Yaaseh teshuva v’yashuv mecheito

Hilchos Teshuvah

מצות עשה אחת והיא שישוב החוטא מחטאו לפני השם ויתודה וביאור מצוה זו ועיקרים הנגררים עמה בגללה בפרקים אלו.

The Rambam says that on the coat tails of Mitzvas Teshuvah he'll also explain Ikarim or present Ikarim. So what does he have in mind? So lichora certainly he has in mind in Perek Hey of Hilchos Teshuvah the Rambam is going to talk about Bechirah Chofshis, right?

פרק ה הלכה א רשות כל אדם נתונה לו אם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך טובה ולהיות צדיק הרשות בידו ואם רצה להטות עצמו לדרך רעה ולהיות רשע הרשות בידו וכולי

and then in Halacha Gimmel ועיקר זה עיקר גדול so he uses the same term the same lashon of ikar. So that's certainly certainly one thing that he has in mind that he's alluding to on the coat tails here when he speaks about the Ikarim hanigrarim imah. So that's one ikar, right? And the Rambam says Ikarim lashon rabim. So the pashtus is that additionally what he has in mind is that in Perek Gimmel again on the coat tails of Teshuvah how Teshuvah is efficacious and therefore will affect how a person is nidon. So after that the Rambam talks about din and he talks about אלו שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא those who rachmana litzlan forfeit their chelek b'Olam Haba. And in this context this is the closest thing we have in Mishneh Torah that parallels the Rambam in the Hakdama l'Perek Chelek where he lists the Yud Gimmel Ikarim because the first ones enumerated in the list of

אלו שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא המינים האפיקורוסין הכופרים בתורה הכופרים בתחיית המתים והכופרים בביאת הגואל

which within those categories subsumes twelve of the thirteen Ikarim from the Hakdama l'Perek Chelek. So the pashtus is that that's what the Rambam is referring to when he says that there will be Ikarim hanigrarim imah as well that are presented here in Hilchos Teshuvah.

כל מצוה שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה הלכה א אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון בין בשגגה שיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו חייב להתודות לפני הקל ברוך הוא שנאמר איש או אשה. איש או אשה כי יעשו מכל חטאת האדם למעל מעל בה' ואשמה הנפש ההיא והתודו את חטאתם אשר עשו זה וידוי דברים, וידוי זה מצות עשה. יש פה כפל לשון כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו. כל המצות שבתורה בין עשה ובין לא תעשה,

Halacha Aleph:

אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן בין בזדון ובין בשגגה כשיעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו.

Who thinks, when he'll do tshuva and he'll repent from his sin? But tshuva is repentance. What do you mean when he'll do tshuva and? The Rambam, the Rambam is speaking of two different things: there's yaaseh tshuva and there's yashov mei'cheito. So you talk in his vidui. If you jump ahead to the famous Rambam in Gimmel Daled about tekias shofar, take a look at Gimmel Daled of Hilchos Tekias Shofar.

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

This is an extraordinary, mamash an extraordinary halacha, mamash nifla me'od. The following insight I heard from my father zichrono l'vracha, it's nifla me'od. The Rambam says that the kol shofar is a wake-up call for tshuva. עורו ישנים משנתכם והקיצו נרדמים מתרדמתכם. It's a wake-up call for tshuva. Now, if we would have sort of been asked to anticipate what the next lines in the halacha would say, if we had been asked to anticipate to whom is that wake-up call addressed, who's the target audience? So the answer's obvious. The target audience for a wake-up call for tshuva are people who chatau, a choteh. Wake up, atem hachotim, right? Ye sinners, right? Wake up ye sinners, that's what... that's obvious. If it's a wake-up call for tshuva, so obviously the intended audience, hachotim. But what does, how does the Rambam initially and primarily and essentially define the audience?

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

He doesn't talk about cheit initially. Eventually he gets to cheit, darko hara'ah,

ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה ומחשבתו אשר לא טובה.

He gets to the cheit eventually. But the cheit's the byproduct, the cheit is the corollary. The Rambam says the kol shofar is addressed to people who are. Tailgate. Tailgate. It's addressed, it's addressed to, addressed to people who are - Tailgate. Tailgate. It's addressed to people who tailgate. אלו השקועים בהבלי הזמן, havlei hazman, v'shogim kol shnatam. They're immersed, right? For the Rambam's shogei, his lashon of immersion. That's where he has an entire girsa sham. ושוגים כל שנתם בהבל וריק al hayoman. What are they totally, totally immersing? הבל וריק אשר לא יועיל ולא יציל. Okay, obviously, obviously there's bittul Torah. But it's clear that's not the point the Rambam is, that's not what he's identifying. He's not identifying them as people who are chotim b'bittul Torah. The Rambam says that chait is that, okay, lemaiseh if a person, if his chait is in hevel v'rik and that's what he's busy with, so inevitably he's going to end up doing aveiros also. Inevitably he's going to end up doing aveiros. And that's why eventually הטיבו דרכיכם ומעלליכם ויעזוב כל אחד מכם דרכו הרעה. The ikker is that chait often results from just that a person's center of gravity, instead of his center of gravity, his anchor being Hakadosh Baruch Hu, avodas Hashem, it's hevel v'rik. It's all the nonsense and foolishness and pettiness and shallowness of ephemeral matters. And though there are also individual chata'im, but initially the Rambam highlights the overall orientation of the person. The overall focus in life, the overall preoccupation. And I see he does it again a second time, he does it in the second place many times. If you go to perek tes for a minute. Rambam's explaining if שכר בהאי עלמא ליכא. If מתן שכרן של מצוות is l'osee lavoh, so what's the tochecha about? What's Parshas Bechukosai about? What's Parshas Ki Savo about? So the Rambam says kach hu, there's different nusa'os, girsa'os, hatza'at hadvarim or hatza'at hadvarim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu nassan lanu פרק ט הלכה א, midway through halacha alef. Not quite the midway.

