Transcript
Okay, this coming שבת Shabbos we have the distinct privilege of a double פרשה parsha, נצבים Nitzavim and וילך Vayelech. So we will as usual give our brief overview and then delve into some פסוקים psukim which are not only timely because they're part of the פרשה parsha, but פסוקים psukim which are very timely because of the time of year אלול Elul, and I shudder to say that ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah is a week from tomorrow night. Ask me how prepared the ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and שבת שובה Shabbos Shuva דרשות drashos are. So I haven't started yet. Okay, פרשת נצבים parshas Nitzavim, page 1086 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. Let's quickly go through a overview and then delve into these very, very exciting פסוקים psukim. So נצבים Nitzavim begins with a renewal, as Artscroll says, the renewal of the covenant, which is the theme really of all of ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu keeps reminding the Jewish people as they stand on the cusp of entering the land, היום, היום, היום Hayom, hayom, hayom, that the acceptance of Torah should be as real for you today as if it happened, as if Mount Sinai, הר סיני Har Sinai happened today. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. He says, you're all standing today before God. And then he spells out their distinct groups, from the heads of the tribes, to the elders, the children, the wives, the women, the converts, everybody, מחטב עציך עד שואב מימיך mei'choteiv eitzecha ad sho'eiv meimecha, from the cutter of wood to the carrier of water, you're all here. And why? לעברך בברית השם L'ovrecha b'vris Hashem. In order to renew your covenant, because everyone has equal access to the Almighty. We're all part of the Jewish people, we're all part of one unified whole. And in that context, he continues, את אשר ישנו פה עמנו עומד היום es asher yeshno po imanu omed hayom, ואת אשר איננו פה עמנו היום v'es asher einenu po imanu hayom. Who's part of that covenant? Who's part of that contractual agreement? Those who are here today and those who are not here today. We're not going to get into this right now, but there's a big discussion. A lot of a younger generation want to come along and say, why am I obligated? Why am I bound by the commitment my ancestors gave to God, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen. I'm not interested. I didn't sign up. Not for me. I'm not interested. So people will say, why am I bound by the commitment of the earlier generations? So here the Torah anticipates and addresses exactly that point. Moshe says, this covenant is true not only with you, it's a corporate agreement. It's not a promise which is passed on to the next generation. In other words, if my father made you a promise, doesn't mean I'm bound by it. But what if I'm part of a corporate agreement? What if I'm part of a of a constitutional agreement? That's not bound just to my parent, that is something which is more universal to me as well. So Moshe says, those who are here today, as well as את אשר איננו פה עמנו היום es asher einenu po imanu hayom, those who are not here today. The warning against idolatry, as part of our covenant is an exclusive arrangement. It's an exclusive exclusive relationship with Hashem, then then the logical continuation of that is that there's a prohibition of idolatry. You can't worship others. The Torah goes on and elaborates that as is done a number of times in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim. Then on page 1090, we have the promise, כי יבוא עליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה ki yavo alecha kol had'varim ha'eileh, habrachah v'haklalah. Torah says, what's going to happen? פסוק ב pasuk beis, verse two, ושבת עד השם אלקיך ושמעת בקולו v'shafta ad Hashem Elokecha v'shamata b'kolo. Some suggest that we are seeing this in our time, unfortunately not to the degree that we would wish for. But this is a prophecy or a promise anticipating a time of great Jewish renewal. We will have drifted from God, we'll worship idols, we will have foreign influences and foreign values. But then there'll be a huge national return. There'll be a huge sense of longing for greater spirituality, for more, to return to the Almighty. The promise, ושבת עד השם אלקיך v'shafta ad Hashem Elokecha, we will come back. ושב השם אלקיך את שבותך ורחמך V'shav Hashem Elokecha es shvuscha v'richamecha. If we return to God, God will return to us. There will be kind of a a precursor to redemption, an era of national return. And then we have the פסוקים psukim that tell us the Torah is accessible to us. It's exactly what we're going to look at today. And then at the end of the פרשה parsha, the first פרשה parsha נצבים Nitzavim, God says, ראה נתתי לפניך היום re'eh nasati lifanecha hayom. Again, we see the emphasis on today, היום hayom, את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המוות ואת הרע