Teshuva on a Micro and Macor Level; Chet only a Symptom

כל מצוה שבתורה מכל מצות עשה ולא תעשה עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתוודות לפני האל ברוך הוא.

The two phrases keshe-ya'aseh teshuva and ve-yashov mei-cheto are omer dorsheni. If we would have eliminated either of them, so we wouldn't miss it. The Rambam would have written that kol mitzvah she-ba-Torah et cetera keshe-yashov mei-cheto chayav le-hitvados, it would have read very smoothly. Or alternatively, if the Rambam would have written kol mitzvah she-ba-Torah et cetera keshe-ya'aseh teshuva chayav le-hitvados, it also would have read very smoothly. So what are those two phrases?

אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר עורו עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל הביטו לנפשותיכם והיטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה.

Something absolutely remarkable about the Rambam's call to teshuva, about the Rambam's depiction of teshuva. My father zichrono l'vracha's insight, which is we would have expected that when the Rambam identifies the target audience of the shofar's call to teshuva, that he would have identified chote'im. He would have said that the call to teshuva is addressed to eilu ha-chote'im, ba'alei aveira. And the Rambam initially doesn't mention chet, doesn't mention aveira.

אלו השוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל.

The call to teshuva is addressed to us, who are oblivious to the meaning of life, who are oblivious to what's important in life, who are oblivious to emes, who forget Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and we're needlessly, gratuitously preoccupied with the elements of this world which are cholef ve-oveir, which are entirely transient. Ultimately that shichecha, living in such a state of oblivion, ultimately that inevitably translates into chet and the call of the shofar then translates into יעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה. But the Rambam says it's crucial to recognize that chet is a corollary and the underlying cause and the overarching context is sleepwalking and being oblivious. to what's real and important and substantive and meaningful and enduring in life and ultimately that means what connects one to the Ribbono Shel Olam and differentiating that from what has no redeeming purpose is not part of some chain which leads and points in that direction. And what the Rambam is telling us then is that teshuva happens on two levels it happens on a micro level as well as a macro level. On a micro level so we notice chata'im and on a macro level we look to reorient our lives. Yitachen that that's what the two phrases here in the beginning of perek aleph refer to as well חזרו בתשובה וישובו מחטא. So it aligns so beautifully with what the Rambam later tells us and כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו. Ya'aseh teshuva perhaps refers to the macro level a person is setting straight his priorities a person is reorienting and just as in perek gimel when the Rambam spoke of that he didn't need to and doesn't speak of that in terms of categories of chet. The categories are categories of havlei hazman so notice how the phrase ksheyaseh teshuva doesn't reference chet. Ksheyaseh teshuva a person reorients himself. And then of course the teshuva has to happen on the micro level as well veyashuv mecheto. A person does have to be misyaches to the particulars of chet to the corollaries of the preoccupation and the entanglements with hevel varik. But yitachen that so what ignites this process of teshuva? How do we wake up and how do we arouse ourselves from that tardemat ufenu? So whenever if you're sort of retracing steps if you want to excavate something which is buried so what you encounter first is the most recent level or layer right and then as you excavate so then since you're retracing steps so you encounter things in the reverse sequence right if you go somewhere and then you're retracing steps and going home so the penultimate street that you were on before you got to your destination that was the next to last thing you encountered going but coming back it's going to be the first thing because everything is going to be in the reverse order. Yitachen that notice how the Rambam says it

עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם חפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם אלו השוכחים את האמת.

