Shaarei Teshuva #2: Teshuva on Chilul Hashem. Kiddush Hashem, Emmes.

We saw in Os Daled

ועל עון אשר לא תנוקה הנפש ממנו ובלתי טהורה היא ואינה רצויה עד שהמות יפריד בינה ובין הגוף אשר חטאה בו. כמו שיש חולי שלא ינוקה הגוף ממנו כל הימים והוא עון חילול השם שנאמר והנה ששון ושמחה הרוג בקר ושחוט צאן כי היו משליכים על דברי הנביאים ולא חרדו עליהם אבל היו קובעים בגלוי ושחק חבריהם במיני שמחה ונאמר על זה מכופר העון הזה לכם עד תמותו ונאמר ויהיו מלעיבים במלאכי האלוקים ובוזים דבריו ומתעתעים בנביאיו עד עלות חמת השם בעמו עד לאין מרפא.

Rabbeinu Yonah continues

וגם החולי הזה אף על פי שאין לו מרפא על דרך שאר העוונות ימצא לו מרפא אם יעזרהו השם יתברך לקדש תורתו נגד בני אדם ולהודיע לבני האדם גבורות השם וכבוד הדר מלכותו ויסור עוונו ברוב גודל כשרון המעשה שהוא בהפך מן המעשה שנאל בו אשר חטא בו כמאמר הרופאים על חולי הגוף כי ירפא בהופכו ועל ארוכתו ותמורתו.

Really I think maybe this was we had skipped around a little bit last week so I think we had skipped I don't think we read this together in the end of Os Beis after Rabbeinu Yonah had described the p'gam aveiros require yisurim in order to have the full refuah the full kaparah so at the end of Os Beis the Rabbeinu Yonah had said

ויש עצה ותקנה לחוטא במעשים טובים להגן עליו מן המכאובים כאשר יתבאר.