es hachaim v'es hatov, v'es hamaves v'es hara, life and death. You have חיים chaim, life and good, death and bad. This is what I'm commanding you today. Accept life. ובחרת בחיים U'vacharta bachaim. Choose life. Choose life. And then we have פרשת וילך parshas Vayelech. Moshe takes leave, וילך משה vayelech Moshe. And he says, I'm 120 years old today. I can no longer do this. I'm 120. I'm ready to retire to Boca. I've had it. חזקו ואמצו Chizku v'imtzu. And now we have the introduction of a phrase which we're going to see repeated. It's it's really the transition from the end of דברים Devarim to the beginning of the book of יהושע Yehoshua, of Joshua. חזקו ואמצו Chizku v'imtzu. Moshe tells them, be strong and be courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be broken, because Hashem is with you. So, you know, there's a possibility we'll have to strike Syria, and Iran says they're going to strike Israel. Don't be afraid and don't be broken, Hashem will be with you. There's a possibility Iran's going to go nuclear, there's a don't be afraid. Do everything you have to do. Let fear drive you to human initiative. Do everything you have to do, but don't be afraid. השם אלקיך הוא ההולך עמך Hashem Elokecha hu haholeich imach. לא ירפך ולא יעזבך Lo yarpcha v'lo ya'azveka. God is with you. Don't be afraid. He's not going to forsake you. He's not going to forget you. Stick with Hashem and he will and he will stick with you. So this expression חזקו ואמצו chizku v'imtzu, be strong and be courageous, is what Moshe tells the people, and then it's what יהושע Yehoshua is exactly where he picks up. If you open up the book of Joshua, in the very first chapter, יהושע Yehoshua is telling the people, רק חזק ואמץ rak chazak v'amatz, be strong and be courageous. Be strong and be courageous. In other words, you don't need to be told be strong and be courageous when everything's going well. It's in moments of great transition of leadership. It's in moments of great vulnerability and fragility, it's in moments of great exposure or weakness, it's in a moment of great threat that you need to be told, חזקו ואמצו chizku v'imtzu. And that's what Moshe tells them as they're about to go into the land with this massive transition in their lives, really a formidable challenge to transition from a slave nation into a free 40-year incubator in the desert in which they learned what it means to be free, but now they're going to go set up a society. They're leaving the cocoon of the desert in which everything was miraculously and supernaturally provided for them, and they're going to enter the real world so to say. That's very fearful. חזקו ואמצו Chizku v'imtzu. Be strong and be courageous. Don't worry. The way God was with you through the desert, when you saw the miracles, God is going behind the scenes, but he'll equally be with you. It may not be as vivid, it may not be as as obvious, but he'll still be, he'll be with you. This יום כיפור Yom Kippur is the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. This כל נדרי Kol Nidrei night, this יום כיפור Yom Kippur. God's behind the scenes, but his miracles today are as much as his miracles were when we traveled through the desert and when we conquered the land of Israel to begin with. It's when we think that we are responsible for our own destiny, when we think we rely on the other nations. We say in דאווענען davening every morning, אל תבטחו בנדיבים al tivtechu vin'divim. Don't rely on princes and diplomats. Don't rely on on on leaders of nations. If you place all your faith in them, their decision-making, their cabinets, and you cut God out, then God says, you don't need me. I'm not needed here. Okay, I'll look away. Good luck. Hope everything works out well. But אל תבטחו בנדיבים al tivtechu vin'divim, when we of course lobby and we advocate and we do everything we're supposed to do, but we know that in the end it's all up to the Almighty, then God says, you put your trust in me, I'm going to show up. I'm going to take care of you. I'll be there for you. So that's נצבים Nitzavim, חזקו ואמצו chizku v'imtzu. Remember and be strong. And then we have הקהל Hakhel. This is the מצוה mitzvah following the שמיטה shmita cycle, the seven year sabbatical cycle. They gather in Jerusalem, a platform is built, and the king reads from the Torah in front of the entire nation. הקהל Hakhel is a gathering of the entire Jewish people, including children, even young children who can't comprehend or understand what's happening. Today we don't have הקהל Hakhel, the מצוה mitzvah per se, but we have a nevertheless a remembrance of הקהל Hakhel. In the year following the sabbatical cycle, we still have in ירושלים Yerushalayim today, everyone gathers at the כותל Kotel, and we have a reading of the Torah, and we have a reenactment of the הקהל Hakhel ceremony. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu's end draw near. He knows end draw near. He knows he's going to die. This is one of the most moving, moving sections to me of the whole Torah. When Moshe knows he's going to die, and frankly he has, he dies the way he lives, very, very lonely. He climbs on a mountain by himself. There's no funeral, there are no eulogies, there's no weeping, there are no mourners. And Moshe knows that time is coming close. Frankly, he doesn't need any of that because he has the company of the only one he cares to have the company of, and that is הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Almighty himself. It's a very powerful, very, very powerful passage. So here Moshe says, הן קרבו ימיך למות hein karvu yamecha lamus. He says, your days are drawing near to die. It's a euphemism, your days means his days. קרא את יהושע Kra es Yehoshua, call Joshua, stand at the אוהל מועד Ohel Moed. וילך משה ויהושע Vayelech Moshe v'Yehoshua, and they go. The transition is beginning to take place. And we have the Torah as testimony. We have, ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת V'atah kisvu lachem es hashira hazos, verse 19, page 1096. This is the Torah obligation incumbent on us to write a ספר תורה sefer Torah. We have an obligation to write a ספר תורה sefer Torah. ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת V'atah kisvu lachem es hashira hazos. We have an obligation to write a Torah. Torah is called a song. That in itself is worthy of explanation. Why is the Torah called a שירה shira, a song? It's not a song. It's a law book, it's a history book, it's a book of morals, parables. Why is it called a song? It's interesting the Torah is called a song. That's for another time. But there's an obligation to write a Torah. How do you fulfill that obligation? How many of us have commissioned the writing of a Torah? Can you fulfill it through commissioning a scribe? Do you have to write it yourself? Do you have to write the entire Torah? Can you sponsor a פרשה parsha, a chapter, a verse, write a letter? Can many people join together? Do you fulfill the מצוה mitzvah if you donated to the shul? So there's a lot of a big discussion about this הלכה Halacha. There's an opinion, a famous opinion of the רא\"ש Rosh who says that one fulfills this מצוה mitzvah today by owning ספרים s'farim, Jewish books. Why did the Torah say you have an obligation to write a Torah? Because that's how you learned in those days. They didn't have a printing press. They didn't have books. How did you know the message of Torah? Because you owned the Torah. You took it out of the cabinet, you unrolled it, and you read it. You learned it. So he therefore says, today one fulfills that מצוה mitzvah by purchasing ספרים s'farim. You fulfill this מצוה mitzvah when we go to the ספרים s'farim store and buy Jewish books and have a Jewish library. Now I say you learn a lot about a Jewish home when you walk in and you see what's on display. Is there a bookcase with Jewish books? The basic books of a Jewish home. Is there a חומש Chumash? Is there a סידור siddur? Is there a תהלים Tehillim? Depending on a person's level of knowledge, ש\"ס Shas? שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch? Maybe a תניא Tanya? Depending who you are, what books you think are the core books of a Jewish library. Collection of Rabbi Soloveitchik's ספרים s'farim. Whatever one wants to express or position that those are the values that permeate that home. I mean, many homes right away you see the big flat screen TV, the surround sound. Many homes right away you see the stereo, many homes right away you see the fancy artwork. Many homes right away you see the the People magazine on the coffee table. Many homes, a lot of things when you walk into a home, you learn a lot about that home. The big TV, every room has a TV. What are the magazines? What are the books? What are what are the values? What are the messages that this home, if someone were to walk in, what does the home say about those who live within it? So that's this מצוה mitzvah. ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת V'atah kisvu lachem es hashira hazos. Transform your home to a Jewish home by having a person who walks in say, here's a מזוזה mezuzah, here are Jewish books, if I need a סידור siddur, I have a סידור siddur, a חומש Chumash, I have a חומש Chumash, a בנצ'ר bencher, I have a בנצ'ר bencher near the near the near the table where I eat. What makes this home different than being distinguished as a as a Jewish home? Okay, so let's go through the פסוקים psukim. Here we go. A shorter overview than normal, even for a double פרשה parsha. We're going back. We're going back in time. Page 1090. 