Teshuva on Yom Kippur: Making Ourselves Worthy of Being Lifnei Hashem

It's well known that both the Rambam and the Rabbeinu Yonah write that there's a chiyuv teshuva on Yom HaKippurim. Rambam in Perek Beis, Halacha Zayin:

יום הכפורים זמן תשובה לכל ליחיד ולרבים והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל לפיכך חייבים הכל לעשות תשובה ולהתודות ביום הכפורים.

Rabbeinu Yonah twice:

אמרו חז''ל דרשו ה' בהמצאו אלו עשרת הימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים

Shaar Sheni, Perek Chamishi.

ומצות עשה מן התורה להיות אדם מתעורר לחזור בתשובה ביום הכפורים שנאמר מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו.

And then he says it more elaborately at the very end. He asks the kasha the Gemara in Yoma has the arba chilukei kapara: asei, lo sa'asei, chamurot, chillul Hashem. And what emerges is that Yom Kippur even with teshuva is not mechaper on all aveiros. כריתות ומיתות בית דין is teshuva veYom HaKippurim tolim and only yisurin achar kach memarkin. So says Rabbeinu Yonah at the end of Shaar Revi'i: יש לתמוה על הכתוב מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו. So doesn't the pasuk promise that we'll be granted atonement for all aveiros? So how do we reconcile that with the arba chilukei kapara the Gemara in Yoma?

והתשובה בזה כמה שנאמר לפני ה' תטהרו מצות עשה על התשובה.

It's not a haftacha, it's a chiyuv, it's an imperative.

שנחפשה דרכינו ונחקורה ונשובה אל ה' ביום הכפורים. ואף על פי שנתחייבנו על זה בכל עת החיוב נוסף ביום הכפורים.

Says Rabbeinu Yonah even though there's a chiyuv to do teshuva a whole year, there's an added element to that chiyuv on Yom Kippur. But he doesn't make too clear what that element is. Ube'emes the Netziv primarily asks the Rabbeinu Yonah with you, it would seem that the Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah are not saying the same even though they both emphasize the chiyuv teshuva on Yom Kippur. The Rambam never, the Rambam doesn't state explicitly what the Rabbeinu Yonah says, that addendum of the Rabbeinu Yonah that even though there's a chiyuv all year but there's a chiyuv nosaf, there's an added element of the chiyuv on Yom Kippur. The Rambam doesn't say that. So in the Rambam, so we once discussed on a different occasion that perhaps the peshat in the Rambam is as follows. Everyone discusses the kasha of that the Rambam seems to give contrary indications as to what the mitzvah is, whether the mitzvah is viduy, whether the mitzvah is teshuva. In the heading of Hilchos Teshuva so the Rambam says: מצות עשה אחת שישוב החוטא מחטאו לפני ה' ויתודה, which implies that teshuva is the mitzvah and viduy is a detail within the mitzvah. And then in Halacha Aleph the Rambam describes kol mitzvos shebatorah

בין עשה בין לא תעשה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתודות.

And here the impression you get is that if a person is doing teshuva, so then there's a chiyuv viduy but the mitzvah is really viduy. That's the old and famous kasha in the Rambam. So be'emes in this Halacha which we just read in Perek Beis Halacha Zayin also seems to underscore that there's a chiyuv teshuva. consistent with the heading, inconsistent lichora with פרק א הלכה א. But the Rambam here in halacha zayin as to why there's a chiuv especially on Yom Kippur is also not clear. Is also not clear. The fact that Yom Kippur is zman teshuvah lakol, so he just said in halacha vav in perek beis that

אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם בעשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומתקבלת היא מיד שנאמר דרשו ה' בהמצאו.

So Yom Kippur is not unique in terms of being a zman teshuvah, it's not unique over the other nine days of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. So what is its uniqueness that on Yom Kippur there's a chiuv to do teshuvah, ma she'ein kein on Aseres Yimei Teshuvah there's a golden opportunity, but it's not a chiuv, but on Yom Kippur it's not just an opportunity but it's a chiuv. It's a chiuv. So one suggested that maybe the pshat in the Rambam is that the Rambam holds that taki the mitzvah is teshuvah. The mitzvah is teshuvah.