הקדוש ברוך הוא נתן לנו תורה זו עץ חיים וכל העושה כל הכתוב בה ויודעו דעה גמורה נכונה זוכה בה לחיי העולם הבא ולפי גודל מעשיו וגודל חכמתו הוא זוכה והבטיחנו בתורה שאם נעשה אותה בשמחה ובטובת נפש ונהגה בחכמתה תמיד שיסיר ממנו כל הדברים המונעים אותנו מלעשותה כגון חולי ומלחמה ורעב וכיוצא בהן וישפיע לנו כל הטובות המחזיקות את ידינו לעשות התורה כגון שובע ושלום וריבוי כסף וזהב כדי שלא נעסוק כל ימינו בדברים שהגוף צריך להם אלא נשב פנויים ללמוד בחכמה ולעשות המצוה כדי שנזכה לחיי העולם הבא.

So it's not that all the brachos haketuvos batorah are the s'char. But משל למה הדבר דומה. Let's say you hire a cleaning lady to come clean your house for a day. She's going to spend the day cleaning the house. So part of the deal is that you give her lunch. The lunch is not the wages, right? Whatever you agree you're going to pay her, twenty dollars an hour. The lunch is not the wages, right? Whatever you agree you're gonna pay her $20 an hour, she's gonna be there for eight hours, from eight to four, so you're gonna give her $160. In addition, you also give her lunch. You're not gonna go then make a cheshbon that that afternoon fish cost a dollar fifty, piece of bread cost twenty-five cents, so here's, here's $160 minus 1.75. No, that's to, to facilitate your doing the day's work. That not only do I pay you, but I also provide the support system that you should be able to give the day's work. And that's not the schar, it's not, and it's not al cheshbon haschar, but obviously that's only for the day. If she showed up at 8 o'clock and she's gone at 12, or if she sits at 12 o'clock for lunch, you're not going to give her lunch. You're not going to give her lunch. But if she shows up at 8 and she works until 12, so then obviously you're gonna, you're gonna give a lunch and you're gonna give her drinks in between as well. So the Rambam says the brachos are not the schar, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides us if he sees that we want to dedicate our lives to this, so then he provides us a support system that we should be able to do it. Conversely, that's pshat Rachamana litzlan in the klalos. וכן הדינו בתורה שנעזוב התורה מדעתנו v’naasok b’havlei hazman כענין שנאמר וישמן ישורון ויבעט. So then Dayan HaEmes

יסיר מן האוזן כל טובות העולם הזה שהן חזקי ידי לבב ומביא עליהם כל הרעות המונעות אותנו מלקנות עולם הבא.

Good, fine. So now look at this again. Nifla meod. Look, we're going to reread and see the Rambam's point and counterpoint. The point is that hiknu ba-Torah שנעשה אותה בשמחה, naaseh, we'll do the mitzvos ha-Torah, right? Naaseh osa, the mitzvos ha-Torah, u-betovas nefesh, u-nehgeh b’chochmasa tamid, and we'll learn Torah. So then, then we get the lunch, right? Then we get the free lunch. So what's the opposite going to be? What's the opposite of mekayeim mitzvos? That's obvious. Bitul mitzvos, right? Being mevatel mitzvos asei and being oveir on a, on a lav Rachamana litzlan, and Rachamana litzlan, and being עובר מצוות לא תעשה. But what does the Rambam write? V’chen ha-dianu, whatever. What's the Rambam's counterpoint? שנעזוב התורה מדעתנו v’naasok b’havlei hazman. The counterpoint to going to the beis medrash is tailgate. He doesn't say the counterpoint is, is eating the cheeseburger and, and treif. No, it's tailgate. To say nifla meod, nifla meod. L’chorah it's clear in light of this that that's what's reflected here in the very outset of hilchos teshuvah as well. We ask what's יעשה תשובה וישוב מחטאו? Or what is yaaseh teshuvah as distinct from yashuv me-cheto? What's yashuv me-cheto as distinct from yaaseh teshuvah? The answer is no. Yaaseh teshuvah means yaaseh teshuvah from again that overall focus and orientation. Bahavelei hazman, yaaseh teshuvah from the havlei hazman focus. That's not a function of a particular chet. That's not, that's not something which is defined and described in terms of a particular chet. That's yaaseh teshuvah. And after yaaseh teshuvah, when a person, when a person is oseh teshuvah, and then, then he focuses on, on the trees, right? That's the forest. Then he focuses on the trees and yashuv me-cheto, so that the teshuvah also has to then address the specific chata'im as well. Okay, we'll stop there for today.