1090. We're going back to פרשת נצבים parshas Nitzavim, פרק ל Perek Lamed, chapter 30, verse י\"א Yud Alef, verse 11. Chapter 30 verse 11. And why are we going back here? This does not seem like a logical place. Chapter 30 verse 11, is that a logical place to continue? It's שישי shishi, but that's not necessarily significant to us. What is significant to us is you see the סמך samech, I've explained this many, many times. For us, the chapters that we have were given to us by non-Jews. When Christians in particular held disputations, when they wanted to prove, it wasn't, they weren't successful in converting Jews by annihilating us, so they changed their strategy. They thought they could convince us. So they held public disputations in order to convince us that their theology is actually contained within our Bible. Right? The famous one between the רמב\"ן Ramban and Pablo Cristiano. Pablo Cristiano, but that's that's the most famous, but it's one of many, many. So when they held the disputations and they wanted to reference the reference the verses, they needed to come up with chapters and verses. So the origins of the chapters that we refer to are not Jewish. This chapter 30 is not a Jewish demarcation. It's a Christian demarcation. And every time we employ it, we're employing the demarcation that was designed in the disputation to eliminate us. So in fact, I believe Rabbi Soloveitchik used to, he wouldn't call it a פרק perek. He didn't call it as if applying sanctity to it. He called it a קאפיטל kapitel in the Yiddish. He called it a chapter. He wouldn't wouldn't call it the to give it sanctity as if it has some Jewish sanctity to it. But if you see the סמך samech, that suggests a Jewish demarcation because if you open a sefer Torah, the Artscroll does a very good job of this, the Stone. If you look on the Hebrew text, it's lined up the way the Torah is lined up. So you see the break on the last line on page 1090? That's because you see we have a סמך samech. In my version. סמך Samech means סתומה stumah. It means that it's a new section, but it is close enough to the last section that it continues in the same line. So we have a space to show it's a new paragraph, but a paragraph that continues on the same line. Versus sometimes you have a new paragraph that begins a new line all together. For example, turn to page 1096. Page 1096 represents a you would have a פ peh, because that's not סתומה stumah, that's a פתוחה psucha. That is an open. It's a new paragraph that begins on a new line because it's a more significant chapter break. Okay? Okay. The bottom of page 1090. This is the section I want to deal with because סתומה stumah is a סמך samech, you see it's a new section, it is a logical place to to continue. So the Torah says the following. You don't have the סמך samech there, but I have it in the מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos, which indicates סתומה stumah. But there is a separation. So so it indicates that it's a new section but that begins on the same line. Okay. So here, כי המצוה הזאת Ki hamitzvah hazos, I actually listened to while I was preparing this this morning, and I thought about playing it to begin our class. אברהם פריד Avraham Fried, כי המצוה ki hamitzvah, אברהם פריד Avraham Fried singing these פסוקים psukim, oh. I didn't listen to אברהם פריד Avraham Fried actually because I Googled it and I found Rabbi מניס פרידמן Manis Friedman singing it with his son, which was just as beautiful. Very, very beautiful. Anyway, go home and listen to Avraham Fried singing these פסוקים psukim, as after we've learned them, they will really come alive. He sings them so magnificently. So this is what we're going to examine today. כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום Ki hamitzvah hazos asher anochi metzavcha hayom, לא נפלאת היא ממך lo nifleis hi mimcha... I attempted to sing them but I will spare you. ולא רחוקה היא v'lo rechoka hi. Says the Torah, Moshe turns to the Jewish people and he says, this commandment that I command you when? Today, it is not hidden from you. And it's not distant, it's not רחוקה rachoka, it's not far off. לא בשמים היא Lo bashamayim hi. It's not in the heavens. לאמר מי יעלה לנו השמימה leimor mi ya'aleh lanu hashamayma. Don't think it's in the heaven that you can conclude, how can I climb? How can I ascend to the heaven to get it? ויקחה לנו וישמיענו אותה ונעשנה v'yikacheha lanu, v'yashmi'enu osah v'na'asenah. It's not in the heaven for you to think, how can I go to the heaven to hear it, to take it, to do it. ולא מעבר לים היא v'lo mei'ever layam hi. לאמר leimor, nor is it on the other side of the oceans to say, מי יעבור לנו אל עבר הים ויקחה לנו mi ya'avor lanu el ever hayam v'yikacheha lanu. Nor is it on the other side of the sea to say who can cross the sea to get it. וישמיענו אותה ונעשנה v'yashmi'enu osah v'na'asenah. Where is it? כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד Ki karov eilecha hadavar me'od, בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו b'ficha u'vilvavcha la'asoso. It's very close to you, very, very close to you, me'od. Where is it? בפיך b'ficha, it's in your mouth, ובלבבך u'vilvavcha, and it's in your heart, לעשותו la'asoso. Okay? That's the Torah, פסוקים psukim I want to study today. One, two, three, four