Relationship Between Free Will and Teshuva

Let's perhaps begin by just very, very briefly and in a streamlined fashion outlining the core chidush of the drasha that that you've been learning and then try to process and understand it a little bit. The Rambam presents Hilchos Teshuva, Hilchos Teshuva. And then after seemingly having concluded his discussion of Hilchos Teshuva, he then segues to a discussion of bechirah chafshis, after which he then restarts Hilchos Teshuva. You know, it's incredible how fundamental and elementary, elementary in terms of basic, not in terms of simplicity. How fundamental and elementary the question is, and the Rambam had to be very patient. He had to wait around three quarters of a millennium before he would be understood. So, what's the pshat that the Rambam divides Hilchos Teshuva into two different presentations? And specifically, he expands the chiyuv teshuva in perek zayin, post his discussion of bechirah chafshis in halacha gimmel,

אל תאמר שהתשובה היא רק מעבירות שיש בהן מעשה כגון זנות גזל וגניבה.

No, the chiyuv teshuva is also שצריך לחפש בדעות רעות שיש לו. A person has to identify and correct whatever character flaws he has, whatever middos ra'os he has, the chiyuv teshuva relates to that as well. So the Rav explains that the Rambam in his presentation of bechirah chafshis explains that bechirah chafshis is unlimited. In the first few perakim of Hilchos Teshuva, one could operate with a limited understanding of bechirah chafshis. bechirah chafshis perhaps means that there are all kinds of internal and external forces that act upon us. Especially let's talk about internal forces. We have a yetzer hatov which sort of pushes us in one direction. We have a yetzer hara which pushes us in a very different direction. And bechirah chafshis sort of allows one to adjudicate between those competing and conflicting forces. It allows one to align himself with one force and at the to the to the exclusion of another. And then in perek hey, the Rambam explains רשות לכל אדם נתונה. Reshus doesn't doesn't translate as permission. Reshus translates as as capacity. Right? The word reshus in Pirkei Avos, Hevu zehirin b'rashus, reshus is the governmental authority, right? The government that has absolute and autocratic government that has absolute, absolute power. רשות לכל אדם נתונה, a person has absolute control over himself, not only to adjudicate between yetzarim, but to change himself. And that's why it's on the heels of this understanding of not a limited, not a limited version of bechirah chafshis, but this unlimited version of bechirah chafshis. Now the Rambam has laid the groundwork for telling us that the chiyuv teshuva is not only to sort of contain and suppress middos ra'os and not allow them to to to act out, but the chiyuv teshuva is to attack the middos ra'os themselves because רשות לכל אדם נתונה. The lashon haRambam is להטות עצמו לדרך טובה, not just laleches b'derech tova, but להטות עצמו לדרך טובה, which lichora clearly means according to the Rav's approach, even if even if he has some kind of predisposition in the other direction and he needs to push himself. He needs to, he needs to get himself on track, not just to go on the track. He needs to reroute himself. He needs to get on the track. But רשות לכל אדם נתונה look, he has that that absolute authority. He's sovereign over himself to get on that track of derech tova or conversely, we also have the capacity to להטות עצמנו לדרך רעה. The Rav goes on to explain that that's why the Rambam held in abeyance and only quotes all the extraordinary mamarei chazal extolling the koach of teshuvah that the Rambam presents in perek zayin because the Rambam understands that it's referring to a teshuvah which results again from this fuller unlimited usage and application of bechirah chofshis, not not the more limited one with which a person could have operated earlier, right? It's clear that earlier that that's what the Rambam is describing, the Rav points out in perek beis when the Rambam quotes the Gemara in Yoma and gives us a snapshot of of a baal teshuvah. So the Rambam says that the opportunity for cheit presents itself again, previously he'd been nichshal and now everything is duplicated even the הוא עומד באהבתו בה, even if if he was nichshal in biyah asurah, הוא עומד באהבתו בה. So he hasn't changed himself, he he has the same lust that he had when when he sinned. So we're not talking about that the person is doing teshuvah in the sense of changing himself, we're talking about doing teshuvah in a more limited way that instead of giving in to the yetzer hara, he gives in to the yetzer hatov. The mamaram of

במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורים יכולים לעמוד, גדולה תשובה שמקרבת את הגאולה, אין ישראל נגאלים אלא בתשובה,

all those extraordinary mamarei chazal are talking about this second type of teshuvah, teshuvah that draws upon again the unlimited form of bechirah chofshis. The Rav also says that that what emerges from a careful reading of the Rambam is the chilukei kapparah which the Rambam had quoted in perek aleph from the Brayisa in Masechet Yoma that when a person does teshuvah for an asei, so then לא זז משם עד שמוחלו לו, the kapparah is immediate. A lo sa'asei has to wait until Yom HaKippurim. Chamuros require yissurim as well and chilul Hashem, rachmana litzlan, nekapparah is not complete ad sheyamus. All those divisions, those gradations, are only from the teshuvah of of the first half of Hilchos Teshuvah. But if a person is zocheh to this teshuvah where he effects change, so then the Rambam says emesh, right? Emesh doesn't just mean yesterday. Lavan says to Yaakov Avinu that יש לאל ידי לעשות עמכם רע and v'emesh your G-d appeared to me. Emesh means last night, as recently as last night, it hasn't even been twenty four hours. אמש היה זה שנוי ומשוקץ, and yesterday he was he was despised, and today

היום הוא מדובק בשכינה אוהב ונחמד, היום הוא מדובק בשכינה.

So the Rav says that this teshuvah even transcends the chilukei kapparah. Okay, that's the sort of an outline of of the core chiddush and again, that the Rambam is telling us that bechirah chofshis is not merely that we have the ability and capacity to change our ways but to change ourselves, right? That a person through through teshuvah, again the Rav calls this the teshuvah of perek zayin, a teshuvah of geulah, and the earlier teshuvah he calls it teshuvah of kapparah. The earlier teshuvah it it is a source of atonement, it's something great, but the teshuvah of geulah is even even greater. A teshuvah of the the teshuvah which emanates from a more limited usage or application of bechirah chofshis, it changes actions. The higher order teshuvah changes values. The lower order teshuvah changes tactics. The higher order teshuvah it changes perceptions. Let's get maybe take an example to try to concretize. Let's say you have someone who out of taivas mammon, because of a desire for wealth, so he embezzled or or engaged in insider trading, whatever the financial crime might be. So he can do teshuvah for this in either of two ways. He can either do teshuvah, he can sort of he can change his tactics, so from now on instead of instead of cheating, instead of looking to embezzle and or engage in insider training, so I'm gonna work harder and I'm gonna find good business opportunities and and I'm gonna engage in savvy marketing and advertising and I'll be able to make the same money but I'll make it legally. So the person is changing his actions, he's changing his tactics. But there's another way that he can approach doing teshuva. He can approach doing teshuva that whereas previously he was the type of person who saw wealth as a value, as something desirable, as something central in life, something to orient oneself towards. Now he takes to heart David Hamelech

אל תירא כי יעשיר איש כי ירבה כבוד ביתו כי לא במותו יקח הכל לא ירד אחריו כבודו.

He's not gonna take it with him, there's no difference in reality in the beis akvaros. There's no difference between whether one was a billionaire or not. So that's not just a question of he won't embezzle, he won't steal, not just because he sort of changed his actions. He didn't just change his actions, he changed himself. He sees the world differently. When he sees the kesef v'zahav, so previously it was something which had great allure, it was something which is irresistible, and now when he sees the kesef v'zahav, it's afar v'eifer. In Yiddish there's a saying וואס איז געלט געלט איז בלאטע. It's nothing, it's nothing. Beyond what a person needs to live properly, it has no, and do mitzvos, it has no intrinsic value. So when a person does teshuva that way, so that represents not just a change in action but a change in self. Not just a change in tactics, but a change in perception. He sees the world through a different lens. What the Rav is saying is now when a person affects that kind of change, what in effect he's doing is remaking or refashioning his own personality. There are many situations in which we react in a sort of instinctive way. Not premeditated, just an immediate reaction. But those reactions reflect sort of a person's values, what a person has internalized, and what the Rav says is that a person can shape and mold his personality to such a degree that those again instinctive reactions will be a result of his bechira. Not his bechira at that moment, but his bechira in terms of the personality that he cultivated. Now the truth is that in this, again, he didn't apply it to teshuva, he obviously wasn't commenting on the Rambam. The Ibn Ezra famously in his discussion of lo sachmod, you have that in the first source in front of you, where the Ibn Ezra says that many people ask how can the Torah legislate lo sachmod?

