Rambam Mishneh Torah: Hilchos Teshuvah Chapter 1 - Q & A

the yeshiva.net [Music] let me deal with two fascinating questions that were raised on the first payrique of hilkistrova first one i mentioned in the shear this seems to be a contradiction in the opening of his introduction is that a person should return to hashem from his sin turn away from his sin and confess but when the rambam starts al-khazal of what does he say all the mitzvahs that a person transgresses when the person decides to do triva and move away from the sin come back to hashem then he's obligated to confess and the rambling says vedu is the mitzvah it sounds like truth is not the mitzvah the truth is if you open up a safer hamitzvice of the rambam safer ah mitzvahs of course the safer that was the introduction to the mission of terra the rambam there it's like an encyclopedic cypher where he lists all of the 630 mixers of the title because it was never clear that we know there's 630 mitzvahs it says the gemara says in marcus but we don't know what they are it doesn't say clearly in the toyota these are 613. here is the list of them so the rambam wrote a safe ramitzvas as a preliminary to the mission of terror where he listed all of the mitzvos and he gave a brief explanation into every single one of the 630 when it comes to the mitzvah of truth and safe ram it's the ram says what's the mitzvah to confess verbally is sin he does not mention the concept of truth itself as the mitzvah so how do we understand this another question that was raised is why is there no bracha for truth truth is a mitzvah at least vidu is a mitzvah we know that the ghazal instituted brachas before most of the mitzvahs that we make before i do spheres i say before so i'm going to address these questions briefly the way to understand the random of chuva has become a major source of contention there's a huge argument among them how do you understand the of the rambam generally there are three views the first is the famous view of the min the great man is not a mitzvah troop is not he says i'll give you an example let's take a divorce getting a giving a get to a woman is it a mitzvah to divorce your wife you're laughing of course now there's no such a myth but what i mean how to do it yeah if a person is going to get divorced sadly and unfortunately then there is a mitzvah how to do it another example in parshas mashpaten we have a shimmer a custodian the owner comes to get back his object or his animal and the custodian denies that he hasn't so there's a whole process of the oath that he takes is that a mitzvah it's a mitzvah for me to deny and then take an oath of course not the terror is saying if the shimmer kingdom denies then this is the procedure the ramp says the merchants absolutely take a look at his words when you do truth let me tell you how to do it he says but it's not really a mitzvah when you do chuva this is how you should do it you should do the video it's difficult because the rambam does start off with so it sounds like it sounds like from the introduction of the rambam that the rambam holds it is a mitzvah's essay but the minecraft says look how he actually begins the fact is that the way he begins children it's up to you it's up to you if you want to do truth i'll tell you how you want to do it speak up do a confession it's the fascinating idea of of the of the min when it comes to when it comes to truth we have to understand this that something like truva the manchester united that iran holds it's not a mitzvah the toyota does not tell you to do the terror says if you want to do truth i'll tell you how to do it it's not like shayfer it's not like a little of it's not like eating matzah it's not like making kiddush on shabbas it's not like learning tired it's not like giving sadaka over there is a myth so i have to do it this is a mitzvah if you want to do truth this is the mechanism listen just like by a get just like mage this is one mahalak this is the perspective of the man and he has a strong deal from the rambam and this explains beautifully to say for a mitzvahs but the rambam does not count the mitzvah of truth as one of the taryan it's fascinating and here too the ramen doesn't count it as a mitzvah even though again in the introduction to it seems that the ramen does hold it there's a second view another view in him and this is explained by the famous rabbi simcha kaine of divinsk the author of meshach mahomes the author they say something fascinating the rambam has a principle and that is he doesn't count in the number of mitzvahs amitsu which is called a mitzvah clause when it says in the torah hashem says you should keep all the mitzvos right shmaitam is columnist no he won't that won't be a mitzvah why because it's a general mitzvah that includes all of the mitzvahs so the mesh says what's the mitzvah what's the mitzvah of truth let's understand the mitzvah of truva is don't do it again the mitzvah of shiva daram says go away from the sin and decide and say i'm not going to do this again that's the mitzvah of truth that's the same mitzvah that i had before the sin before the sin i also had to say mitzvah not to do this sin after the sin i also have the same it's exactly the same mitzvah it's the mitzvah of hashem to do all of the mitzvahs which includes all of the 630 mitzvahs in other words the rambam would hold of course there's a mitzvah to do chuva but it's not part of the mitzvos because as the rambam explains in his sephirah mitzvos shirish ravid introduced the fourth principle that since truva is basically i'm accepting mitzvos i'm agreeing to do the mitzvos i decide i'm not going to do this availa again i'm basically going to do the teriyaki mitzvos so basically it's part of those generic mitzvahs to do all of the mitzvahs there's no hidden shiva that's not included in the obligation to do all of the mitzvos there's no specific thing so therefore he can't count it there's only one specific thing and that is to do vidu vidu is something specific confession that's why the only counts that's another explanation in them and then there's a third interpretation the third interpretation this explanation is also not easy it's also difficult and the reason it's difficult is because the rambam is going to explain later in perrick bays that there's another element in chuva and that is remorse for the past not just i'm going do the mitzvah in the future i'm not gonna sin in the future which is basically the same mitzvah that was there before i sinned it's not a new mitzvah but there's also a specific mitzvah to have