Sha’arei Teshuva, Sha’ar 1, Ikar 9

Especially beginning in the Sha'ar HaRishon in the Sha'arei Teshuva b'ezrat Hashem in the Sha'arei Teshuva Sha'arei Teshuva Sha'ar HaTeshuva in Rabbeinu Yonah. Yesod HaTeshuva.

התאוה אולמה ונשא פשעה ומשלה טבעה. ויעשה גדר לשמור דרך התשובה.

The first thing is a person has to come to the recognition that ta'ava was the source of chet.

התאוה אולמה ונשא פשעה ומשלה טבעה. ויעשה גדר לשמור דרך התשובה.

So that statement of Rabbeinu Yonah that he says so categorically without any without any caveat, I would think to a large extent we understand it but but not entirely. If if the chet was a ma'achal asur, if the chet was that that in my desire to eat I didn't really stop to see whether or not I recognize the hashgacha or whether it's a reliable hashgacha, if in in my desire to eat I don't stop and and say a beracha or beracha achrona and so forth, but surely התאוה אולמה ונשא פשעה ומשלה טבעה. Rabbeinu Yonah writes in in the very beginning of of the sefer in the where he lists the various lavin other than the בוצרת אורחות בני נפש the various additional mitzvot that a person oftentimes violates in performing loshon hara. So he says there is no hana'ah gashmiut involved in talking loshon hara. Doesn't involve any hana'ah gashmiut. That's the comparison the Torah compares the ba'alei haloshon to a nachash. Same thing the nachash a lion kills to eat its prey. So it has it's it's motivated it's driven by hana'ah. But a nachash kills and then then leaves its prey alone. And and that's what Chazal say is the pshat in comparison that ba'alei loshon the ba'al hara are compared to to the nachash. So there are other aveiros in in the Torah which are not don't seem to be a function of of ta'ava. So how does Rabbeinu Yonah say this without without qualification? So let's let's continue in in Rabbeinu Yonah b'ezrat Hashem we we we should be able to understand. So a person given the fact that התאוה אולמה ונשא פשעה ומשלה טבעה, so therefore the response has to be ויעשה גדר לשמור דרך התשובה. What what does that mean specifically?

יפרוש מן התענוגים ולא ימשך אחר תאוותו גם בדבר המותר.

Even if it has a good hashgacha, a person shouldn't be nimshach achar ta'avato v'yitnaheig b'darkei haprishus. He should practice healthy abstinence, not extreme abstinence, but healthy abstinence.

ולא יאכל רק לשובע נפשו וקיום גופו כעניין שנאמר צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו.

So Rabbeinu Yonah here reveals a gevaldig pshat in the pasuk in Mishlei. צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו. What the whole ma'alah the whole madreigah of the tzadik is that he avoids achilah gassa? He only eats until he's full? Once he's full and and one more piece of cake would would be one more piece of pizza would be achilah gassa so the tzadik doesn't do that? That's the madregat tzidkus? No, you see Rabbeinu Yonah is telling us the pshat צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו. l'sova nafsho, l'sova nafsho and not l'sova gufo. That's what the Rabbeinu Yona says is the pshat in the pasuk: צדיק אוכל לשובע נפשו, which is kiyum gufo, meaning what a person needs to be I don't know about wealthy and wise but maybe wise also, but what a person needs to be healthy, I don't know about the wealthy but healthy and wise, and if you're not healthy the Rambam says you're not going to be wise either. So it's lav davka that a person has to eat l'sova gufo. A person has to have proper nutrition, he has to have proper nourishment, but that doesn't equal sova gufo. That represents sova nafsho, that a person should be able to function at maximum capacity and not have a headache because he hasn't, because he's dehydrated or because he hasn't eaten enough, so that's l'sova nafsho. To feel physically completely full, so that exceeds sova nafsho. It's not achila gasa, it's לא קרי אכילה גסה. That's sova gufo, it's not sova nafsho. Next the Rabbeinu Yona says, no, that's the madreiga that Shlomo Hamelech is describing. He's describing this madreiga of לא יאכל רק לשובע נפשו, which is kiyum gufo, which is not sova gufo. So the Rambam writes in Perek Daled of Hilchos De'os:

לא יאכל אדם עד שתתמלא כרסו אלא יפחות כמו רביע משביעתו.

The same idea, the Rambam even quantifies it for us, which Rabbeinu Yona doesn't.