פסוקים psukim. המצוה הזאת Hamitzvah hazos, this מצוה mitzvah that Moshe says that I'm commanding you today, it's not far off. It's not too wondrous. It's not in the heavens, it's not on the other side of the sea. It's very close to you. It's accessible. And do you know where it is, this accessible great מצוה mitzvah? It's in your mouth, and it's in your heart. Very powerful, very beautiful. Even more beautiful when you hear Avraham Fried sing it. So, what's the obvious question? המצוה הזאת Hamitzvah hazos. What מצוה mitzvah? Which one? Wow, okay, you've inspired me. I might have thought it's inaccessible, it's far off, I can't do it. It's in my mouth, it's in my heart, fantastic. I want to do it. What is it? Which one? What מצוה mitzvah? And why would I have thought it's far off? And how in fact is it really in my mouth? What מצוה mitzvah's in my mouth? I do a lot of מצוות mitzvos with my hands, with my feet. What מצוה mitzvah is in my mouth? What's going on? Four powerful פסוקים psukim, only one minor problem. We don't know what in the world they're talking about. When we figure it out, it'll be very powerful, but what in the world is it talking about? Okay. So let's start. Where shall we start? Um, let's start with the רמב\"ן Ramban, Nachmanides. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, and you'll see now why this is very timely. The רמב\"ן Ramban, Nachmanides, פסוק י\"א pasuk yud alef. The טעם כי המצוה הזאת ta'am ki hamitzvah hazos, על כל התורה כולה al kol haTorah kulah. The first suggestion is of the רמב\"ן Ramban, you know what this מצוה mitzvah is? The whole Torah. Everything. Says Moshe, you might be standing here thinking this lifestyle, a lifestyle of observance, a lifestyle of מצוות mitzvos, a lifestyle of virtuous, meritorious, moral living, it's impossible. It's far off. I can't do it all. Details, minutiae, expectations. Forget about it, it's impossible. Says the Torah, no. It's not רחוקה rachoka. It's in your heart. You could do it. It's in your mouth. You can make the commitment, you could do it. ונכון כי על כל התורה יאמר V'nachon ki al kol haTorah yomar, says the רמב\"ן Ramban, the truth is it says about the whole Torah, כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך היום Kol hamitzvah asher anochi metzavcha hayom. אבל המצוה הזאת Aval hamitzvah hazos, but says the רמב\"ן Ramban, no. This is not talking about the whole Torah. You know what it's talking about, המצוה הזאת hamitzvah hazos? We talked about the whole Torah when we said כל המצוה kol hamitzvah. But this says המצוה הזאת hamitzvah hazos, this מצוה mitzvah, one particular מצוה mitzvah. What מצוה mitzvah? על התשובה Al ha'teshuvah, the מצוה mitzvah of repentance, repair. I hate the word repentance, it's a Christian term. I don't even know what repentance means. It's a Christian term, I don't even know what it means. I know what תשובה teshuvah means. The word לשוב lashuv means to return, to come back. Right, I once gave a ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah דרשה drasha about if I was never there, how am I coming back? Why do we call this process returning? I'm returning to a place I never was. Unless I was there and I just don't know it. And I'm getting back to it. So תשובה teshuvah, that's one. תשובה Teshuvah also means something else. Another year I gave another ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah דרשה drasha. You know what תשובה teshuvah means? What is a תשובה teshuvah? An answer. An answer. Our life is filled with so many questions that only we can give the answer to. Right, that ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah דרשה drasha I gave, I had visited somebody in a federal prison that אלול Elul, a young man who was actually falsely accused of something. It's a scary experience, powerful one, going to a federal prison the month of אלול Elul in anticipation of the high holidays. Anyway, and he sat there and he asked me all these questions, why is this happening to me? And what, why is this happening? Why would God do this to me and so on. And while he was sitting there, I had no answers, I didn't know what to say to him. And I thought of this. I said, you know what, only you can give an answer. When you come out of here, and please God, you're exonerated, which in fact he was, what you do with your life and how you learn from this and how it makes you better and what you determine you want to be as a result, you've given an answer to the question of why. God can't give that answer, your neighbor can't give that answer, your parents can give that answer, I can't give that answer, only you. That's the process of תשובה teshuvah. So maybe what we do on this time of year when we do תשובה teshuvah is we're giving answers. We're giving an answer to the question of why, why do I exist and what is it all about? It's the process of giving an answer. So there's a lot of different explanations. The one word I know it