שישוב החוטא מחטאו לפני ה' ויתוודה. ולפיכך חייבים הכל לעשות תשובה ולהתוודות ביום הכיפורים.

Ela mai, the Rambam holds when is there a chiuv to do teshuvah? The chiuv to do teshuvah is when you are presented with a mechaper on the aveira. So then that's michayev you right now, you can't wait a second longer, you can't wait a minute longer, right now you're michuyav to do teshuvah. Oh, so very good. So the Rambam says, a stam a'zoy a person does an aveira, he doesn't have a chiuv teshuvah yet. There's no mechaper. He begins to initiate teshuvah, כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו, so he's doing teshuvah. Teshuvah is mechaperes, though teshuvah שזדונות נעשו כשגגות וזדונות נעשו כזכיות. Teshuvah is coming to be mechaper, so now he's chiuv to say viduy, he's chiuv to complete the teshuvah and to say viduy. V'chein, that's what the Rambam continues here in halacha aleph,

וכן בעלי חטאות ואשמות בעת שמביאים קרבנותיהם על שגגותיהם, אין מתכפר להם בקרבנם עד שיעשו תשובה.

So there's a lack of parallelism here. He should have said אין מתכפר להם עד שישובו. Ela mai, the teretz is it's very meduyak in the Rambam. וכן בעלי חטאות ואשמות, what are you doing? You're bringing a korban chatas, you're bringing a korban asham which is mechaper. So now you're taki michuyav in teshuvah. Now you don't need to begin the teshuvah to be a catalyst to be michayev you in viduy, but aderaba, it's the presence of the mechaper of a korban chatas which is michayev you, which is michayev you in teshuvah. So now the Rambam says

וכן בעלי חטאות ואשמות, אין מתכפר להם בקרבנם עד שיעשו תשובה.

Now they're chiuv in teshuvah because the presence of a mechaper is what triggers the chiuv teshuvah. And that's why the Rambam's, that's what explains the Rambam here legabei Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur who's zman teshuvah lakol is not unique because the other nine days of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah also are, also zman teshuvah. But Yom Kippur is also קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל, i.e. עיצומו של יום מכפר. Yom Kippur is a mechaper the same way bringing a korban chatas is a mechaper. Oh, so if you have the presence of a mechaper, so that's michayev, לפיכך חייבים הכל לעשות תשובה. So that's why keinim devarim eileh. So that's why in the Rambam it's not really so clear that the chiuv teshuvah of Yom Kippur is different. No, what's unique about Yom Kippur is that all year if a person wants to wait, he hasn't, he's lacking the michayev of teshuvah. He's lacking the michayev of teshuvah. If he's not bringing a korban chatas, if he's not bringing a korban asham or something like that, there's no mechaper so the chiuv teshuvah hasn't been chal. What happens on Yom Kippur? Because עיצומו של יום מכפר, because you have a mechaper, that's the michayev of teshuvah of Yom Kippur. But that's clearly not the pshat in Rabbeinu Yonah. That's clearly not the pshat in Rabbeinu Yonah. Rabbeinu Yonah clearly holds no, the chiuv teshuvah all year long doesn't have to be triggered by the presence of a mechaper. It doesn't have to be triggered by the presence of a mechaper. So there is a chiuv teshuvah all year long. So now the Rabbeinu Yonah says, I, so what's added by the lifnei Hashem titharu of Yom Kippur? So that's what he says, it must be that the chiuv teshuvah is more encompassing, that there's החיוב נוסף ליום הכיפורים. Sha'alah is, what is nosaf exactly? What is this added dimensional element to the chiyuv teshuvah? So there are many answers, all of which are true, we only have time to mention a couple. I believe that in Pachad Yitzchak, a footnote says that, I think so, that that's what Rabbeinu Yonah continues to say:

והטעם מצות עשה התשובה שנחפש דרכינו ונחקורה ונשובה אל השם ביום הכפורים.