וכן יקדש עצמו שלא יבא מצות פרו ורבו אלא למצוה בעלמא. כי כל זמן שהאדם הולך אחר התאוה נמשך אחר תולדות החומר ויצא מדרך הנפש המשכלת ואז יגבר יצרו עליו.

So here Rabbeinu Yona explains to us the difficulty we had at the beginning of this perek. We said that there are many aveiros in the Torah where there's no hana'a gashmi. So how does Rabbeinu Yona say so categorically that התאוה עובר על נפשו ממש? So the answer is that כל זמן שהאדם הולך אחר התאוה, as long as we are subservient to our taivas, so then that increases, it means that our disposition is a physical disposition. When a person is not holech achar hataiva, so then his disposition becomes a spiritual disposition. Every cheit, that's a gorem in every cheit, that a person is susceptible to lashon hara. No, there isn't hana'a gashmis in, there's no hana'as hacheit, there's no hana'as haguf, there's no hana'as mei'ayin in lashon hara. But the cheit of lashon hara is a person is much more susceptible to that when he's shakua b'chomriyus and when his, and what's if on the other hand what's. Defining in his existence is the nefesh hamaskalas, so then he's much, much, much less prone to loshon hora. And that's what Rabbeinu Yonah means, in that sense, every aveira does link up with the excessive taiva that a person has. When people talk loshon hora, speak loshon hora, it's the type of pettiness which is either because since people have nothing meaningful to think about, they have idle curiosity and because of that they enjoy gossip, or the type of pettiness that you don't like someone so you enjoy either hearing or speaking loshon hora about him. And it's katnus hamochin, however you slice it, that's a very, very pronounced katnus hamochin which is present when a person, rachmana litzlan, is nichshal in loshon hora. A person who's shakuah bechomerios, if that's his life, that's what his life revolves around, so then there's a katnus hamochin. A person whose life is guided by, is oriented towards the nefesh hamaskalas and its interests, there's a gadlus hamochin. And the aveira such as loshon hora doesn't, there's no attraction to it, no type of pirdah either, but there's no attraction to it. He quotes Vayishman Yeshurun vayivat and he quotes ועבית ושבעת ורם ורם לבבך and he quotes Esba vechichashti. So in each of these, it's not true for what the ma'amar chazal and Rabbeinu Yonah is about to quote, and I'm not sure why he quotes the ma'amar chazal, but each of these three re'ayos from the psukim, so the Vayishman Yeshurun, the vethachav vesovosoh, each of those again is describing that the person's life is megushamdig, so chomeriosdig life. But the Torah doesn't, in none of the psukim limit the rachmana litzlan, the resulting aveiros to aveiros that directly involve hana'a gashmius.

ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלקיך, ושכחת את ה' אלקיך,

not just verom levovcha, it's much much broader than that. ועבית ושבעת ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלקיך. So it's klar. Now the last thing Rabbeinu Yonah quotes, lekhora it's not like that. And he quotes

אמרו ז"ל אבר קטן יש באדם ושבעו רעב ומרעיבו שבע. אבר קטן יש באדם משביעו רעב ומרעיבו שבע.

More a person indulges his chomerios, so then the greater his appetite for the chomerios is, which is why he'll never be satisfied. So masbio, he indulges the taiva, so then ra'ev, he just wants more. But ma'arivo, he doesn't indulge it beyond the mitzva guidelines of peru u'rvu or mitzvas onah, he doesn't indulge it, so then aderaba savei'a. And what Rabbeinu Yonah wants here is that again just showing how the prisha, again the healthy type of abstinence.

והנה התאוה הנטועה בלב אדם שורש כל הפעולות. ולכן אם ישכן התאוה תחת אשר כל האיברים יימשכו אחריה, יימשכו אחרי השכל ויילוו לו ייכשר כל הפעולה. שנאמר זך וישר פועלו.

So Rabbeinu Yonah says you have to go the most effective way to treat the condition is not to treat it symptomatically but to get to the root cause of the condition. If a person has high blood pressure and high blood pressure and the doctor recognizes that it's due to dietary habits, okay, so he could give him high blood pressure medication and he could give him heart medication, okay, but you can treat each of the symptoms individually, but the real way to treat it is to go to the shoresh, to go to the root of everything rather than just treating it symptomatically. So what's the root? Rabbeinu Yonah says, again, this question of overall orientation, whether a person's whether the dagesh chazak in the person is the spiritual or the physical, he says if a person can conquer again that strong innate middas ha-ta'avah that we have, so then mi-meila he says that's going to that's going to manifest itself in everything he does.

