Elul: Enter the Exalted Realm of Teshuva

recording in progress okay good evening everyone nice to see everybody we're continuing our want to thank Dr for sponsoring this tonight sh sponsored anonymously Mrs Iran Goan Iran bat Abraham who isas may her whole family have okay before we uh begin so we now have three editions of the mystery of the Majesty we have the English edition we have the French Edition and we have the Spanish Edition make sure you have all three this yes discount yes if you buy two you could also buy the third one yeah well we could work something out David will be in charge of uh all negotiations okay um today was of course is the month OFA and I would like to begin our discussion of CHA with an amazing question this is a question that was basically introduced by none other than the and among the the the original were had a very strict program of penance where they introduced the concept of chish chish as we know the ra outlines the basic components of Chua R narrows it down even further but basic basically they three or four primary ingredients of CHA they are stopping to sin that's the key of all of them that's analogous to throwing away the rodent part of that is accepting upon yourself never to do it again regret and VI confession those are the key components of CHA introduced an idea of ch ch is physical inflicting oneself and abstaining from pleasure commensurate with the sin so for example they would fast X number of days for particular AO or they would roll in the snow now when they would roll in the snow they would not put on a uh you know a Down full body coat in fact they weren't wearing anything they would roll they would roll arum in the snow as part of the Penance or they would appear a in front of a be Nest which it could hurt without being too graphic you know that's this was the program of Chua introduced by the the B and other of the for a sin for one sin they would fast 40 days let's say somebody one time between and Y spoke by daving they would fast for 40 days one word per word okay and uh that's just like a small example of the system of so was asked the what his thoughts were about this system of penance and then says there's no question that this part of chuva is not the primary are not the primary ingredients of chuva this is not the main program of Chua and the proof is as follows theud says that there's no question that chuva is completely that if a person doesn't a and they do chuva the sin is wiped off completely as if they never did it this is a fundamental idea that's enunciated in the tah and the and the and Andi all the M the nvi says that if one does Chua their sin will never be mentioned again and all of these excessive uh penalties that were introduced by are added additives but they're not made because now addresses the following uh advances the following stunning question so you have a guy we'll call him yanle yanle is having a challenge yanle yanle can control himself he's going to be M shabas so two a them come and say hey yle if you're M shabas now we're going to throw you off a building and then Stone you to death this is not a good idea you have a wife you have kids you're alive you will not be alive if you're M shabas we warn Yan and Yano can't help himself he goes over to the watermelon and he picks the pits out of the watermelon re might have a cool but for askanazi yeah and that's a Yano we told you not to do this or Yano standing FR his sack drawer and he has this ugly pair of socks that he wants to take out of the sock drawer he's taking the bad from the good yanle don't do it you have the whole Sunday to clean out your sock drawer no I have to do it now and the uncle selects the bad from the good we warned him time to kill yanle we're about to push him off the building he turns around ha I had yesterday and I said I'm never going to do it again I did Chua can't get me you know H say nice try I did chuva and then noi says if you do chuva the sin is completely erased what's the after all Chua takes care of any sin he's a sadic the gar even says if you marry someone on condition if if a guy who's a mass murderer adulterer idolator he marries a woman on condition that I'm aad they might be married CU maybe he thought Chua in his mind so Yan says now did I think Chua you just heard me say VI and I did it yesterday you can't throw me off the building what do we do y unle we take him we throw him off the building we Stone him to death then we wipe our hands and we call it a day so the question says really if cha works and nothing stands in the face of CH then why does the tell us will not forgive the guy what do you mean bz won't forgive the guy but nothing stands in the way of chuva what happened to chuva you believe in Chua they do Chua here in the I mean what do they do on Yumer here what they sell Alias the whole day at Night by kidre they sell they do a kidre appeal and then the next day they do a Yar appe and then an appeal they got to do some chuva so if chuva works then how could any how could bezden administer capital punishment but what happened to that's the question of very interesting question so the know says an even more interesting answer the Torah