איך יהיה אדם שלא יחמוד דבר יפה בלבו כל מה שהוא נחמד למראה עיניו.

Now the Ibn Ezra's kasha is that it's an instinctive reaction. A person doesn't say הנני מוכן ומזומן לחמוד, it's an instinctive reaction to be chomed. So how can the Torah, the Torah can tell us don't act because action is something deliberate. Okay, so deliberate and don't do it. The Torah said not to do it, so don't do it. But something which is just an instinctive feeling, thought, how can the Torah, again a person is not releasing it intentionally, so how can the Torah legislate that? So the Ibn Ezra gives the following mashal ואתה אתן לך משל דע no

כי איש כפרי שיש לו דעה נכונה שראה בת מלך שהיא יפה לא יחמוד אותה בלבו שישכב עמה.

The villager knows that there isn't a chance in the world that he can marry the princess and because of that he doesn't covet her because human nature is such that a person only covets or desires what he thinks is attainable. What a person knows is unattainable, what a person knows is beyond reach, a person doesn't covet. Kaasher, just as she-yisaveh

ועל תחשוב זה הכפרי שהוא כאחד מן המשוגעים שיתאוה שיהיה לו כנפיים לעוף לשמים,

right, a person would have to nebach be totally deranged to think that oh I wish that I could flap my my arms and and like a bird soar to the to the to the sky. A person only covets what what he thinks is within the realm of possibility.

כך המשכיל צריך שידע כי אשה יפה וממון לא ימצאנו אדם בעבור חכמתו ודעתו רק אשר חלק לו השם. ובעבור זה המשכיל לא יתאוה ולא יחמוד.