doesn't mean is repentance. I don't know what repentance means. It means to return, it means to give an answer, it means to you know, לשוב lashuv is is to repair the damage, to undo. But says the רמב\"ן Ramban, that's what this section's talking about. You might think it's an inaccessible, it's impossible. It's in the heavens, on the other side of the sea. No, it is possible. And he continues, כי בשובך אל השם אלקיך ki bashuvcha el Hashem Elokecha, ושבת עד השם אלקיך v'shafta ad Hashem Elokecha, מצוה שציווה אותנו לעשות כן mitzvah she'yitzvah osanu la'asos kein. You know, there's actually a commandment to do תשובה teshuvah. It's a מצוה mitzvah to do תשובה teshuvah. I have to keep שבת Shabbos, got to put on תפילין tefillin, got to light the Shabbos candles, got to hear the shofar, got to sit in the סוכה sukkah, got to give charity, do חסד chesed, and there's a מצוה mitzvah to do תשובה teshuvah. If I've done something wrong, if I've made a mistake, if I've damaged a relationship, it's not optional. It's not a nice thing to do. It's not, well, if you want to repair the relationship, the only way to do it is to say you're sorry. No, I have an obligation to repair the relationship with God, to prepare the relationship with my fellow man, and the third realm that we most often forget and neglect is to prepare the relationship with myself. There are three realms of relationships we have in life. בין אדם לחברו Bein adam l'chaveiro, between man and man, בין אדם למקום bein adam laMakom, between man and God, and בין אדם לעצמו bein adam l'atzmo, between man and himself or herself. We have to pay attention to that relationship and nurture that relationship as well. So, this is a מצוה mitzvah. I've done damage. It's not just, I have to repair, whether I want to continue the relationship or not. ונאמר בלשון... כי סוף הדבר להיות כן V'ne'emar b'lashon... ki sof hadavar l'heyos kein. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, it's hinted to that this is going to happen. God's promised that it will come a time when there is a national call for תשובה teshuvah. After the Six Day War, there was a little national call towards this, Jewish identity, עליה aliyah, to be a proud Jew. We've seen movements through אש התורה Aish HaTorah or through חב\"ד Chabad or through other organizations, there are moments in this return to Israel of a national call. והטעם לאמר... שתוכל לשוב אל השם ולעשות ככל אשר אנכי מצוך היום V'ha'ta'am leimor... shetuchal lashuv el Hashem v'la'asos k'chol asher anochi metzavcha hayom. He says, it means even if we're spread out among the nations, even if we're in exile, not even, especially then we have the capacity to return, to yearn to return. כי אין הדבר נפלא ורחוק ממך, אבל קרוב אליך מאד לעשותו בכל עת ובכל מקום Ki ein hadavar nifla v'rachok mimcha, aval karov eilecha me'od la'asos b'chol eis u'v'chol makom. It's not far away from us, it is accessible and possible to us at all times. So says the רמב\"ן Ramban, what מצוה mitzvah is this? This is the מצוה mitzvah of תשובה teshuvah. This is the מצוה mitzvah of תשובה teshuvah. The ספורנו Sforno echoes the sentiment. Look at the ספורנו Sforno. Rabbi עובדיה ספורנו Ovadia Sforno. כי המצוה הזאת Ki hamitzvah hazos, says the ספורנו Sforno, הטעם שאמרתי והשבות אל לבבך בכל הגוים שצורך שהתשובה תהיה בעודך בגלות למען תושע בו... כי אמנם זאת היא מצות התשובה Ha'ta'am she'amarti v'hasheivosa el levavecha b'chol hagoyim she'tzorech she'ha'teshuvah tihiyeh b'odcha b'galus l'ma'an tashi'ehu... ki omnam zos hi mitzvas ha'teshuvah. The the movement towards תשובה teshuvah will be even more powerful when we are in exile. When we are in exile. And that's the context of this section is in the part of the Torah where it promises the national call for return. אשר אנכי מצוך היום Asher anochi metzavcha hayom, כאומרו בחוקי בפרשת ויקרא והתודו ואשמם שעניין כולו הוא שיכיר חטאו וישחטאהו k'omro b'chukei b'parshas Vayikra v'hishvadu v'ashmam she'inyan kulo hu she'yakir chato v'yis'chat'ehu. You know when it begins? The רמב\"ם's Rambam's formula for תשובה teshuvah means recognition. There has to be הכרת החטא hakaras hachet, the person has to acknowledge their mistake. If you don't acknowledge what you did wrong, you can't hope to not repeat it again. If you don't acknowledge what you did wrong, you can't hope to repair the damage to the relationship. Right? I've mentioned this a million times. When you let your child out of timeout, if they've done something wrong, if you don't tell the child, when they say they're sorry, what are you sorry for? You're not a good parent. Oh, you said you're sorry, fine, good, come out, go back to watching TV. A good parent has to say, what are you sorry for? Because timeout is not just a punishment, it's a rehabilitation. It's a learning experience. If they can't understand why was I in timeout, then they haven't learned from the experience. They may have been punished, but they don't know what to avoid or needs to be