Shochechim et ha'emet is the counterpoint to zichru bor'achem, right? היטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה. So itachen what the Rambam is telling us is as follows: The emes is that a person could Rachmana litzlan easily go through life sleepwalking and never stop to become cognizant of that fact. Baruch Hashem, even when we sleepwalk there's a certain albeit painfully superficial, shamefully superficial, but there is an awareness and an involvement with Torah mitzvos. So we know Rosh Hashana is Yom Hadin. We know there's Aseres Yemei Teshuva. And as such, as such so the initial response taka is no, I'm not aware that I'm asleep. But l'mayseh there's a Yom Hadin, there's a Yom Hadin. You take out your Artscroll machzor and you see how they quote from Rav Dessler and the amplification of what the categories in the Al Chet refer to. And a person goes through, it serves as a checklist. Just like before Pesach we're given checklists for bedikas chametz. Don't forget to be bodek in your office and don't forget to vacuum your car and v'chulu v'chulu. It's a checklist. It's a checklist for teshuva. Chipsu bema'aseichem. V'chipsu bema'aseichem, the person sees again, he encounters first the upper layer, the most recent, he encounters the corollaries. Again, chet is a corollary. Chet is a byproduct. So the chipsu bema'aseichem, a person is asleep, I'm asleep, but chotch, chotch I know the calendar. I know the sleep notwithstanding, I know the calendar. I know it's Elul. I know it's Rosh Hashana. I know it's Aseres Yemei Teshuva. And a person goes through the checklist. And if there's a if it's done with if a person is sufficiently informed and sufficiently honest with themselves, so the chipsu bema'aseichem yields too much. That in turn, if a person sees chet, so then the chipsu bema'aseichem then gives way to a chizru biteshuva. And a chizru biteshuva again in the sense of alef-alef ksheya'aseh teshuva, a recognition that chet is a corollary. How can it be that I waste so much time? How is that possible? How is that possible? How is it possible that I'm mezalzel in A, B, and C? Al lo davar, how is it possible? So it's clear again, it's a corollary. It's a corollary of שוכחים את האמת בהבלי הזמן. So the teshuva process retraces and therefore by definition it's happening in the opposite sequence, it retraces it reconstructs conceptually, retraces what happened in how the person Rachmana litzlan fell in in the first place. First the person encounters the corollary, again, that's the most recent layer and that cues him, that clues him into the something fundamentally off here in terms of my my orientation. And then yitachen that the Rambam is is here then providing us with an alternative or complementary perspective to that of the Chinuch. The Chinuch writes in in the מצוה מצוה שין יוד אלף of שלא לעשות מלאכה ביום ראשון של תשרי, the issur melacha b'Rosh Hashanah

משורשי מצות המועד הזה שהיה מחסדי הקל על ברואיו לפקוד אותם ולראות מעשיהם יום אחד בכל שנה ושנה.

It's a chesed that we have a yom hadin. How is that, how is that a chesed? Says the Chinuch

כדי שלא יתרבו העוונות ויהיה מקום לכפרה והוא רב חסד מטה כלפי חסד וכיוון שהם מועטים מעביר עליהם. ואם אולי יש בהם עוונות שצריכין מירוק נפרע מהם מעט מעט. וכעין מה שאמרו זכרונם לברכה או עוונותיו נפרע ממנו מעט מעט. ואם לא יפקדם עד זמן רב.

If there would only be din once every fifty years,

יתרבו כל כך עד שיתחייב העולם כמעט כליה חלילה. נמצא שהיום הנכבד הזה הוא קיומו של עולם ולכן ראוי לעשותו יום טוב.

Extraordinary perspective. It's a chesed, it's a chesed that that we're held accountable in small increments of life because if the accountability would only be in in one large unit, mi yizkeh lefanecha? Yitachen that that from the Rambam's words here we have a complementary perspective in terms of the chesed of din. The chesed of din is that without din, without din of Rosh Hashanah, without din of aseres yemei teshuva, a person could easily, easily go through his whole life asleep. The shogim kol shnosam could be shogim kol chayeihem. But when a person hears the kol shofar on Rosh Hashanah, so even though he's asleep he hears the kol shofar and he's being told chipsu bema'aseichem. And because that kol shofar intrudes upon the sleep, again, the kol shofar representing the yom hadin and and the and the call that the yom hadin, the mechayev of yom hadin for teshuva. Because that kol shofar intrudes upon our sleep, a person chipsu bema'aseichem, he sees chet, understands that chet is a byproduct, is a corollary, and realizes that he needs to overhaul. It's not a question of tweaking. Chet, the presence of chet is is a symptom of of something basic that that needs to be corrected, that needs to be overhauled. And al pi the Rambam we would say

משורשי מצות המועד הזה שהיה מחסדי הקל שיערוך אדם חשבון לנפשו כדי שיתעורר מתנומתו.

And practically again, the focus, the emphasis, and the, and the halacha l'maise of what the Rambam's telling us is that as we try, as we strive, hopefully, to do teshuva, it shouldn't only be on the micro level of yashuv mechato, but it should also be on the macro level of ksheyaseh teshuva. It should involve a reorientation, a different approach to life, a different outlook, a different attitude.