So too a discerning person knows that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives a person what he's supposed to have and what HaKadosh Baruch Hu has given to someone else it means that I'm not supposed to have, someone else is going to have. But how did this answer the Ibn Ezra's question? Again, the Ibn Ezra's question was that himud is is not a deliberate reaction, it's not something which I press a button and believe, it's just something that happens instinctively, it happens even involuntarily in the moment. So the answer clearly is that the Ibn Ezra says that a person can and is therefore expected to internalize the belief to such a point that that he makes it a part of himself. And if the person does internalize that belief so then the same way then the Rav is talking about it colors his perception. It means that the same way a person naturally because he knows that that he can't that that a person can't flap his arms and and fly so a person doesn't covet to do that, so the person, the person internalizes and and shapes and molds his own perception so so too I know that what's what I'm supposed to get I will get, what I'm not supposed to get it's futile and and that I and it's futile to make any attempt. So clearly the Ibn Ezra again you already have this kernel be-ze'ir anpin, again this yesod that that a person can not only control actions but a person can preemptively control reactions, that a person not only is shaltan over his deliberate actions but but even what happens in the moment instinctively, in the moment it may be involuntary but from a a longer, if you take a a longer vantage point which is more distant it's very much a function of the the personality that the person cultivates because the koach ha-bechirah we have again is not only this is what I am so sort of let me I have I have taivas mammon so I just need to I need to control it, no a person can change that. A person can change himself. A person can not only change the way he acts, a person can change himself. It doesn't mean that Reuven can change himself into Shimon, it doesn't mean Shimon can change himself into Reuven, but it means that Reuven can change himself into the ideal version of Reuven and that Shimon can change himself into the ideal version of of Shimon. The Rav mentions in in the drasha and and as as he mentions in the drasha this is a major major yesod that the source, it's both it's both the source of bechirah and therefore the source of teshuvah. The fact that bechirah hofshis is unlimited, unfettered is because no matter how a person has lived his life until now, so what a person does affects him, so how am I a free agent so for decades and decades I've been behaving in a in a certain way, so one would think that once the train is headed down the tracks with so much momentum that that no brakes, that you can't make the turn or you can't stop it by putting on the brakes. So how is it possible that this? How does this koach habechira, how is that sustained? Again, this koach habechira which allows a person to do a teshuva which changes himself. How is it sustained? So the Rav says because it's a yesod gadol in Yahadus and he references that in Kabbalah and Chasidus, it's especially underscored that there is a part of the person which remains pure and unaffected and unsullied by whatever cheit there's been. The Nefesh Hachaim has this baarichus in Shaar Alef that even though maaseh, our actions affect the nefesh element of the soul, but the highest part of the nefesh element of the soul sort of remains, it transcends our actions. And even though dibbur, even though speech affects the ruach element of our soul, but the highest element of ruach transcends that. So it remains pure. And even though machshava, thought affects the neshama aspect of our soul, but the highest level of neshama also it transcends that. So there's always something that remains pure, there's something that remains in its pristine state, and that's where the koach habechira and the koach hateshuva reside. That's why, yes, on the one hand there is momentum, but on the other hand the koach habechira is not held hostage to that momentum. The mashal perhaps is as follows: if you think of chataim as piling on weight, so it's true that if you're my age and there's an awful lot that's accumulated, it's a heavier lift than when you were younger. But the point is that the fact that it's a heavier lift doesn't—it means that the person, yes, the person will have to exert himself more. That's why the Rambam in Perek Zayin when he's introducing this teshuva, he says in Halacha Aleph לעולם ישתדל אדם לעשות תשובה. Yishtadel in leshon Chazal doesn't mean to try, it means to exert oneself. Leolam yishtadel adam—yes, it requires an exertion. We're not describing something which is easily or casually accomplished, but the fact that it may objectively have become a heavier lift than it would have been for me ten years ago or twenty years ago or longer, but it's still—the point is, but the capacity hasn't been compromised. Why? Because there is again, there's something again in the nefesh which transcends the effect, even the deleterious effect of maasim raim. And there's something in the ruach which transcends the deleterious effect of dibburim raim, there's something in neshama which is unsullied, which remains pristine despite machshavos raos. And that's where the koach habechira and the koach hateshuva reside. Different sefarim have different terms for it. The Sfas Emes refers to it as nekudah p'nimis in a person, but everyone agrees that there is נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא, meaning that on one level it remains tehorah. No matter what we do, there's something, there's an element, there's a component which remains tehorah, and that's where the koach habechira and the koach hateshuva reside. And that's why a person can again, not only engage in the more limited teshuva of changing actions, but he can engage in the unlimited teshuva of changing oneself. The Rav emphasizes that it's not something which a person can subcontract. It's not something that's going to happen passively even if we sort of make it our point to hear a shmuze, to hear shmuzen. A person has to do it for himself. In the summary which is presented in Al Hateshuva, this Gemara is not mentioned, but maybe bishas maaseh it was, I don't know, if you take a look at the Gemara in Avodah Zarah. So amar Elazar ben Eleazar ben Durdia שלא הניח זונה אחת בעולם שלא בא עליה. He led such a, such a depraved life. He visited every, every, he consorted with every zonah in the world.

פעם אחת שמע שיש זונה אחת בכרכי הים והיתה נוטלת כיס דינרין בשכרה.

So even though it was a fortune, natal kis dinarin והלך ועבר עליה שבעה נהרות. What are the, the shiva madurei Gehenom?

בשעת הרגל דבר הפיחה הפיחה. אמרה כשם שהפיחה זו אינה חוזרת למקומה כך אלעזר בן דורדיא אין מקבלין אותו בתשובה.