ולכן אם ישכן התאוה תחת אשר כל איבריו יימשכו אחריה.

As long as that reigns supreme, so then that affects everything a person does. And the minute a person is able to misakein that, so then all his ma'asim are transformed. yuchsharu kol ha-pe'ulah. שנאמר תאוה נהיה תערב לנפש. neheyeti kemo nidberes, lashon neheyeti venachalati. amar, so what does the pasuk mean? כאשר ישבר אדם תאותו gam bi-dvarim ha-muttarim, ba-zeh tatzliach ha-nefesh. והמדה הזאת תערב לה. כי ירום השכל ידו בכל. There's another very, very important yesod here as well. המדה הזאת תערב לה, says Rabbeinu Yonah in expanding upon the phrase in the pasuk of te-erav lah nefesh. Avodas Hashem in different ways and in different areas involves hard work, but it's a very very big mistake to extrapolate from where a person is at now and thinking to himself, I don't think I can sustain this for the next 50, 60, 70 years. And is that really what it's all about? Is it going to be this constant struggle? So the answer is that initially the taiva neeya to break the taiva, and again this is domya but ukeib the asra achreina as well, can apply this in in other contexts. The initial change, the initial tikkun a person makes, taka doesn't come easy, doesn't come easy. But what a person attains is teharas hanefesh. It's not that again in the context that Rabbeinu Yonah is talking about, it's not that the same hachra'a. If a person goes on a diet, it's more of a struggle on day one than it is on day ten. And ultimately if a person's doing what what really is attuned for the nefesh hamaskeles shebo, so his real self surfaces and what he had to struggle to achieve it's not a struggle to sustain, it becomes natural. The Rambam has this idea also in a similar context, not mamash identical but a similar context. So listen carefully to the lashonos of the Rambam talking about the v'halachta bidrachav, the Deios Beinoniyos. So the Rambam says, כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? How does a person, the mitzvah is to cultivate middos, that they should be ingrained in a person? So how does a person do it?

כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות הממוצעות ויחזור בהם תמיד.

A person should time and time again act in a way that's consistent, that's an expression of that middah. That's what the Rambam in Pirkei Avos says, הכל לפי רוב המעשה. He says, he says that let's say a person's giving tzedakah and mitsad the organization or the institution which he is giving the tzedakah, so whether he'll give them a thousand dollars at the beginning of the year or whether he'll give monthly installments which he'll give 10, 12 monthly installments, some say 10, 12, 16, let's look up, some from 10, 10 monthly installments, he'll give it over 10 monthly installments. So the Rambam says if it doesn't make a difference to the mitzvah, so mitsad hanosein he should do it in the 10 installments because הכל לפי רוב המעשה, because to write one big check once, okay, so once I got myself not to be stingy and not to not to hold on to my money, but if I have to write a check 10 times, that means 10 times I'm acting on middas hanidivus.

כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו? יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות הממוצעות.

And here is again the point of what we're talking about in the Rabbeinu Yonah:

ויעשה בהם תמיד עד שיהיו מעשים קלים עליו ולא יהיה בהם טורח ותקבע הדרך בנפשו.

But בכלל הן אתה שומע לאו. Ultimately, it's going to be ma'asim kalim alav and ולא יהיה בהם טורח. But initially, it's not going to be kal alav. Initially, there is going to be a torech. Initially he does have to, he does have to push. And it's true in every, it's true in every area for a person to attain whatever, again, everyone has their own kochos, their own kishronos. But within a person's own kochos, within his own kishronos, to achieve the maximum, so a person, it's not true that that it's that from the start it's always, it's always easier for a person to reach whatever midas hachassidus that individual is going to develop. It's not that that on day one it's it's easy. No. It's ya'aseh v'yishneh v'shilesh v'sofo shel davar יהיו המעשים קלים עליו ולא יהיה בהם טורח. So the shviras hata'avah involves a struggle, but the the result of that is taharas hanefesh, taharas hanefesh. והמידה הזאת טהרת הלב תגרום השכל יגבר בגוף. By contrast,

תאוות הכסילים שונאיהם הכסילים שאינם שבים מתאוותם ונהנים תמיד בתענוגות בני אדם כי שורש תאוותם בדרך חטא וכל דבר רע לא יסורו ממנה.

