay, but leave it at the end of the semester. The Rambam says in Halacha Beis, he says, "Oh, by the way, yashuv mechata'ov miyad." I forgot to tell you, you have to do teshuva immediately. Then Halacha Gimmel he says, "Oh, I forgot to tell you that teshuva is not only from tangible ma'aseh; the teshuva is from de'os ra'os which are kasheh lifrosh mehen because a person becomes shakua in them, a person becomes mired in them, they're they're deeply ingrained and embedded in a person." So toch k'dei dibbur, the way we go from Halacha Beis and Halacha Gimmel are the neshamos of toch k'dei dibbur. So toch k'dei dibbur the the Rambam the Rambam on the one hand tells us that the expectation that a person is supposed to strive for is miyad. Then he tells you, "And also the teshuva is not only is not only from ma'aseh which relatively speaking is easier but from de'os as well." He says the same thing later that this is real in the Rambam's mind. This is a real possibility, not an easy possibility, but a real possibility. So if you look around four lines into Halacha Vav, so the Rambam writes:

תשובה מקרבת את הרחוקים אמש היה זה שנוא לפני המקום משוקץ ומרוחק ותועבה והיום הוא אהוב ונחמד קרוב וידיד.

Again, the Rav has a beautiful diyuk here. He says when the person was a chotei, the Rambam refers to him as zeh. Doesn't say emesh hayah hu. Zeh. That. That. Hayom hu. After the teshuva, hayom hu.

תשובה מקרבת את הרחוקים אמש היה זה שנוא לפני המקום משוקץ ומרוחק ותועבה והיום הוא אהוב ונחמד קרוב וידיד.

So what does the word emesh? The Laban says to Yaakov Avinu that Hakadosh Baruch Hu אמש דיבר אלי לאמר. So emesh doesn't mean just yesterday; emesh means last night. Last night. So what does the Rambam say? The Rambam says that at night, the person's lifestyle can have been such that he was under the table in the bar. אמש היה זה שנוא לפני המקום משוקץ מרוחק ותועבה. And today, hayyom, he shows up at vasikin and who אוהב ונחמד קרוב וידיד. That's the miyad, the yashan miyad. It's real from the Rambam. He didn't just mean that a person should start the process, he meant that a person can do it. But how is that possible? How is that possible? It doesn't seem possible psychologically. It doesn't seem possible from our experience empirically. How is it possible? A very famous Gemara with which you're all familiar:

אמרו עליו על אלעזר בן דורדיא שלא הניח זונה אחת בעולם שלא בא עליה. פעם אחת שמע שיש זונה אחת בכרכי הים והייתה נוטלת כיס דינרין בשכרה.

So he was so bulmus d'arayos. He was so lahut achar arayos that despite the fact that it meant going to the other side of the world, despite the fact that it meant mortgaging the ranch, so he was doing it. נטל כיס דינרין והלך ועבר עליה שבעה נהרות. Bishas hergel davar when he was about to commit the aveira, hificha. אמרה, and then the zona says to him:

כשם שהפיחה זו אינה חוזרת למקומה כך אלעזר בן דורדיא אין מקבלין אותו בתשובה.

She tells him, "You're such a menuval, it's hopeless."

הלך וישב בין שני הרים וגבעות אמר הרים וגבעות בקשו עלי רחמים. אמרו לו: עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר כי הרים ימושו והגבעות תמוטינה. אמר: שמים וארץ בקשו עלי רחמים.

If the hills and the mountains don't work, so he went to the heaven and earth.

אמרו: עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר כי שמים כעשן נמלחו והארץ כבגד תבלה. אמר: חמה ולבנה בקשו עלי רחמים.

The sun and the moon.

אמרו לו: עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר וחפרה הלבנה ובושה החמה. אמר: כוכבים ומזלות בקשו עלי רחמים. אמרו לו: עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו שנאמר ונמקו כל צבא השמים. אמר: אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. הניח ראשו בין ברכיו וגעה בבכיה עד שיצתה נשמתו. יצתה בת קול ואמרה רבי אלעזר בן דורדיא מזומן לחיי העולם הבא. ובכה רבי ואמר יש קונה עולמו בשעה אחת ויש קונה עולמו בכמה שנים. ואמר רבי לא דיין לבעלי תשובה שמקבלין אותן אלא שקורין אותן רבי.

Meaning Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia did a teshuva sheleima. He did a teshuva sheleima. What the Rambam was describing, Chazal give us a snapshot of that in Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia. So what is the psat? So it doesn't defy human capacity. Right? It's based on physics. If you have two crashing forces, the stronger one's going to prevail. The power of habit, the strength of inertia is very, very, very great. And that's what the Rambam tells us at the end of halacha gimmel שבזמן שאדם נשקע באלו קשה הוא לפרוש. It's embedded, it's deeply ingrained, it's very, very difficult to change, as anyone knows who tries. It's very, very difficult. But when a person feels the tumah... Again a person has to do it in the context of his religious, emotional, psychological constitution. What's healthy. But כל אחד ואחד באשר הוא שם כפי כוחו, the deeper we feel nechamti, the more profoundly we feel that and the more profound is the determination of עולם איני חוזר לדבר זה. That dictates how long or how quick a process it is. Whether it's אמש היה זה שנוא והיום הוא אהוב or whether it's לפני שנים שנים היה זה שנוא והיום הוא אהוב, and halevai to achieve that. halevai to achieve that, chas veshalom not to ki hu zeh denigrate that in any form. So in trying to do teshuva, so it's important that we recognize the fact that a person attains a genuine level of charata. The fact that he attains a genuine level of charata doesn't mean that he's finished. The fact that a person can honestly stand לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא and say nechamti. And the fact that a person can honestly say, it is my intention that עולם איני חוזר לדבר זה. The fact that he can honestly say that doesn't necessarily mean that he's maxed out. It's infinite that he can say it even more profoundly and reaching down even more deeply. And that's why Halacha bet and gimel go together. The Rambam doesn't see any tension between on the one hand throwing down the gauntlet and telling us yashuv miyad and then toch kedei dibbur telling us and also צריך לשוב מאלו הדעות הרעות שקשה לפרוש מהן because a person can be nishka bahen. And I think tomorrow on the schedule for the day, the shiur is marked for one o'clock. I'm bound to change it and I apologize. I can't do it at one o'clock. So we'll probably have shiur earlier. Again it conflicts with any shiur that you were planning on going to so then obviously you should go elsewhere. But probably it would be in the area of ten or something like that.