So she, the, the zonah said to him that that you're irredeemable. You've sunk so low there's no way you can be chozer bitshuva.

הלך וישב בין שני הרים וגבעות. אמר הרים וגבעות בקשו עלי רחמים.

Let the, the mountains intercede for me. אמרו לו עד שאנו מבקשים עליך נבקש על עצמנו. No, we have to daven for ourselves. אמר שמים וארץ בקשו עלי רחמים. Let them intercede with Hakadosh Baruch Hu he should save me. Same answer: No, we have to daven for ourselves. Finally, after everywhere he turns, he's told, no, we can't do it, אמר אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. That's the idea, this, the only one who can activate this incredible koach which lies dormant within each of us is ourselves. Each person for himself. אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי. But how does a person do it? Lemaisa, tachlis. How does a person... I think we kind of understand you know the tshuva of a more limited version, just don't, I mean just I don't know, if I used to steal, just don't steal anymore. And, and don't put, and I shouldn't put myself in a position where I have easy opportunity to do so. And if I was talking lashon hara, so again, I have to be very, very mindful, I have to think before I speak. If there were baalei lashon hara in whose presence, whose company I used to keep, so then I have to start keeping that company. So we understand how to change, how to change action. Lemaisa, lemaisa, how does one change oneself? So there are two, there are two approaches. We'll sort of present them as distinct and separate, and in the real world there's always an interplay between the two. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Deos that we should in almost all situations avoid extremes.

מצוים אנו ללכת בדרכים האלו הבינוניים והם הדרכים הטובים והישרים

shenemar v'halachta bidrachav. So we should avoid the extremes. We shouldn't be ascetics, we shouldn't be hedonists. We shouldn't be rodef achar hamamon, we shouldn't be pursuing wealth, we shouldn't be so disinterested in, in money that we don't have enough money to, to live a dignified life. We should go b'drachim hatovim vehayesharim. Keitzad halacha zayin, וכיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? But let's say, no, b'teva, if you take a look at the beginning of Perek Aleph in Hilchos Deos, it's not here, so the Rambam describes you know there are some people who love money and there're some people who are totally disinterested in money and there're some people who are big baalei ka'as and some people who are very apathetic. He describes the different extremes. So Reb Yaakov Moshe Harlap has in his sefer Mei Marom on Shmoneh Perakim, he says you'll notice how the Rambam doesn't describe a natural type who's just right. Doesn't describe a natural type who has the right mixture, the right blend. He says no one is, no one is born on target. We all have avoda of tikkun hamidos. So which means again, what we're talking about is not just changing one's actions. וכיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? How does a person train himself in these traits ad sheyikavu bo? Not just that he'll succeed. successfully act that way, but that he'll have cultivated the midda. So the mitzvah is again not only, the mitzvah is not only to act in a certain way, the mitzvah is to be a certain way, right? Not only that one the mitzvah regulates not only one's behavior but one's persona. You see that from מה הוא נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום not just אף אתה התנהג ברחמנות אף אתה היה רחום the mitzvah is to again to change oneself and if bateva one isn't a rachman so one has to change oneself. So so how does one do it?

כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות הממוצעות ויחזור בהם תמיד עד שיהיו מעשיהם קלים עליו ולא יהיה בהם טורח עליו ויקבעו הדעות בנפשו.

So the Rambam says one method of the way a person internalizes things and makes it a part of himself, he makes it a kinyan that that again that he changes himself is a behavioristic approach. Again and again and again, if if if I'm stingy, if again and again and again I'll force myself to act with generosity, so initially it will require it will be something artificial, it will be something which I'm doing which goes against the grain, and ultimately ultimately it will be yikavu bo, the midda will be implanted in the person, and what initially was burdensome, what initially was onerous, will become easy and natural veyikavu hade'os benafsho. 99.99% of the time the way that the teshuva of perek zayin happens is in a very slow but steadfast way. It happens through this approach of the Rambam. Lichora that's why also based on the Rav's approach, the Rav comments more or less explicitly about almost the entire perek but at least the way it's written up in the Al HaTeshuva the Rambam doesn't comment on halacha beis in perek zayin. Halacha beis, I think this... yeah, it's the last one we have on side 2.