That's what he was referring back to here when he said Rabbeinu Yonah holds that even within the chilukei kaparah where Chazal speak of the need for yisurim where Chazal say in the instance of chilul Hashem rachmana litzlan that full kaparah is only with misa in each of these cases Rabbeinu Yonah says that there is a substitute there is an equivalent which can happen there is a substitute for yisurim again we'll see it in greater detail later be'ezras Hashem and even by chilul Hashem when Chazal say that there is no refuah which Rabbeinu Yonah again refuah in this context means the refuah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu bestows the full kaparah even that only means through normal channels which can affect refuah ve-kaparah for every other cheit so chilul Hashem has no ein lo marpei but that there is a substitute short of yom hamisa rachmana litzlan for kaparah on chilul Hashem. The Rambam you don't find any of these equivalences. When the Rambam quotes the end of Perek Aleph of Hilchos Teshuva the chilukei kaparah there's no indication of either of these equivalences either in terms of the substitute for yisurim or in terms of kiddush Hashem as a source of refuah for chilul Hashem but the Rabbeinu Yonah has it. What does Rabbeinu Yonah mean when he writes here again in Os Hey that ימצא לו מרפא אם יעזרהו השם יתברך לקדש תורתו? So in what sense does kiddush Hashem require siyata d'shmaya more than everything in life obviously on one level everything in life requires siyata. For a person to have the health, to function, to be productive, to do, to study. Everything is Siyata Dishmaya and and yet clearly this added dimension of of Siyata Dishmaya here with regard to Kiddush Hashem which is why Rabbeinu Yonah is highlighting it here. So so what's that added dimension of of Siyata Dishmaya? So so let's backtrack for a second. When when Rabbeinu Yonah is quoting from from the the Chazal in Yoma that he's about to quote more fully in Os Vav that Chilul Hashem has no complete Kaparah until Ad Temosun. So so the Rambam tells us initially in Sefer Hamitzvos and then he has it again in Perek Hey Yesodei Hatorah that there are three types of Kiddush Hashem and conversely Chilul Hashem. The first type of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem is when there's a Chiyuv Yeihareg Ve'al Ya'avor. If the person is Mekayem that Chiyuv Yeihareg Ve'al Ya'avor הרי זה קידוש השם and if the person is Mevatel that Chiyuv Yeihareg Ve'al Ya'avor he's Over and Eino Neherag so הרי זה חילול השם. So that's one type of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem. Another type of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem again all these are based on on Gemaras but Rambam just puts them together, the Gemaras are all in different places. The second type of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem that the Rambam has is if a person is Mekayem a Mitzvah without any ulterior motive just to just because Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to do the Mitzvah. He's not focused on the Schar he's not focused on what people will think on what people will say he's doing it just because Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to do it. So then that's a Kiddush Hashem. Conversely if a person doesn't have any there's no there's no Hana'ah forthcoming from the Aveirah. There's no benefit to him for doing the Aveirah he does the Aveirah anyway so that Rachmana Litzlan that is a Chilul Hashem. And then the third class or category of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem that the Rambam has is when a person does something that reflects on Torah because of his status. The Rambam said describes it in terms of an Adam Gadol Batorah Umfursam Bechasidus. So because of this person's A: stature in Torah, B: reputation, so what he does reflects on Torah. Chofetz Chaim says Bezman Hazeh we all have that Bezman Hazeh that Shomrei Torah Umitzvos as such a small percentage of Klal Yisrael so we all have this status of of representing representing Torah. Once upon a time Zman Ketikunan when everyone was Shomrei Torah Umitzvos so then the Gadol the Gadol Batorah Umfursam Bechasidus he represented the Torah. Now that we're such a small percentage Shomrei Torah Umitzvos as such a small percentage of Klal Yisrael we all represent Torah. So we're all held to this standard of of really realizing that what we do reflects on on on Torah. So a person does things דברים שהבריות מרננות אחריו בשבילם. He sets people talking about his behavior how his behavior is is unbecoming how his behavior is substandard so then that's a Chilul Hashem but conversely conversely if he goes Lifnim Mishuras Hadin and and he inspires and commands respect and affection so then that creates a Kiddush Hashem. Then there's yet another type of Kiddush Hashem Chilul Hashem that the Rambam doesn't mention in Perek Hey Yesodei Hatorah but he has elsewhere in in in... And in Mishneh Torah. And that's Kiddush Hashem and Chillul Hashem le'einei hagoyim. So then Yechezkel says, in fact, the fact that HaKadosh Baruch Hu exiled, exiled Klal Yisrael, the fact that the Beis HaMikdash is churv is all a Chillul Hashem. באמור עם ה' אלה ומארצו יצאו. So what type of when Chazal say that Chillul Hashem stands out from amongst the chilukei kaparah and is the one aveira for which there's no full kaparah, no complete kaparah until Yom HaMisa? So which type of Chillul Hashem are Chazal talking about? Are they talking about all of them? Which type of Chillul Hashem are we talking about? So let's go back to os daled, at least inside of Rabbeinu Yona, if there's any indication, I'm not sure if everything we're about to say is correct. I don't know, but let's see.

שנאמר והנה ששון ושמחה הרוג בקר ושחט צאן. כי לא היו משגיחים על דברי הנביאים ולא חרדים עליהם אבל היו קובעים בגלוי והקל חברים במיני שמחה.

It certainly got nothing to do with the Chillul Hashem of yehareg ve'al ya'avor, right? That's certainly not the medubar here. The Chillul Hashem of yehareg ve'al ya'avor. I don't know whether it neatly aligns with any of the categories we set up. Rabbeinu Yona lich'ora is describing, maybe it sort of to a degree aligns with the Rambam's second category. A total disregard for devar Hashem, kovim begalui, right, they steal openly? A total disregard.

והקל חברים במיני שמחה. ויהיו מלעיבים במלאכי האלהים ובוזים דבריו ומתעתעים בנביאיו.