So here the Rabbeinu Yonah is basically adding a second dimension or a second reason for why shviras hata'avah hagasmiyah is one of the ikrei hateshuva. First one is that chet happens in the context of a chomriusdika personality, not in the context of the spiritual nefesh maskalsdika personality. The second is that if a person has developed this koach of shviras hata'avah hagasmiyah, so it means that he's inculcated discipline within himself. Forget for a moment the broader, again, overall orientation within himself within his life, but just if a person has worked on shviras hata'avah hagasmiyah, so it means that he's developed discipline, self-discipline. He has the ability to resist temptation, has the the ability to resist temptation, so then that's a koach that he can call upon and that he can exercise when when chet entices. כי שורש תאוותם הכסילים שאינם שבים מתאוותם they don't look to cultivate this midah of self-discipline, of self-control.

ונהנים תמיד בתענוגות בני אדם כי שורש תאוותם בדרך חטא וכל דבר רע לא יסורו ממנה. ונקראו כסילים על רדיפת התענוגים.

K'mo shene'emar ta'avas atzel temisenu

הוי משכימי בבוקר שכר ירדפו והיה כינור ונבל וכדומה לו פועל השם לא יביטו וכדומה. ונאמר בזיעה שפי תפרש על פניכם פרש חגיכם.

Ve'omru raboteinu zal,

אלו בני אדם שכל ימיהם כחגים. ונאמר לתאווה יבקש נפרד ובכל תושיה יתגלע. פירוש מי שמבקש והולך אחר תאוותו ורצונו נפרד מכל חבר ואומץ.

A person who's lured achar ta'avato, it destroys personal relationships.

פירוש ירחק ממנו אוהב ורע כי תאוות בני אדם ומידותם חלוקות. אין רצונו של זה כרצונו של זה. אכן אם ילך בדרך השכל אז יתחבר אל חביריו ויהיו אוהב ואהוב.

One of the, one of the causes, lav davka and in every case, lav davka in most cases, but one of the causes of the in the secular world of divorce is this yesod of Rabbenu Yonah. At a certain stage the dominant feature of the relationship is the mutual attraction, but at a certain stage it diverges bilaterally and it's sustainable, that it doesn't doesn't remain that way. The avodah in shidduchim, part of compatibility is that there should be attraction, but that's not supposed to be the foundation of the relationship. It's something that's supposed to be present, but it's not supposed to be the foundation of the relationship.

אכן אם ילך בדרך השכל אז יתחבר אל חביריו ויהיו אוהב ואהוב. ואמרו במוסר מי שהוא רוצה את מידתו בבעדו הכול שונאו. ויש לפרש על עניין הזה בעצמו לתאווה יבקש נפרד איש נפרד מכל חבריו וטובו הוא מבקש. בעבור שהוא מבקש ללכת אחר רצונו לבדו מריעיהו ואחר כך ממנו כי נאמר לתאווה יבקש נפרד ובכל תושיה יתגלע ההולך אחר תאוותו בעבור דבר אחד לבד יצא אף בכל זאת שבתוכו יתגלע כי יעבור על כולם ובלשון חכמים התגלע יתגלה. ועוד תמצא בתועלת בשבירת התאווה הגשמית כי אם תשעבד תאוותך לדבר בליעל ועבירה יתעורר ליבו הן בהיתר לא מילאתי תאוותי ואיך אשקע עצמי באיסור.

Again what we said was implicit before, now explicit. If the person has this self-control, this discipline.

ועוד תמצא בשבירת התאווה תועלת רבה ועצומה כי יגלה בצדק ליבו בתוך חפצו לתשובה.

So the third element, maybe it's four if you're very nuanced, but the third basic need for and perspective of shviras hata'avah is that ve'ikkar teshuvah is to as directly as possible counteract the chet. So since it was this teva which led him, if a person was chotei by... go to the to the opposite

ועיצומה בעבירת התאוה תהולת והבלה והצומני כי יגעלה בצדק לבו לחפצו לתשובה כי הוא מאוס הטבע אשר גרמה לו החטא ובזה יתרצה אל השם יתברך וימצא חן בעיניו וכן כתוב זבחי אלהים רוח נשברה לב נשבר ונדכה אלהים לא תבזה.