says that there are somebody violat somebody violates other AO they could be burned if somebody violates others they could be strangulated there for misz then that means god ordained God wanted it whether liberals like it or not there's a concept according to the Bible according to the Tyra of capital punishment if there's an institution of capital punishment then clearly you can't get off the hook with chuva because if you could get off get off the hook of chuva then PE would never be able to kill anyone because everybody would say what are you doing exactly I just did chuva you didn't see me do I said definitely there would be more then everyone would either be or would go out of business everyone would say I did chuva must be that it doesn't help to do chuva why not if the ordains capital punishment that means chuva does not is not effective in the face of capital punishment why it's a chuva Works nothing stands in the way of chuva but clearly it's not going to it's not going to remove Capital punish because if you remove capital punishment then there would never be capital punishment there would never be capital punishment ah so says but says if the main Chu was CH meaning fasting or hurting yourself or rolling in the snow or lying on dress in front of a beehive or a wasp hiive or having asking a snake to bite off your head if that was the main shua then maybe really if somebody does chuva they would get off Capital Punishment when is there capital punishment when we see the guy didn't roll in front of in the snow and he didn't go in front of a beehive and he didn't fast meaning what's the proof that what's the proof that Chua doesn't remove capital punishment because if Chua removed capital punishment then there would never be capital punishment but if the main chuva is chish this kind of physical Penance then there would be capital punishment if Bez and sees the guy didn't fast and the guy didn't roll in the snow must be the main cha is in your heart and the reason why even if a person does Chua there's still capital punishment is because it's that capital punishment does not stand in the way of chuva let me turn this off it does not stand in the way of Chua fine this is the answer very interesting answer bottom line is why doesn't cha work it's fine comes the you ever hear the and he wrote a number of uh interesting one of them is is like an encyclopedia of Concepts he wrote and he also deals with this question if chuva works and is effective and nothing stands in the way of Chua then why doesn't Chua work let's say someone we're about to give the guy lashes the guy was say what are you doing I did Chua what do you think you're doing I'm a sadic why would anyone ever be be excommunicated why would bezin ever administer Misa something very interesting he says toward the end of the piece who wrote that it's he says I don't agree that the reason why Chua doesn't work for capitalist punishment is because it's just like a Heavenly decree that Chua doesn't work there's a very simple reason that Chua doesn't work and that is how in the world is B supposed to know if a guy did Chua or not what's chuva going like this that's chuva by the way anybody know interesting question when when you do this where where are you hitting exactly do you have a spot that you go for where where do you do nose what what are you punching your heart your heart so this is your heart is all the way up in your lungs your heart is near your neck your heart is down here no doc your heart is here are you supposed to clap your heart or your chest which one why why you hitting your heart what' your heart do wrong it's been pumping blood Faithfully the entire time you're the one who did wrong maybe hit yourself over the head what are you kiding your heart so the med is you hit your heart because you're saying it was my desire that caused this you know by the way the Mish says either the or the you have two options when was the last time you ever heard you have two options of how to do something very rare right either the I saw something very interesting today it says that when somebody um commits a capital crime and we have witnesses the hand of the should be the first to punish the hand of the ad who testifies a against a person if a person doesn't have eror say a person's hand will sign off that they did this sin and that sin so technically the first witness to testify against a person is their own hand therefore you hit yourself with your hand because your hand is technically the first witness to testify okay did they know that you talk about like marus or they only about he asked Mis bezen but it would equally apply to malus or it would equally apply to excommunication meaning Chua works why doesn't it work for misz it's otherwise there wouldn't be Mis the the says a little differently he says what's chuva chuva is the guy who goes like this to rub your hands together that's ch Chua chuva is to Shuckle chuva is to put your head down what exactly is chuva it's a regret in your heart and a commitment not to do it again how in the world is bezan supposed to know if anyone does Chua what if he looks sincere come on you know there's people people could train