לעולם יראה אדם עצמו כאילו הוא נוטה למות ושמא ימות בשעתו.

A person should view himself not based on actuarial tables, so the average age for a for a male in America now is whatever, so I have so many years left. No.

לעולם יראה אדם עצמו כאילו הוא נוטה למות ושמא ימות בשעתו ונמצא עומד בחטאו לפיכך ישוב מחטאו מיד ולא יאמר כשאזקין אשוב שמא ימות טרם שיזקין.

No one has a guarantee as to what their lifespan is going to be. הוא ששלמה אמר בחכמתו בכל עת יהיו בגדיך לבנים. Right? The same way with the in Zechariah the begadim tzo'im, the soiled garments represent chet, so begadim levanim represent tahara. So this is a gemara in Shabbos, it's a mishna in Avos, it's a gemara in Shabbos

שוב יום אחד לפני מיתתך וכי אדם יודע מתי ימות אלא ישוב כל ימיו בתשובה.

But why did the Rambam hold off with this maimar until perek zayin? This maimar lichora he could have quoted earlier in perek beis as well. So ela mai the pshat is as follows, as the Rav explains in perek zayin the Rambam is talking about a teshuva which again where a person taps into that koach habechira which allows him not only to change actions but to change himself. Ruba deruba deruba, the overwhelming majority of the time, that's a lifetime avodah. It's not it's not it's not an assignment that that's due next Monday, it's not even an assignment in terms of completion that's due on Yom HaKippurim because ruba deruba ya'aseh veyishneh veyishaleish notice in that Rambam in פרק א' הלכה ז' veyachazor bahem tamid, it requires a temidiyus, it requires a constancy, not just... When in halacha do you have a chashash of shema yamos? So in general in halacha we say that shema yamos lizman muat lo chayishinan. We don't assume that a person who is not the who is beneath a certain age we don't assume in an halacha we don't a Kohen goes to work for the day. He goes out to the field. So maybe maybe he had a heart attack in the field. So his wife, if she doesn't have his wife shouldn't eat terumah because she's only entitled to eat terumah as an Eshes Kohen. So maybe she shouldn't have terumah for lunch? No, shema yamos lo chayishinan. But if if he says to her if he gives a get and says that this is a get יום אחד לפני מיתתי so at some point he's going to die. We're not talking only about zman muat so then chashinan that maybe the person would die. So when the when the frame of reference for doing teshuvah is one's lifetime, so then that's where al pi din there's a chashash of shema yamos. When the concern for doing teshuvah is I have to do teshuvah between now and Yom Kippur, so there's not a person is not choshesh. A person a person who's who's not post yemei ziknah is not obligated al pi din there is no chashash. So in Perek Zayin since the Rambam is talking about a teshuvah which is not which is a which is a process. It's a process which takes time. It takes years. The Rav used to tell the story that that Rav Chaim once told the Rav's father, his son, so Rav Chaim was as and this is belo guzma was as outstanding if not more outstanding in his chessed than he was in his than he was in his gaonus and in his in his in his Torah. The Rav Chaim's chessed is extraordinary, extraordinary, nifla ad meod. So Rav Chaim once said to his son: Don't think that I was born this way. Don't think that I was born this way. I had to work very very hard on myself to to to become whatever I am. It's a long process. When you're talking about teshuvah over the course of a lifetime, so then there is a din of chayishinan shema yamos. So realistically this teshuvah exists but even though there is the possibility it can happen in a moment, right the Rav goes on to quote the Rambam says אמש היה זה שונא משוקץ והיום הוא מודבק בשכינה it can it can happen in a moment. But רובא דרובא דרובא it doesn't happen in a moment. רובא דרובא דרובא it requires years of hard work for a person to really really change himself. It it requires again just consistent concerted effort yaaseh v'yishneh v'yishalesh and v'yachzor tamid ad sheyikavu bo. Similarly the Mesillas Yesharim basically talks about the same approach in the hakdamah. Amar hamechaber on the bottom of the first side

החיבור הזה לא חיברתי ללמד לבני אדם את אשר לא ידעו אלא להזכירם את הידוע להם כבר ומפורסם אצלם פרסום גדול.