There's a total disregard for devar Hashem. But it's a disregard which plays itself out in public. kovim begalui, and then vehekel chaverim. So the Chillul Hashem is clearly a Chillul Hashem berabim that Rabbeinu Yona is talking about. And again, the substance of the Chillul Hashem which is berabim seems to be this complete disregard for devar Hashem. Hashta de'asinu lehacha, that the Chillul Hashem is berabim. So then maybe what Rabbeinu Yona means is as follows: a person Can sort of with the routine call it Siyata d'Ishmaya live a life which is devoted to and the ideals of Kiddush Hashem. His behavior is impeccable, his integrity is stellar. Who knows it? I don't know, people in his dalet amos know it. That a person is ever in a position to create a Kiddush Hashem be-farhesia so itachen, itachen, again so maybe maybe it happens be-farhesia just cumulatively every day he interacts with three, five, seven people so over the course of a month, a year, ten years, twenty years so that's a lot of people. Okay so then I don't know that doesn't really if that also qualifies for the לקדש תורתו נגד בני אדם so then I don't know we're remaining tzarich iyun about why Rabbeinu Yonah is highlighting the ya'azreihu Hashem. But if Rabbeinu Yonah also means, I'm not sure that he does honestly, but if he also means that אם יעזרהו השם לקדש תורתו נגד בני אדם that he means that to do something in the presence of many many people. Lav davka that a person ever ever has that opportunity in life. A person can go through life and not be not have such such an opportunity. Many many years ago there was in Boston a orthodox businessman. He owned he owned, he was niftar not that long ago so the obituaries all referred back to this so maybe maybe you read about it. The event itself was I don't know how many years ago but it was probably before your day, I don't remember now. He owned a factory and it was called Malden Mills, a suburb of Boston. And there was a fire in the factory, natural causes, and it burnt down. And even though he was more or less retirement age, so first of all, A, he said that he was gonna rebuild the factory and and so all his workers would would have a job when he and in addition he committed to and did and he paid them their salary even while there was no work for them to do because the the factory had been burnt down and he paid for their health insurance. All out of all out of his own pocket. They weren't working because there was no work to be done until the factory was rebuilt. I forget who was president then but whoever it was had him as a guest at the next State of the Union State of the Union address before Congress. And then when he was interviewed and you know the reporters asked him why he was doing that, he said that when he was a kid his father studied pirkei avos and he learned that this is the way you're supposed to behave. So it it was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem, it was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem but lav davka that a person ever has such an opportunity in life. Right? Lav davka even if the person has the even if the person would would take advantage of the opportunity when presented lav davka with you know that the routine what we call sort of the routine or the standard Siyata d'Ishmaya with which we go through life lav davka that a person ever has that opportunity. So I don't know maybe that's what Rabbeinu Yonah means that the magnitude of Kiddush Hashem will that will require ya'azreihu Hashem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to orchestrate. but that he's going to be put in a position of where he has an opportunity to be מקדש תורתו נגד בני אדם. Maybe that's what it means. And maybe that would answer, if if that's correct, I'm not so sure that it is, but if if that's correct, maybe that would answer a different difficulty as well here in Rabbeinu Yonah. Kemama harof'im again a few lines into Os Heh here in Rabbeinu Yonah if you see it,

כמאמר הרופאים על חולי הגוף כי ירפא בהפכו והעלה ארוכתו בתמורתו,

that the way to cure sickness is with the opposite. So what cures chilul Hashem is kiddush Hashem. But remember last week we noticed that Rabbeinu Yonah, unlike the Rambam, says that the refuah of which the psukim speak is not the teshuva itself but is the refuah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu bestows after the person does teshuva, right? We noted that and discussed that a little bit last week. So over here it's the person who's being mekadesh shem shamayim. So how is Rabbeinu Yonah, given that for Rabbeinu Yonah the refuah is after the teshuva from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it's always from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, right? That's how he presented it initially,

ובשוב רשע מדרכו הרעה ירפא השם יתברך חולי הנפש החוטאת.