themselves to be um imposters nobody can know if somebody did Chua chuva is something which is given to a person's heart therefore it's impossible that the institution of bezden will now be subject to deciding whether somebody did Chua or not chuva is something that only the person themselves can know only God can know the bezin can never know with for with certainty whether somebody did Chu or not so therefore it has to be that the processes of bezden are not subject to a person's personal cha says the bz can't delve into the inner chambers of one's stomach to know the inner recesses of one's heart even if somebody bends their head like a reed and they fast and they roll in the snow that's not sha it could be yeah they look contrite because they're about to be killed it's depend on person's heart but bezan can't know that and therefore it can't be that thez are subject to a person's personal CH so it's not a it's not like just a din in the that Chua does not absolve one from is it can't absolve one fromin because the process of BZ cannot be subjected to the the uh process of CHA that's the answer of the in the in the and you know the wrote A series called you know that multi volumes of we need to know when Mia comes he says something very interesting if a person does one a could they be malus and Mis bezan is there any AA that you do this AA bezin will kill you and they'll they'll give you lashes no such thing says one punishment but yet a person could be and malus in fact if you get malus it absolves you from KES but misas bezin getting malus will not absolve you why because malus will only absolve you from a Heavenly punishment not from an Earthly punishment just like chuva will only absolve you from a Heavenly punishment and not an Earthly punishment and if you ask why the answer is because if chuva would absolve you from an Earthly punishment people would just lie through their teeth so it can't be it can't be that Chua absolves you from a Earthly punishment so this is a little bit of a different point again theud says why doesn't CH absolve you what says it doesn't absolve you the says it doesn't absolve you the says why doesn't cha absolve you because there's no way for bent to know says if it absolved you everybody would lie says something very interesting says that when the bikar stood and bezan gave capital punishment if someone did an if someone a and did Chua Chua won't do anything but nowadays that there's no bik and nozin if a person does chuva they are absolved so it's much more lenient nowadays nowadays Chua could get you off the hook but not when the B not when we had Azan because when we had a bezan bezan had to be M the that rested on them of administering capital punishment but say it could be because you might ask you know what's the fairness of that if chuva renders someone a sadic why would Hashem make a rule make a din that bz could kill a righteous person yeah like why would Hashem have such a so says maybe there is no such maybe if somebody does a Chua God will arrange that the ADM will become disqualified or that there won't be a or that the bezan will cross-examine the witnesses and they won't hold up to the cross-examination in other words it could be that even though technically in a laboratory if somebody does chuva the aidim could come nevertheless and testify against them but maybe hashm will orchestrate things that if someone does chuva the process won't work out and they'll they'll get Off The Hook by hook or by crook maybe that's why they years right because I mean there are many ways to be acquitted so maybe Hashem would orchestrate that somebody will be somebody who does a real Chua will end up being acquitted by the way there's a very interesting gamar the gamar says that you know if somebody comes out of bezden guilty and they have tius on the bz they come to the Dion they come and they start complaining this Rabbi doesn't know what he's talking about he made a mistake in my in my decision he made a mistake in the court case we should tell the guy and the gar says us that sometimes Hashem will orchestrate that a Russia will win the court case unrightfully there's such a thing could happen so just because the same way someone could unlawfully win a court case someone could get out of uh becoming guilty okay so we have three we have four answers so far actually why doesn't Chua work against capital punishment says it's the says that it's the institution of Chua is not possible for bz to work with because they cannot ascertain whether somebody did a real chuva or not the says that we cannot account for chuva because people would lie and say they did Chua the says well maybe chuva will get person off capital punishment will orchestrate if someone did Chua bz won't find the guy guilty now you have to now I'm going to give you the L answer and nowon is a contemporary saer of a yid who lives inim very and he clars the following someone doesn't AA and there's capital punishment why is there capital punishment why is a capital punishment somebody desecrates chabas to be stoned why why is a lesson to everybody else is it a lesson to everyone else is it to make sure this person does it doesn't do it again