That all year long, if a person is aware of cheit, so then he's chayiv to do teshuvah. If a person is aware that he spoke lashon hara, if a person is aware that he didn't daven with proper kavanah, if a person is aware that he was nichshal in cheit of kaas, so that awareness is mechayev him to do teshuvah. But on Yom Kippur, a person is mechuyav to be memashmesh u'mefashpesh and try to uncover aveiros which prior to this he may have been unaware of. He has to examine and look, maybe, maybe in speaking to a friend, so maybe he didn't speak carefully enough and somehow or other he was pogeia in the kavod. So kol yimos hashana, if you're aware of it, you have to do teshuvah. Yom Kippur you have to be memashmesh u'mefashpesh to look for aveiros which hitherto you were unaware of. That's what I believe a footnote says in Pachad Yitzchak. And bechinas elu v'elu, that's the pshat what Rabbeinu Yonah is as follows. Rabbeinu Bachya says in Chovos HaLevavos in discussing teshuvah, so he says in describing chasidim, so Rabbeinu Bachya says that as they advance and grow spiritually in avodas Hashem and as they come closer to the Ribono Shel Olam, so not only do they do teshuvah on aveiros, but they do teshuvah on their mitzvos. They do teshuvah on their mitzvos. That when a person is at a certain stage of development and advancement, if he learns six hours a day, at the stage he's at, so he perceives that as a tremendous accomplishment. Then he continues, he betters himself, he advances in his avodas Hashem, and now senses that he has the capacity, that he's always had the capacity to serve for eight hours a day. So now not only is he doing teshuvah for aveiros, but daven shemoneh esrei without any hesach hadaas, he would consider it gevaldig, gevaldig. But then later a person can attain a madreiga, say a whole shemoneh esrei without hesach hadaas, but even so the kavanah was a superficial kavanah. You never forgot that you were omeid lifnei Hashem but it wasn't bereses u'veoda. They say that Reb Boruch Ber Kaminker used to stutter every time he said the Shem Hashem. He didn't stutter the rest of the time, but every time he said the Shem Hashem, the morah shamayim that he felt in את השם אלקיך תירא, which the Gemara in Shavuos says the issur for saying shem shamayim lavatala. So anytime he said Shem Hashem, he would stutter. That's what people talk. So presumably if one would reach that madreiga of the Reb Boruch Ber, so then one would look back on this what earlier was a... now revising and now is doing teshuvah on his mitzvos. He's doing teshuvah and he realizes what was lacking in his mitzvos. He's doing teshuvah. A person begins, he does teshuvah on aveiros. So, rachmona litzlan, he overslept and he missed zman kerias shema. He ate something which he shouldn't have eaten. And later, as a person progresses, no, he's doing teshuvah on a shemoneh esrei which he wasn't masiach da'as, as he advances. So what's the yesod? As a person's advances, as his station, spiritual station changes, so too does his perception. And mimeila he uncovers more and more areas in which his avodah was incomplete. So we know, so now Rabbeinu Yonah, the pshat is like this: lifnei Hashem titharu. So the pshat is like this: the mechayeiv in teshuvah on Yom Kippur according to Rabbeinu Yonah, so we said according to the Rambam perhaps the pshat is the mechayeiv is that Yom Kippur is a mechaper. And the presence of a mechaper is a hiyuv teshuvah. According to Rabbeinu Yonah the mechayeiv of teshuvah on Yom Kippur is the fact that a person is lifnei Hashem. The fact that in a more intensive way than kol yemos hashanah and even different than the bchina lifnei Hashem on regalim, that a person is omeid lifnei Hashem on Yom Kippur, so we know that the closer one is to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the more exacting and demanding the standards are. svivav nis'ara me'od, lomdu that Hakadosh Baruch Hu מדקדק עם צדיקים כחוט השערה. Ramban al HaTorah quotes the medrash