repaired or improved or fixed going forward. Or the same is true for children is true in marriage, right? If a spouse is upset with the other spouse, I've given this example a thousand times. Right? The husband says, I'm sorry. The wife says, what are you sorry for? You know, the thing, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said. What'd you say? I I'm sorry, you know. You got to say what you're sorry for or you're not really sorry. Because if you can't verbalize and identify and articulate and acknowledge and be accountable, then how can I believe you really know what you did to me? I can't forgive you until I know that you understand how you hurt me. And I can't know that you understand how you hurt me if you can't identify what you did to hurt me. So that's שיכיר חטאו, חטאו She'yakir chato, chato. One has to acknowledge. You can't just wishful thinking, you can't just move on. You can't just let bygones be bygones. You can't just say can't we move forward. But you have to identify. לא נפלאת היא ממך Lo nifleis hi mimcha, continues this far now, שתצטרך לנביאים she'titz'tarech l'nevi'im. So he says, this process of תשובה teshuvah, you might think I need a נביא navi, I need a prophet to tell me what I did wrong. No, לא נפלאת היא ממך lo nifleis hi mimcha. It's not so wondrous and concealed from you that you need a prophet. ולא רחוקה היא שתצטרך לחכמי הדור הרחוקים שיפרשו לך V'lo rechoka hi she'titz'tarech l'chachmei hador har'chokim she'yifarshu lecha. And you know what? It's not so far away from you that you need the wise of the generation to come tell you what you did wrong. באופן שתוכל לעשותו אפילו בעודך בגלות b'ofen she'tuchal la'asos afilu b'odcha b'galus. ולא מעבר לים היא, גם כן לא תצטרך בו לחכמי הדור הרחוקים שיפרשו לך, באופן שיהיה זה אפשר לך בחוץ לארץ V'lo mei'ever layam hi, gam kein lo titz'tarech bo l'chachmei hador har'chokim she'yifarshu lecha, b'ofen she'yihyeh efshar lecha b'chutz la'aretz. All of these these explaining it from the national collective sense and being in the exile, you don't need a prophet to tell you what it takes to get back to the land of Israel and you don't need the brilliant, wise scholars of the generation to tell you. It's בפיך ובלבבך b'ficha u'vilvavcha, it's in your heart, it's in your mouth, you know what it is you need to get it done. That's the comment of the of the Sforno. Says רש\"י Rashi, let's look at רש\"י Rashi. לא נפלאת היא ממך Lo nifleis hi mimcha, לא מכוסה היא ממך lo mechuseh hi mimcha. מכוסה Mechuseh means concealed, covered. People think I want to, but I don't know how. I don't know what to do. It's inaccessible. Says the Torah, no, you know, it's not concealed, it's not hidden, it's not far away. לא בשמים היא Lo bashamayim hi, says רש\"י Rashi, שאילו היתה בשמים, היית צריך לעלות אחריה וללומדה she'ilu haysa bashamayim, hayisa tzorech la'alos achareha v'lilmodah. If it were in the heavens, you'd be obligated to ascend and climb to go after it and to learn it. But you don't have to worry because it's not. It's not in the heavens. כי קרוב אליך Ki karov eilecha. It's right near you. Where is it right near you? Where is it right near you? התורה נתנה לכם בכתב ובעל פה HaTorah nitna lachem b'ksav u'v'al peh. You have it. And where do you have it? Where is the formula? Where is the prescription? Where is the blueprint? Ladies and gentlemen, you're holding it. You're looking at it. You're here today to study it. It's the Torah, says Rashi. התורה נתנה לכם בכתב ובעל פה HaTorah nitna lachem b'ksav u'v'al peh. You have the written Torah, and you have the oral Torah, the cliff notes, and you know why you have it? Because while the rest of the world is struggling and tripping and and stumbling to try to figure out happiness, meaning, purpose, we have this incredible gift. שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yomtov, the discipline of kosher, the ethics of business ethics and medical ethics, we have an incredible gift that regulates and teaches us every aspect of our life. As I said, medical ethics and legal ethics, business ethics, interpersonal relationships, a relationship with time, the relationship with space, the relationship with the physical world, a relationship with food. There's no aspect of our life that the Torah does not address and address in a way which enriches us and lifts us and inspires us when we keep it and don't neglect it and trample upon it and distort it and use it as a weapon and so on. So it says the Torah, כי קרוב אליך ki karov eilecha. You know what the answer is? It's not Tony Robbins, although I love Tony Robbins. It's not Jim Collins, and it's not this self-help book, and it's not this psychologist, and it's not this fad, and it's not this phenomenon, it's not Oprah, it's not, you know what the answer is? Open the book. Live the book, apply it. the book. It's the Torah. Family life, שבת Shabbos, יום טוב Yom Tov. Interpersonal relationships? Don't gossip, לשון הרע Lashon