is there a concept just of punishment someone they need to be punished or is it that so the person gets atonement is in other words is the reason why there's capital punishment to give atonement or is the reason why there's capital punishment it's to punish someone once we punish him there is all there is atonement in the punishment but the atonement is an added facet that's not why we give capital punishment we don't give capital punishment to atone for someone we give capital punishment to to punish someone and by the way once we punish them they get atonement now if the only reason why we punish someone is so that they should get kapar then if someone does chuva they don't need kapara because they already repented and then the has a great question that if Chua is effective then someone who did Chua already got atonement so if they already got atonement they they don't need atonement so then why do we kill them it's pointless it's futile to kill them we kill someone to get atonement this person doesn't need atonement they did Chua but if we don't kill someone to give them atonement we kill them to punish them they didn't have they get punished once they get punished it brings them atonement so someone who does chuva it's true he doesn't need atonement but he did not he he did he sinned so gets punishment for example if somebody sticks their hand in a fire they get burnt they don't get burnt for to atone for the dumb thing they did they get burnt because when you stick your hand in a fire you get burnt so when you sin you get punished oh but I'm really sorry you bet you're sorry I'm sure you'll never do it again now that you're dead in other words maybe the answer to ne's question is we're looking at we're looking at capital punishment in our 2024 glasses that whoa that we're doing it to teach a lesson who says there's a lesson over here who says it's because there's a lesson is there perhaps maybe there's a concept that when you do something wrong you get punished for it could that be is there such an idea or does there have to be a constructive lesson not a lesson it's a lesson for everybody else that might also be true but can there be an element that when someone does something the Torah says you're know how to do they get punished for it if that's the case so even if they did chuva they will get punished but what do you mean they removed it yeah they removed it but they did it you I can say they didn't do it they did it maybe they're not liable and they don't need atonement but maybe they still get punishment that's theon's answer to this question which comes out that it's answer number five so we have doesn't work how in the world is supposed to know if somebody did CH we have the answer of the then everybody would lie it's a little bit different than the you see the is saying that the institution of bzden cannot be subject to something that they can't ascertain it's not that we're afraid anybody is lying let's say everyone in the world was telling the truth but there's no way for bzden to know is saying no more more than everybody would then lie says well maybe Chua is effective in the face of capital punishment Hashem would orchestrate that someone who does chuva will end up getting off the hook says well if the purpose of capital punishment is merely a punishment and it's not necessar to bring atonement maybe someone who sins will still get it now during Co want say it is no there's no question it's m but is that the only reason for it I agree it is also in other words Misa brings atonement no question but is it that that's the only reason we give Misa and in that case if he did Chua there's no reason to give Misa or is it that we give Misa to punish someone once we punish him he gets atonement during Co in August 12th Hashem led me in the following Direction and I thought of the following possibility today I saw says it understands differently but I'm going to stick by my guns no pun intended okay whatever fine there's a very interesting Yi and the reason I'm giving it today is it's the P says look at number nine based on the testimony of two or three someone will die he will not die based on the testimony of one witness right a famous P based testimony of testimony somebody could die so the is very difficult because if you could kill someone with two ad for sure you could kill him with three ADM so there's an amazing on this it's based on Yi and even more a yala the Yi says God is good and just he therefore teaches Sinners to repent thei says follow they asked what should the punishment be of a sinner so said The Sinner should be pursued with evil basically he should die okay that's what they ask wisdom what should be the fate of a sinner and this wisdom said prosecute him to the nth degree they asked prophecy what should be the fate of The Sinner prophecy said should die they asked God what should be the fate of The Sinner God said should do chuva so apparently wisdom does not recognize repentance prophecy does not recognize repentance look in the prophets they don't talk about repentance as an option the medish in the expands this statement the number eight says they asked wisdom what should be the fate of The