I'm not coming to tell you any chidushim.

כי לא תמצא ברוב דברי אלא דברים שרוב בני האדם יודעים אותם ולא מסתפקים בהם כלל.

So just parenthetically this is not our inyan now, the Ramchal doesn't say that Mesillas Yesharim doesn't contain chidushim. He says to us, he says you're not going to find chidushim there. He says yitachen meod he says the way you'll somewhat superficially learn my sefer Mesillas Yesharim ki lo timtza you you won't find the chidush. Again he's certainly that's very different than saying there are no chidushim but he says even on that level he says I recognize that that's the level in which most people are going to learn my sefer but אף על פי כן it's it's of vital importance because we know it but but we're distracted from it. So what's the eitzah? אבל התועלת יוצא מן החזרה עליו וההתמדה. The constant repetition, right? Constant constant repetition. That's the way a person internalizes. That's the way a person internalizes. the the first method to how one taps into this koach to not only change one's actions but change oneself, not only to change one's reactions but by changing oneself to pre-determine letova what one's instantaneous reactions will be in in various circumstances. It is true, again as the Rav highlights within the Rambam, that this incredible revolution of self can happen literally overnight, even in a moment. How does that happen? So it depends on two variables, it depends upon the degree of understanding and the depth of understanding. Again, the two variables are the degree of understanding and the depth of understanding. משל למה הדבר דומה. So let's say let's say you're trying to convince someone to eat a more healthy diet. So he can understand that trans fat is not healthy, or he can understand, no, it's going to clog his arteries and it's going to kill him. So either way he understands, but but there are different degrees of understanding. That's one variable. The other variable is that whatever the degree of understanding is, and again, this is an entirely different variable, whatever the degree of understanding is, then the other variable is what's the depth of understanding. Whatever his grasp on the deleterious effects of the trans fat is, it can register superficially or it can register profoundly. If the degree of understanding is great and the depth goes down to the it penetrates to the core of one's being, so then it can happen in a moment. That's what that Gemara we just looked at with רבי אלעזר בן דורדיא depicts. It can happen. Usually when one hears accounts of this, not always, but often it's associated with, maybe I should just say sometimes, maybe not even often, with a traumatic incident. A person a person drinks and then in in in a drunken state rachmana litzlan he almost kills someone when he's behind the wheel or or something else happens. Sometimes there's a flash and where the degree and depth of understanding are just so complete and so profound that the person, again, that change, not just change in action but change in perception, happens. What that implies, again, in all areas of avodas Hashem we can't be passive and obviously על אחת כמה וכמה in avodas hateshuva there's no room for passivity. It means that the more deeply a person understands cheit the more it doesn't just affect him on a surface level that will translate into change of action but potentially penetrate and and affect him as as a and affect change in the person. Now, the Rambam in two places, I think you have it here, yeah, if you take a look on the second side, the Rambam in two places speaks about how if need be tochacha is administered. Again, whether any of this is הלכה למעשה בזמן הזה is obviously a very different discussion but but the The point, I hope, will be clear regardless of that. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuvah in Perek Daled where the Rambam lists the 24 things which are meakev es hateshuvah. 24 things which hinder, they don't absolutely prevent, but they hinder, they play stumbling blocks, they compound the difficulty of doing teshuvah. So one of them is if a person is sonei es hatochachas. If a person hates rebuke. When rebuked, so right away the person turns a deaf ear and if anything he lashes out. The Rambam says שהרי לא הניח לו דרך תשובה. If a person is sonei tochachah, so then he's closing off the pathways of teshuvah for himself. shehatochachah goremes lateshuvah because words of rebuke can catalyze the teshuvah process. שבזמן שמודיעין לאדם חטאו, now look at that next phrase rabbosai, umachlimin oso. umachlimin oso means not only embarrass him but humiliate him. So leneivash velo nikaleim. nikaleim Rabbeinu Yonah says is more intense than busha. busha is shame, kelimah is humiliation. שבזמן שמודיעין לאדם חטאו ומכלימין אותו is chozer beteshuvah. The Rambam says the same in Hilchos De'os. Earlier he said the same in Hilchos De'os when he says initially obviously one tries to affect it bine'imus.

