~Thoughts on Mishna Torah~
Hilchos
Teshuva – 1st Perek
Constructive
Confessions
Co-authored by: Yehuda Feinberg and Daniel Listhaus
The Rambam[1] begins in the first halacha on Teshuva by describing the element of vidoy - confession – as being essential to the teshuva process. Interestingly, despite it being a fact that “there
is no person who does not sin”, the Rambam prefaces this first halacha with the language "If a person will sin…” and later
concludes, "When a person will
do teshuva…” offering a perspective
of how our approach should be to viewing others. At any given point an
individual is not assumed to have sinned and even the ones who do have the
inherent potential to do a complete teshuva.
The Rambam continues and writes that vidoy is
in fact a mitzvas aseh (positive
commandment)[2], and
that there it has its own construction.
1.
Vidoy requires a verbal confession of one’s sins with regret and
embarrassment
2.
Vidoy contains a promise to stay away from the confessed sins in the
future
Not only does a person generally express that
they sinned, but they also say they transgressed and committed iniquity before
"You Hashem" by doing x, y and z. The different categories of aveiros mirror those that we include in shemoneh esreh in the beracha of Selach lanu, where we say "Selach
lanu avinu ki chatanu. mechal lanuh avinu ki fashanu"
– referring to sins we committed intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or
unknowingly.
The Rambam then states, “Whoever confesses
profusely and elaborates on these matters is worthy of praise”. By this, the
Rambam is teaching two very important lessons. First, the significance of a
person who takes the time to actually think about what he has done and
understand the specifics of it in order to meaningful approach Hashem with a vidoy and teshuva. Second, the idea that a person who does a sin but uses the
opportunity to do a complete teshuva becomes
more than just “not a bad person”, but actually a good person worthy of praise.
The Rambam concludes the first halacha by describing that many, if not
all, of the punishments and consequences mentioned in the Torah and halacha for various sins, actually
require the joint effort of vidoy to
fully act as a kaparah (atonement).
For example, if a person is obligated to bring a karban chadas (sin
offering), or is chayav malkus (lashes),
or even one who owes payment, the offering, punishment, or payback alone will
not suffice for a proper teshuva. The
person must do vidoy along with the
donation of his sacrifice for the teshuva to be a proper and complete teshuva.
In fact, even when it comes to capital
punishment, such as the case of a rotzeach (a murderer) is chayav meesah, vidoy is fundamental to the kaparah
before his death by beis din in
order for the meesah (death) to be a
proper one. Imagine the person who does not do vidoy and gets put to death, it is almost like a wasted death
because the teshuva and atonement is
incomplete.
In his second halacha, the Rambam details the role that vidoy takes in enhancing even the most powerful tools we have as kaparos. For example, the mishnayos and gemara[3]
discuss The famous two goats - one la'Hashem
and the other la'Azazel – which were
chosen by lottery on Yom Kippur. The goat la'Hashem was brought as a karban, and the goat la'Azazel was thrown off a cliff as an
atonement for all of K'lal Yisroel. Indeed, this gift from Hashem would
atone for all the sins of K'lal Yisroel, big and small. However, as the Rambam qualifies, if a person does not
repent for their sins the goat cannot atone for the more severe sins a
person has committed, only the lesser severe ones.[4]
The Rambam
reminds us in his third halacha
that unfortunately in our times we live without a Beis Ha’Mikdash and mizbe’ach.
We do not have the merits that karbanos would
offer to assist achieving atonement. However, we do have teshuva! Even a
person who did evil their entire life and then does teshuva will be
forgiven! Yom Kippur has the
power to clear all those who repent properly. However, there are different levels of teshuva hence the different levels of
the kaparah or atonement (as the Rambam elaborates in
his fourth halacha).
The Rambam's fourth halacha explains the various levels of sins and the corresponding
implements necessary to complement the teshuva
process. Some sins can be atoned immediately with teshuva, others may take time. Below is a summary of the categories
the Rambam lists with their corresponding general process for full atonement:
·
Transgressing a
positive mitzvah (excluding ones
punishable with kares) – requires just teshuva and then immediately forgiven
·
Transgressing a
negative mitzvah (excluding ones
punishable by kares or meesah) – requires teshuva and Yom Kippur to attain atonement
·
Transgressing any mitzvah punishable by kares or meesah – requires teshuvah, Yom Kippur, and yisurin (sufferings in this world)
However, the Rambam adds that being able to achieve a full atonement in this
world is onlt if there is no Chilul Hashem (desecrating
Hashem's Name). However, a person who was involved with a chillul Hashem with these transgressions will not be totaltly
atoned until his final death, on condition that he has repenting, Yom Kippur
was mechapeir, and received yisurim
[4]
The Rambam uses the punishment of kares as
the differentiator here between what he terms the lesser and severe mitzvos. However, it is important to
understand that these terms are for categorization purposes only for variances in halacha. Our perspective, though, must
be as the Mishna in Pirkei Avos teaches to “treat a light
mitzvah like a severe one”.
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