Sinner prosecuted to the an degree they asked prophecy what should be the fate of The Sinner he should die they asked the toyra what should happen to someone who does chuva someone who sins they asked the T what should happen to someone who sins T said maybe try bring a carbon they ask God what should happen to a sinner God says what do mean let him do cha so the others far bring this as well say based on the testimony of two witnesses who are they wisdom prophecy somebody will die wisdom would say if you sin you should die prophecy will say if you sin you should die or even even three Witnesses who's the third witness the Tyra itself but you know when you won't die I'll P based on the one and only based on the one and only so that's like a nice way to remember this teaching of kazal let's think about that for a moment it's really a beautiful teaching if you ask wisdom what should happen to someone who sins what should happen should die right imagine you know there's a capital Case Case of the century you have like a mass murderer and you have the prosecutor and the defense attorney and the judge is about to give the verdict and the guy says I don't understand judge and the guy does cha he said you're going to put me away forever I did Chu don't you know judge don't you know the story about manasha and uh Y and all and ruen all the the great balet chuva so I'm out of here let's go maybe I'll take you out to eat tonight what will the judge say dead man I don't what do you mean you did chuva what's chuva what do you mean what's chuva so wisdom doesn't recognize Chua prophecy doesn't recognize why the process of Chua should work even the toyra will never say oh sinner he could just do chuva only God himself appreciates and allows for Chua to work so here's how I see it chuva is a really a gift from heaven like RAB says in the sh it's one of the that gave is that he gave us an opportunity to change our ways in real life there's no such thing as repentance there there's no way to repent if you commit a crime you pay for it there's no repent there's no concept of repentance in in what area of Life Could you repent Chua is only something God recognizes but perhaps then if only God recognizes Chua it's only effective between you and God chuva is between you and him it's not recognized in this world this is not something it's not a process that has relevance to how others look at you it's irrelevant if somebody sins your chuva is very personal it's between you and Hashem in a way this is a very difficult idea because that means that it's really only affecting my status in the eyes of Hashem it's not really affecting my status to how other people view me or to my status Visa others but in a way it's it's a very en nobling idea because Chua is very personal the only one who appreciates and accepts and welcomes CH himself you know it's very interesting do say I'm sorry do say did you ever hear such a statement that is great it reaches the Throne of Glory no Tyra is great it reaches the Throne of Glory no chuva is great that it reaches a throne of Glory why why do kazal have to say that chuva is great that it reaches a throne of Glory you know why because if it didn't reach the Throne of Glory it would be worthless because in the realm of this world and even the realm of the Angels it's not relevant that you repented you did the crime you're going to pay for it in order for chuva to work it has to go to a place that only God could see it so therefore the Kasha is that if Chua is effective and it's like you never did it so then why can't a person say hey Court why you killing me I did Chua because the court will say as beautiful you did chuva Chua is great it's irrelevant to us that you did chuva we don't care that you did Chua it doesn't change your status to us your chuva is your personal relationship with are you far from him or are you close to him but that's not something that's relevant to the way bezden will conduct themselves with you let me give you an example a bad example take it with a few grains of salt somebody reads to your daughter on the resume it says the guy was a mass murderer and he committed every sin in the book but he did chuva according to Ru he did Chua he has a he has a from R and the ram they both say that he did a you're going for it or you're not going for it yeah it's aush of a family they have money but but he did a lot of bad things but he did Chua you're going for it I'll lose the door what I'll lose the door right that was recorded you know you're not going for it what do you mean so what it's I'm I'm very happy for this guy that he did Chua and he repaired his relationship with God but how does what does it have to do with me so that's not a great example and if you look in um if you look in I think is saying that the realm of chuva is only something that has ramifications Vis you and God for example The gumar Yuma says there are four categories of kapar if somebody violates uh a CH alone doesn't work you need yipper if you violate by you're not atoned unless you have if you violate you also need mis mean you also need Misa but you did Chua right there certain that you need Misa to atone for what do you mean you