remorse for the past so you could say remorse for the past is only to demonstrate that you're serious about your future resolution because if i don't regret the past why won't i repeat it again in the future you can say that but nonetheless it seems in halacha that it's two separate things for example we have insult for our russia to become kashila edis it says that he has to accept for the future it doesn't speak about regret for the past so it seems like there's two separate things also the ramen says it looks like it's a separate thing if it's a separate thing he could have mentioned that aspect in trova so that's also a difficult shot but there's a third mahalak the third one comes from the curious safe and from the famous mabit in hil he says let me tell you what the rambam means of course the rambam holds that shove is a mitzvah as he says in his introduction but the rambam holds that this mitzvah has two components and both of them together create the mitzvah they're not separate you have to have both pieces together to create the mitzvah it's a synthesis of two things one is the element of one is the element of dibar the element of makshava is commitment remorse for the past and commitment for the future inside my heart inside my brain that's the internal experience of truth and then there is the verbal confession and one without the other is meaningless because verbal confession if i don't mean what i say is nothing if i say i'm sorry but i couldn't care less about it damsari is worthless on the other hand just the thought of children without the confession does not fulfill the mitzvah of truth that's why the rambam says in halal when you want to do trivia you have to do vidui in other words the way to finish the mitzvah of shuba is through vidu not the truth is not a mitzvah the completion of truth happens through vidu why then does iran only mention vidui the reason is because whenever a mitzvah has two components one is internal and one is external the rumba mentions the external one for example davening has two components this is the kavanaugh of davening and there's this words of davoning what's the main aspect of filling out the words the kavanagh famous philo we'll get to it soon discuss this that kavanaugh feel is the heft the essence of twilight that is a relationship there's awareness and yet when it comes to filler is avoided should believe it's not the deeper it's the makshava it's the it's the avoidable it's the avoidance to believe [Music] actually means verbal articulation verbal communication yeah the reason is because even though the cavon is an essential part of it and even more important but nonetheless the mitzvah becomes the physical concretization of the fila same thing here the rambam enumerates the concretization of truth and verbal articulation that's what the curious cipher the mabit answers so he says this is not a contradiction that's why and say from it's physics he says that's why in the beginning of alhas trivia he says both of them are a mitzvah and that's why he says in allah the way he says it when you want to do truth you have to do vidui in other words it's two parts of one mitzvah is the helicopter and vidu is the helic of dibor and both of them together are indispensable in order to create truth it's not like one is extra extracurricular activity so we have the explanation of the min we have the explanation of the same and we have the explanation of the mabit the curious the curious safer i want to now however focus for a few moments on the perspective of the min from a deeper from a deeper perspective what does it mean remember even though it seems probably that the curious safer the mabitz perspective is probably the most straightforward way of learning rambam but each of the sivarus is a swara in tyrants what's the how can we understand this idea that shiva shouldn't be amidst it's voluntary you want to repent repent you don't want to repent okay it's it's it's a fascinating thing so i'm going to share the explanation of this and it's really when you think about it it's very moving it's very deep and it's very fascinating according to this perspective there actually can't be a mitzvah you know why because if there's a mitzvah from hashem to ducha it's not true if i can give a very simple mundane example let's say a husband hurts his wife yeah and they come to a therapist therapist tells the husband what do you think he says i don't know i don't know what she wants i'm a fine husband so she looks and she says i want you to say i'm sorry so he says okay i'm sorry yeah what's the result of this make it worse than before he doesn't get it if i have to tell you to say i'm sorry that means you're not sorry by definition truth is not something you can tell somebody to do because if i'm telling you to do it even if you do it and you do it right it's not true that's the min perspective it's explained in charlotte if i'm telling you to do it then you're not doing it it's not shot you're doing it maybe not in the perfect way that's not true the definition of truva is an internal awareness an eternal awareness means an awareness that comes from me from my inner being there is an inner discovery that belongs to me that's true the torah can't tell you to do truth the turtle can say when you're ready to do truth this is the right way to do it they tell a story this is a story in mobavich if it's true or not i don't know but it's a geshmaka story in the summer they would always send boys to go to different forsaken jewish communities to strengthen yiddish kite over the summer months when they have the break being as mana so rabbi covered with the personal secretary of the would always give the boys yeshiva boys some of them you know were not very skilled in the outer world you would give them you know a prep talk prepare them they say there was once a special boy he was ah a mossman he sat and learned told there was a little abstract and he said remember when you eat by somebody's house you eat by the rov's house or another jew's house you can eat friday night shabbos meal so before you leave you go over to the woman of the house and you you thank her you express your gratitude yeah tell her how you appreciated the meal and you appreciated the ambiance and you appreciated the food and so forth they said that one of these boys went into his city and he came to the meal and after the friday night meal was over he went to the kitchen and he went over to the woman of the house and he said rabbi khadakov the rebber secretary told me to tell you that the food was truva