המוכיח את חברו תחילה לא ידבר לו קשות עד שיכלימנו,

a person doesn't begin by speaking harshly.

שנאמר ולא תשא עליו חטא. כך אמרו חכמים יכול אף אתה מוכיחו ופניו משתנות. תלמוד לומר ולא תשא עליו חטא. מכאן שאסור לאדם להכלים את ישראל וכל שכן ברבים.

But then take a look at the end of the halacha, the Rambam writes אבל בדברי שמים אם לא חזר בסתר. Let's say the soft, gentle approach doesn't work. So in theory if there's reason to think לפי המקום לפי הזמן that this approach would work in theory what would one do? אבל אם לא חזר בסתר מכלימין אותו ברבים. You humiliate him publicly. umefarsmim cheito and you publicize the cheit. umacharpim oso befanav, umevazim umekallelim oso עד שיחזור למוטב כמו שעשו כל הנביאים בישראל. So the harshness, and again it's in our day and time, so this is relevant halacha lema'aseh in terms of the insight it provides into teshuvah, not into how one should give tochachah. I mean even in the Rambam's day one had to be a person who himself was menukah me'avon and doing it entirely lshem shamayim. That was even in the Rambam's day. And in our day you have to add to that whether people respond to that kind of approach. So it's not really halacha lema'aseh. It's not halacha lema'aseh in that sense, but it is very much halacha lema'aseh in terms of the insight it gives. Because what the Rambam is, the harshness of the tochachah as the Rambam depicts it, it's not just sort of a measure of how to what lengths the mochi'ach has to go to be mekayem his mitzvah hochei'ach tochi'ach. No, it's rather telling us the depth of understanding that you're trying to reach as deeply into the person as possible. That if you deprive the person of his kevod habriyos, that's what it does when a person's humiliated, so it means that the kevod habriyos is totally stripped away and the person is totally exposed. So that's intended to get to the core of the person. Because that's where the fullest teshuvah can happen. And that's what the again this construct of the harshness of tochachah reflects. Again to try to penetrate through all the layers of insensitivity and to reach again that nekudah penimis, to reach however one refers to that element which remains pure and pristine that the person should be able to tap into it. The same theme and with this we'll stop, the same theme which the Gemara in Avodah Zarah expresses as אין הדבר תלוי אלא בי, so the Mishnah in Avos says אם אין אני לי מי לי. So Rabbeinu Yonah has both in the perush on Pirkei Avos as well as in Shaarei Teshuva, he says what does it mean אם אין אני לי מי לי? He says that we can and should learn this drasha in hilchos teshuva but that keshe-le-atzmo won't accomplish anything. It's necessary, very, very necessary, very vital but not sufficient, necessary but not sufficient, unless a person takes ownership of now knowing what his mandate is based on this and knowing what process he needs to initiate and try to again with consistency and constancy stick to and continuously advance. So it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen. Just learning the drasha, learning a drasha sort of is like getting directions. It's you press the button on the Waze, it tells you, it doesn't get you there. Someone will invent that soon also but right now when you just press the button on the Waze, it only tells you how to get there, it doesn't get you there. You're not a step closer. It shows you how to get there. But אם אין אני לי מי לי. But then in terms of going on that path, so then that's something which each of us has to do for himself. Each of us has to do in a way that's healthy for himself in terms of there should be intensity, teshuva requires intensity, but it has to be a healthy intensity. There's also very unhealthy forms of intensity rachmana litzlan. It has to be done in a healthy fashion but within those boundaries of a religiously, emotionally healthy way, אם אין אני לי מי לי.