need Misa to atone for doesn't Chua work say the limitations of chuva come from this world this world doesn't recognize Chua in this world Chua is not effective I think what he's saying is in this world and whatever is relevant to this world chuba is limited it's infinite regarding your connection and your and your relationship with but it has limitations caused by one of those limitations arez operates in and because bz operates in Chua doesn't operate in Chua is not recognized in this world chuva is not a currency of man it's not a currency of this world it's a currency of of another world try going into the store buy gasoline and you pay with uh Rubble they don't take that currency over here it's not it's not an active currency chuva is not a currency of this world it's not that bzden doesn't believe the guy it's not that there's no way for bzen to know it's it's not understood chuva is not a process that works in it's not a currency that's operable in this world it's only between you and God so I think asks a question on this understanding and I'm going to stand by it and I think it's question is that Chua is operable in this world what's the proof let's say somebody becomes P Adas let's say a BAL he can't testify could he ever regain his CH if he does chuva why why would that be effective but it's not a currency that's operable in this world so we see says the nuda is not that chuva is not recognized in this world I might I would say that it's not when somebody regains his it's not the process of CHA that's regaining his it's that there's a the is that if someone's there is a way to regain your how if someone does chuva there's a that bzden could say regarding gaining your credibility we will rely on this process to get your credibility back but it doesn't mean that it's a process that's recognized in this world to make it as if you never did it maybe you still did it but for regaining credibility the Chua will be effective R has a little bit of a different angle on this he says that what means is that is the process of CHA or when bezden operates what processes bezen doing it's mid the operational procedure ofen the operating principle of BZ is bezin is executing D when bezden executes D they don't utilize so shuva is not one of the operating principles of the executions of bzen so you could still ask well why will bzen accept somebody uh to to regain his kasas if they do chuva that's not a procedure of bzen that's a that if you have someone who did era and they do chuva they regain their kasas but for bezden to issue a verdict a punishment right the is that bzen if somebody is warned bzen will give capital punishment so that process cannot take into account chuva because chuva is a process of RA and in the process of they can't utilize a contrary process I like what I'm saying better I'm entitled that Chua is a procedure which is not recognized not by how doesz how should Bez pasin Bez has to utilize the the procedures of and could say well let's ask God God is not one of the operating uh pillars and and uh operating principles of how bezan operates bezan doesn't use okay what would God say about this bezen could say what does wisdom say what does Tyra say so wisdom says Chua doesn't work Tyra says Chua doesn't work so in the world of bzden chuba doesn't work so you say How could somebody get their kasas back that's not necessarily in the world of bezin that's a you get your kasas back when you do Chua but in the oper when for bzden to operate bezan operates based on and Tyra doesn't operate based on so a little bit different than is saying is saying the procedure ofz is and we're saying bz operates based on the procedure of and and not so in this very short chair we presented seven answers to the question of the namely why when someone is why can't they say I did now says what it's a Heavenly decree there's something called capital punishment and nothing will interfere not even Chua the says Chua cannot operate in bz bezin has no way to determine if somebody actually did Chua says we can't allow Chua because then people will lie says you know what if somebody really did Chua Hashem will orchestrate that capital punishment will not be administered says that that is not merely an atonement it's a punishment and therefore even if you do chuva that's the ramifications those are the rep repercussions whether you repented or not Rai says chuva is a process of and the which operates through cannot utilize the ra of Chua and we're suggesting and I think this is what is saying that Chua is not a process appreciated by anyone other than it it's not appreciated by it's not appreciated by are the operating principles of bzen what says is not how bzen operates bz doesn't say what does God say over here bezin has to follow the wisdom and the T and I think this gives us an important understanding of the realm of Chua because it's a very exalted realm it's really a reparation of your personal relationship with it's something very specific and very personal it's between you and and it's the one procedure and process that's I wish everyone a wonderful night okay next week There's no no regular share Wednesday night I'm sorry I heard that