delicious to come from within if it doesn't come from within it's not true he says that's why there's no bracha what's up [Music] with he says what's the point of abraham the point of abraham is to have an awareness that hashem commanded me to do this he said but then it's not true so therefore they didn't make a bracha for it it's something that has to come from within your system is commanding you to do it not the tire there's another answer for this he brings us from charleston extraordinary answer and that is says it's a mitzvah that comes through sin and we have a rule that are you a mitzvah vedio you don't make a bracha because the only way you could do true is if you did enough the prerequisite for truth is it's called the mitzvah you don't make a rock it's another answer he brings from the rash let's take this one step deeper it's not only truva it's not a mitzvah because it has to come from within because if not this sincerity is missing it actually this captures what truva is by definition because if this person if this person would care for the mitzvah he wouldn't have sinned the person sinned because somehow the mitzvah did not touch him somehow the mitzvah did not touch him so how does triva happen if the mitzvah did not touch me and that's why i can violate the mitzvah so how does trevor happen the answer is true means there's a relationship that's deeper than the mitzvah even if i didn't do the mitzvah i'm still connected and that's why the absence of the relationship egbert mere it eats up on me it affects me there's something missing there's something flawed it's like sometimes you have a relationship with somebody and then he he does something wrong and the relationship ends it's severed and you go your way he goes his way and you know life moves on sometimes when you have a very deep relationship with somebody even after you're estranged and alienated for good reasons you can't sleep at night because the relationship is deeper than the treason the relationship is deeper than the act which creates it or destroys it there's an essential relationship took a parent and a child let's say the child sinned against the parent the child separates and the father father disowns the mother mother mother just owned the child they can't sleep at night why he sinned against you he sinned against me but the relationship is deeper than the sin the relationship is not created because he did the right thing relationship is essential vinnav sheikh that's what truva represents truva represents is a relationship between a jew and hashem that's deeper than a commandment so even when hashem commanded me and he did not listen to that commandment i'm alien it somehow it doesn't touch me i can't sleep at night i'm looking there's a void there's an emptiness i'm searching why am i searching you're disconnecting disconnected because you're never disconnected in other words truva represents that cord of the soul that is never disconnected and because it's never disconnected therefore it creates an emptiness there's an anxiety i'm searching for something why am i searching for them why am i not content i'm not content because i am made to be godly because when i'm ungodly there is dissonance so that's why according to this perspective truth is not a mitzvah why is true not a mitzvah because reaches a place where a mitzvah doesn't reach it reaches the core that's beyond mitzvos and that's why truva can fix all the sins because we explained in the sheer that truth is like healing we have ramakhivarim and shasta giddam in the body and we have ramachivarim and shasta get them in the soul and every mitzvah parallels another bone limb artery sinew in the soul so that the flow is consistent and the circulation spiritual circulation is healthy and what happens khalillah when there's a sin and there's an illness and something gets interrupted so now there's an interruption in the flow of energy of the soul but suva infuses a new lease on life true that goes into the core of the soul to a much deeper level of oneness to a much deeper level of holiness and it brings in a new infusion so that it can heal the illness that's the mechanism of trevor and that's why it transcends all of the mitzvahs and therefore it can heal the infection or the void that's created from the absence of the mitzvos because it reaches a much deeper level of the relationship and that explains even deeper why truva can't be a mitzvah because by definition if truth is going in and tapping into the essence of my soul it must come from me because something that comes from outside of me by definition doesn't touch the core of me the core of me is true true that touches my deepest deepest core if it's imposed upon me by a commandment any type of commandment i am responding to a commandment then it's not coming from from from the the depth of the eye from the deepest deepest core of the eye when a person does something because he or she is compelled to do it or commanded to do it i can't say that my essence is involved in it it's more external when it doesn't come from outside when it comes from within there's much more motivation there's much more enthusiasm and when something comes from the quint essence of my deepest deepest core then there's no external cause at all it's completely from me and that's what and that's what truva really that's what truva really represents that's the point of effect there's the other perspective that trevor ultimately is a mitzvah the second perspective is to mitzvah that includes all the mitzvahs the third perspective is know that it's a it's it's a sp it's a specific mitzvah the reason it's a specific commitment because even though trevor is the core of the soul and shiva transcends all of the mitzvahs but ultimately the point of truth as the khazal always say is true true by definition is that essential relationship that transcends all action but you don't want it to remain there you want ultimately the truva to redefine your day-to-day behavior your daily routines your daily habits your daily actions and hence the third view is that the of the ramen is that true is actually a specific and individual mitzvah because the passion and the slavos and the fire and the gusto of truva even though it comes from the deepest soul of the jew you wanted to be able to translate and infuse a new vitality into the daily structure even the mundane and monotonous system of a person's day that it should all be infused with that core relationship this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at www.theyoshiva.net donate