Ruach nishbara is this spirit of compression and submissiveness. Lev nishbar v'nidke

על שבירת התאוה הגשמית כי התאוה נתונה בלב כמו שנאמר תאות לבו נתתה לו ובזמן התשובה נאמר המקרא הזה בדוד המלך על החטא עם בת שבע. ובאמרו לב נשבר ונדכה אלהים לא תבזה למדנו מזה כי בעל תשובה מתרצה להשם בשבירת התאוה הגשמית וכי זה מעיקרי התשובה ואז נאמר בעניין התשובה להחיות רוח שפלים ולהחיות לב נדכאים

which Rabbeinu Yonah is interpreting the להחיות רוח שפלים ולהחיות לב נדכאים as being parallel to the ruach nishbara and the lev nishbar v'nidke of the pasuk in Tehillim. That ruach shefalim means again this spirit of compression and the lev nidka is the shviras hataiva hagashmis.

ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה אף על פי שיש רשות להסתכל בפנים של אדם מתלמיד חכם אדם ובינה עניין נפש שפלה שאינו הולך אחר התאוה הגשמית גם בדברים המותרים כמו שמצינו שאמר אברהם הנה נא ידעתי כי אשה יפת מראה את.

Rashi sometimes interprets na as lashon bakasha and sometimes Rashi says that na means now. Onkelos always says na is now, ka'an. He always translates. Either way so for everyone it would be lev nishbar because hinei na yadati that the na means now, ka'an

שלא נסתכל בה עד היום ההוא להתבונן בתמונת יופיה. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה במעשה כתוב ותהינה עיני המצרית תלויות וכל יום היה מדבר עמה להטיב בצורתה כאשר יכבוש יצרו מהם וממית קול על דבר השם.

You have to understand what the pshat in in that hanhaga of David HaMelech is. L'man d'amar, l'man d'amar, ובכל זאת אל יביא אדם עצמו לידי נסיון. Life has nisyonos built into it so obviously we're supposed to contend with and deal with our nisyonos but a person is not supposed to gratuitously invite extra nisyonos which are not endemic to life. And the raya is from David HaMelech. Chazal say that David HaMelech wanted the Hakadosh Baruch Hu that he should be mentioned in birchas avos אלקי אברהם אלקי יצחק ואלקי דוד, Elokei Yaakov and Elokei David. And then it was put to a nisayon. You want to be put to a nisayon. David HaMelech says give me a nisayon and I'll show that I'm their equal. And then he's nichshal in the in the in this nisayon. So the whole cheit of Batsheva is because David HaMelech invited a nisayon. So what's pshat, he seems to be obviously this can't be but he seems to be repeating the mistake in his. The one obvious difference is that over here obviously that says Dovid HaMelech would not have been misgaber. So it would have been be'ofen shehaheter, right? He's talking about his wives. He wasn't mizamein atzmo for a nisayon shel isur, he was mizamein atzmo for a nisayon shel heter. And in that respect it was totally different than the original michshol. But it's also perhaps different than the following and Ayin Sham how to... משל למה הדבר דומה, if I'm not mistaken, I think, let's say you have how do you treat someone who has a certain phobia? Whatever the phobia is, maybe it's flying, whatever that phobia is. So eventually at some point in the treatment, not necessarily on day one and the very first consultation, but after you lay the groundwork and after you prepare the person, at some point the only way to overcome that phobia is to be in that situation and to get onto the plane and to, okay, so maybe the first flight is not going to be a flight to Japan or to Australia, maybe it's going to be a slightly closer destination. But lema'aseh to be misgaber at a certain point the person has to confront the fear. Again, how is that not מביא עצמו לידי נסיון? So besides what we said again here, the fact that it's a nisayon shel heter by Dovid HaMelech, not a nisayon shel isur in this context, it also lichora means because it's more controlled in the sense when Dovid HaMelech asks Hakadosh Baruch Hu, give me a nisayon, he doesn't know where, when, what nisayon is going to be. He just says give me a nisayon. It's not controlled. Over here, what Dovid HaMelech in this self-imposed regimen shel teshuva, so it's very very controlled and he knows exactly where, what and when he's going to be doing, again as in the mashal of trying to overcome a phobia. Whether this phobia is one that a person is supposed to in any context of chet and teshuva replicate for themselves is not pashut and certainly you wouldn't do it without specific hadracha and advice.