Now all of a sudden it seems like in the context of this that the person is the one who's the source of the refuah because it's the kiddush Hashem that the person's making which is the refuah for the chilul Hashem. But lidvareinu yitachen that no, on the one hand the person is the one who's mekadesh shem shamayim but on the other hand that's from Hakadosh Baruch Hu because Hakadosh Baruch Hu pulled the strings, he orchestrated that the person be given that opportunity to be mekadesh shem shamayim. I don't know, if that's what it means. And explain again how it's b'yedai shamayim? What's difficult about the lashon here is that if we just read this line here in Os Heh without knowing what we had seen earlier, so we would have thought that when we speak of refuah in connection with teshuva that it's the teshuva itself which is the refuah, that the person himself is merapeh atzmo. And yet we saw last time clearly that that wasn't how Rabbeinu Yonah understood, that's not how he presented it in the beginning of Os Daled, that was l'shitaso with the Rambam in learning pshat in the pasuk in ad ein marpeh and yet in this sentence it sounds like that the person's kiddush Hashem is the refuah. That's the question. So the answer we're suggesting is that lefi ma shenitba'er so the kiddush Hashem that happens on the one hand is ma'aseh adam, but on the other hand it's simultaneously ma'aseh Hakadosh Baruch Hu because it wasn't sort of in the normal course of events. Hakadosh Baruch Hu staged things that the person be given this opportunity. So I don't know, if that's what it means. I mean why does he say the lashon yirapeh? I mean he should have said that Hashem's doing the refuah, Hashem's the one doing it and it's done. So we're saying in light of the fact that it only happened because of ya'azrehu Hashem so Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing the refuah. In light of the fact that this only happened because ya'azrehu Hashem, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the one doing the refuah. Maybe. But isn't this the refuah happening before the teshuva as opposed to v'shav v'rapha lo? No, this is after the teshuva, meaning what's left after the person does teshuva for the chilul Hashem is he's still left again with the residual of the cheit, and the same way the yisurim come after the teshuva, the korban comes after the teshuva, Yom Kippur comes after the teshuva, so too this is also coming after the teshuva. This idea that we're talking about in a very sort of specialized sense that the siyata d'shmaya that a person has to, again, in this context, to מקדש שם שמים ברבים, the Sfas Emes has this idea in a much broader sense. The Sfas Emes comments I think on the pasuk, I'm not sure if I'm quoting it verbatim accurately, לך ה' הצדקה החסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. So how does the pasuk go exactly? Ata, what's the beginning of the pasuk? Mention something sort of אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, what's the beginning of the pasuk? לך ה' חסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. Okay, לך ה' חסד כי אתה, ki is that I think. לך ה' חסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו. So the Sfas Emes asks, why is that a chesed? אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, that's midas hadin. That's midas hadin. A person does a mitzvah, he gets schar, that's midas hadin. A person gets Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us something which is beyond our ma'asim, so that's chesed. The Sfas Emes, the Sfas Emes answers as follows. I don't know the mashal is adding the mashal the hakdama to the Sfas Emes. Let's say a person today he gives a certain amount to tzedaka, gives a hundred dollars to tzedaka. Okay. So Ribbono Shel Olam gives him schar. Schar whatever, however Hakadosh Baruch Hu determines what the schar should be for a hundred dollars of tzedaka, that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives him. Where did the person get the hundred dollars in the first place? Who gave him the hundred dollars? How did he have a hundred dollars to be able to give to tzedaka? That gufeh was from a beracha from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The fact that the person had the money to give to tzedaka was from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So you would think so Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a chelek in the mitzvah. The person can't claim full credit for doing the mitzvah. Yeah, the person, he wrote the check, he gave the hundred dollars to tzedaka, but he can't really claim full credit for having done the mitzvah. So the Sfas Emes says that's the peshat. לך ה' החסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, that even though Hakadosh Baruch Hu is really a shutf in whatever we do, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us schar k'masehu. Gives us schar for the entire mitzvah as though we were the full owners and solely responsible for the mitzvah. That's why Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us schar. Okay, so according to what we're talking about is something which is a much more specialized and dramatized form of that. But the Sfas Emes says the emes is beze'er anpin, in a less dramatic sense, to a different degree, it's always true. It's always true that every Ribbono Shel Olam is a shutf in every mitzvah. The specialized form that Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about is sort of bevechinas what Mordechai says to Esther, ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות. Seldom that it happens in a person's lifetime. Seldom that it happens. But if it does, so a person has to have the sensitivity to recognize... That by being placed in this extraordinary set of circumstances, that means that there's also an extraordinary opportunity for the person to, in terms of how the person reacts. The nafka mina being, as is clearly the case in Megillas Esther, Mordechai is telling Esther, you can't have a sense of being inadequate for the moment if you understand that Hakadosh Baruch Hu put you here for this moment. In some cases, no, a person is supposed to look at a challenge and say, no, that's not, those aren't my kochos. I don't have the lo le'kach notzarti. I don't have the kochos to deal with that. There's lots of important and wonderful things to be done in life and that doesn't necessarily mean that the person is rauy to undertake any and every such important and wonderful endeavor. But that's what Mordechai is telling Esther. No, but if you recognize that for this moment Hakadosh Baruch Hu put you here for this moment, so then a person can't think that he's inadequate to the challenge of the moment.

ואמר שלמה המלך עליו השלום: בחסד ואמת יכופר עוון. וביארו בשער הראשון מן התשובה.