לא סטיתי אתכם ארץ ותמאסו בהם כאשר קאה הגוי אשר לפניכם,

that it's eino domeh a person who sins bepaltarin shel melech to a person who sins outside of the paltarin shel melech. Outside of the, a person who disobeys the king on the palatial grounds, it's a much more of an aveirah than a person who violates the royal decree five hundred miles away. It's much more of a chutzpah. So the more lifnei Hashem there is, as in Eretz Yisrael, paltarin shel melech, as in a person who is a tzaddik, so the more exacting the standards are. So according to Rabbeinu Yonah, so that's the pshat. The mechayeiv is on Yom Kippur, before Yom Kippur we're all in such a madreiga, more distant, more remote from the Shechinah. Comes Yom Kippur and we find ourselves lifnei Hashem. We find ourselves lifnei Hashem. So that's mechayeiv, that's mechayeiv. So now we have to hold ourselves to more exacting standards. So what's nischadesh over here? So erev Yom Kippur, erev Yom Kippur I look at my shemoneh esrei and I saw, "Baruch Hashem I wasn't masiach da'as in Avos and I was yotzei tefillah bedi'eved. Baruch Hashem." So I'm not doing teshuvah for that. I'm busy doing teshuvah, I'm busy doing teshuvah for my lashon hara vekhayotze bazeh. My whole shopping list. Comes Yom Kippur the mechayeiv of lifnei Hashem, all of a sudden a person finds himself lifnei Hashem, meaning that you now have to, you have to be on Yom Kippur you have to make yourself worthy of lifnei Hashem. That's the pshat in the hiyuv teshuvah on Yom Kippur. You're lifnei Hashem on Yom Kippur, so that's mechayeiv in titharu. You have to make yourself worthy and appropriate to be lifnei Hashem. That's the mechayeiv of the teshuvah on Yom Kippur. So how does that differ than what does that encompass? The bchina of teshuvah al yedei, the bchina of teshuvah al yedei a person just does teshuvah on his level, like the Rabbeinu Bachya's yesod in Chovos Halevavos. A person does teshuvah on his level. On my level, so if I say a shemoneh esrei, if I say birkas Avos without being masiach da'as and I'm yotzei, so it... It makes your day. It makes your day. Comes Yom Kippur, so the chiyuv is lifnei Hashem. Now you're lifnei Hashem. So now you have to hold yourself to higher standards. So on erev Yom Kippur, so maybe you were only doing teshuvah kol yemos hashanah. The chiyuv teshuvah maybe was only on aveiros hayeduos or on chesronos, on shortcomings that you ba'asher hu sham sense. Come Yom Kippur, it's lifnei Hashem. You've been elevated. You've been elevated. You're closer to the Shechinah, so titaharu. You have to make yourself worthy of that. You're now begeder seviva. You're now closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's the mechayev in teshuvah, so therefore the teshuvah automatically it's not just that you're going to be mefashpesh and memashmesh in the sense of thinking and reanalyzing things that you've done. It's not only that, but it's you're going to do it by holding yourself to a different standard. It's not just the pshat that on Yom Kippur you have to be mefashpesh and memashmesh to uncover chataim, but you're doing it by holding yourself to a different standard because the chiyuv is lifnei Hashem. The mechayev of Yom Kippur in teshuvah is that since you're lifnei Hashem, so memila titaharu. If you're lifnei Hashem, so you can't be content with a Shemoneh Esrei where Baruch Hashem you had kavanah just through Birkas Avos. No. Now you're lifnei Hashem. Now that you're in palterin shel melech, you have to hold yourself to a different standard. That automatically is mechayev in teshuvah because the very minute you hold yourself to that higher standard so now the chipush, the chipush and mishmush will uncover what you wouldn't have uncovered on erev Yom Kippur. And that's the chiyuv teshuvah of Yom Kippur. L'maskana, so it emerges according to Rabbeinu Yona that to properly be מקיים לפני השם תטהרו on Yom Kippur, so it means that a person has to walk away after Neilah different than he came into Kol Nidrei. By other mitzvos, so you walk away from the sukkah, so you're usually a little fuller than when you went into the sukkah. You went into the sukkah hungry and you come out of the sukkah full. You have a good meal under your belt. That's the main difference between, if we take a before and after picture, that's going to be the main difference in the v'kayotzei b'zeh on the simplest level, not chas v'shalom implying not at other levels. On the simplest level, that's what holds true for other mitzvos. But by Yom Kippur, no. The mitzvah gufa is if you don't elevate yourself, if we don't succeed in walking away from Yom Kippur different, different, by now having climbed at least one rung higher so that our standards are higher. And memila, that's why we had a chiyuv teshuvah on Yom Kippur, even though there was a chiyuv teshuvah earlier. There was a chiyuv teshuvah to do on aveiros yeduos earlier. But the point is once we hold ourselves to that higher standard, so all of a sudden so many more aveiros come out from behind the bushes. So if we don't walk away after Neilah different, not just having done a mitzvah, but if we don't walk away different and changed after Neilah than we went into Kol Nidrei, so we haven't been mekayem the lifnei Hashem titaharu. V'halavai.