Rabbenu Yonah wrote other seforim. We have Shaarei Teshuva in its entirety, but Rabbenu Yonah wrote other ones. He had, I think he had a similar work that we don't have in its entirety on Shaarei Yira. That's what the phrase min hateshuva is here because otherwise beshaar harishon, what else is he talking about? No, this was, Shaarei Teshuva, I think, was part of a series and so that's what it's referring to here: בשער הראשון מן התשובה. Veha'inyan emes shehizkir, when Shlomo Hamelech says בחסד ואמת יכופר עוון, what does emes refer to?

ביאור שיכין החוטא לבו לחזק ידי האמת ולעזור למבקשי אמונה ולהסיר השקר והעוול. כי הודעת האמת והשיבה לביצורו כבוד אלוקים כי עניין שנאמר: דן דין עני ואביון אז טוב הלא היא הדעת אותי. ונאמר אודות השקר במרמה מאנו דעת אותי.

Because of their trickery, because of their deceitfulness, ובמרמה מאנו דעת אותי. When a person is devoted, dedicated to emes, that devotion, that dedication is rooted in Torah. He's devoted, he's dedicated to emes, so that serves as the source of kiddush Hashem. So sometimes I think that the English idiom, at least the American English, I don't know if it's an idiom, encourages it. We measure the immorality of a falsehood by what's at stake. We talk about little lies and big lies, white lies and black lies, and vechulu. But that sort of reduces a commitment to middas ha'emes to being something which is very pragmatic. If the significance of a lie is sort of measured by its fallout, okay, so then there's white lies and black lies and little lies and big lies. A person is supposed to be committed to middas ha'emes because it's emes regardless of what the fallout or the consequences of the sheker would be. Even lu yetzuyar that there are no consequences, a person is supposed to be committed to middas ha'emes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu demei meimana vedaseiya. There are sort of some situations where, I guess maybe out of this mindset, I don't know however it happened, maybe for some other reason, not this mindset, where sheker is the norm. If the message on the voicemail says I'll call you back as soon as possible, I don't know, that's a very exacting standard to measure up to with every single message. Wow. Okay, maybe people do it, maybe amcha do it, but it's not easy, not easy to do, I would imagine. Sometimes you have a scenario, parents on the phone and the child wants something and the parent's in the middle of a conversation. So they tell them just one minute, just one minute, I'll be off the phone in a minute, but you're not going to be off the phone in a minute, you've been on the phone 20 minutes, you're going to be on the phone for another 40 minutes, just one minute. There's no such thing as a harmless sheker because what's wrong about sheker is that it's sheker. It's not the consequences compound what's wrong about it, that's not what's wrong about it. What's wrong about sheker is that it's sheker. The consequences compound it. It's not only sheker, but it's also damaging, it's also this, it's also that. Many years ago when I was making the bar mitzvah seudah for our younger son, so we got a response card in the mail which was niflah. So usually response cards say yes coming, no or no I can't come. So this response was from one of my son's rebbeim, a few years older in elementary school. So he wrote, he wrote, it would be very difficult for me to come. Not I can't come. Because he could have come. He could have moved enough pieces around. There are very few things one can't do in life. And some things that one can't do in life. If you're not supposed to do something like v'salachta lacho v'shilachacho or וסלחת מעשית רעך איש ואחיהו, it's appropriate to say I can't do it if it's wrong to do. But if a person, if it's tremendously inconvenient, if it's a, a person can do it. That's what he wrote. I was mamash, I was so impressed and so appreciative of the middas ha-emes. He didn't say I can't come. He said it would be very difficult for me to come. So please forgive me that I won't be coming. But emes is not only in words. We've been giving examples in speech and words, but emes is in actions also. If a person's hired to do a job, it's also a question of being emes. That's why לזו ולבקשי אמונה והסר שקר וגזל, that's why sheker v'gezel are two sides of a coin. Emes is also in actions. If a person is hired to do a job, if he cuts corners on the job, that's also a sheker. It's also a sheker. It's again, it could be a sheilah of dinei mamonus as well. But leaving aside the dinei mamonus for the moment, it's also a bechina of sheker. Person commits to do A, B, and C. לא תשבעו בשמי לשקר means one, according to some, it refers to l'haba as well. It means a person says he's going to do something and he doesn't do it. He says I won't do something and he does. So emes and sheker are yardsticks by which not only to measure speech, but by which we should measure action as well. Okay, we'll stop there.