Hara. Judge others favorably. Success? Success is be happy with your lot in life. Study ethics of our fathers. Understand what it means to be rich is to be happy with what you have. You want to understand happiness, parenting, relationship, it's all in there. It's all in there, the timeless, immortal teachings of Torah. התורה נתנה לכם בכתב ובעל פה HaTorah nitna lachem b'ksav u'baal peh, כי קרוב אליך ki karov eilecha, it's right in front of your nose. Don't go to the other section in the Barnes and Noble. It's right in front of your nose. You have it. Open it, study it, live it. And you'll find it. That's Rashi.Says the Ibn Ezra: בפיך ובלבבך B'ficha u'vilvavcha. What does it mean? So we said, what is the Torah? Some say it means all of Torah. You might have thought it's so hard, it's impossible to live this life. So detail-oriented, so rigorous, so constricted, I can't live this life. Says the Torah, לא רחוקה היא lo rechoka hi, it's not far off, you can do it. The Ramban said, no, it's talking about תשובה teshuva specifically. So think about it. What the Ramban was saying is, המצוה הזאת אשר... לא רחוקה היא ha'mitzva ha'zos asher... lo rechoka hi, you might think change, change is so impossible. You know how hard it is to change? Changing a habit is probably the hardest thing in entire life. Changing a bad habit is probably the hardest thing that we have to face in our lives. It's so hard. Quit smoking, quit coming late, quit losing your patience, quit eating unhealthy, quit, start exercise. It's so hard. Change is so hard. But the answer is בפיך ובלבבך b'ficha u'vilvavcha. Says the Torah, it's not so hard. כי קרוב אליך Ki karov eilecha. You could do it. It's near. You have the capacity. You have the ability. And where is it found, that capacity? בפיך ובלבבך B'ficha u'vilvavcha, in your mouth and in your heart. Where is that? Says the Ibn Ezra, שכל המצוות עיקרם הלב she'kol ha'mitzvot ikaram ha'lev. All of mitzvos, their core, their primary is found where? In the heart. When you do a מצוה mitzva, you're not just supposed to sit in a סוכה sukkah. You sit in the סוכה sukkah and you think about, I'm protected in the shelter of God. I'm exposing myself to the elements, but God will take care of me as he did when they sat in these booths in the desert. When I hear the שופר shofar, it's an alarm, it's awakening me to examine my life, to reflect, to change. When I wrap the תפילין tefillin on my arm and my head, I think about directing my emotions and my intellect to God. When I light the candles, I think about bringing light into my life, peace into my home. When I pray, I think about turning to God and asking for his help or expressing my appreciation or telling him my disappointment. It's in the heart. When we lack heart and we go through motions, we're certainly not going to have feeling. בפיך ובלבבך. ויש מהם זכר בפה לחזק הלב, ויש מעשה כדי שיזכור בפה V'yeish meihem zecher b'peh l'chazek ha'lev. V'yesh ma'aseh k'dei she'yizkor b'peh. The real purpose of mitzvos is where? Not in the hands and the feet. It's in the heart. But sometimes what do you need in order to awaken your heart? You need your words. You need your mouth sometimes to awaken your heart. And how do you awaken your mouth sometimes? With actions. ויש מעשה כדי שיזכור בפה V'yeish ma'aseh k'dei she'yizkor b'peh. So I, I do this מצוה mitzva so that I'll make the ברכה bracha or talk about it, which helps me open up my heart to feel something in doing it. But the real place, the real destination of change, the real destination of meaning, is not in my hands and my feet. It's not even in my mouth. The real destination of meaning is, the real address of meaning is my heart. It's my heart. That's what God wants. He wants our heart. He wants our heart. Says the ספורנו Sforno, בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו b'ficha u'vilvavcha la'asoso, להכיר בלבבך את חטאיך ושיכעוס בוראך שחטאת לו ולהזהר ולהתודות אז בפיך l'hakir b'levavcha es chatoecha v'sheyichos bor'acha she'chatasa lo u'l'hizaher v'l'hitvados az b'ficha. He says, no, you know what it means? If this mitzvah that we're talking about is תשובה teshuva, is the process of repair and return, is the process of, of giving an answer, so where is it found? בפיך B'ficha, in your mouth and in your heart. It means if you're a genuine person, you genuinely feel bad when you've hurt someone in your heart. Not just with your lips. Right? So, it's with your lips and your heart. Where your lips is where you do the וידוי vidui, which is what we're going to get to in a moment. With your lips is where you say וידוי vidui. What's וידוי vidui? Confession. That's ours. They stole it from us, confession. We have a מצוה mitzva of confession. The מצוה mitzva of confession is not to sit in a booth opposite some screen and tell someone else everything you did wrong. That's not confession. That'd be entertaining. It might be more enjoyable for my job, but that's not the מצוה mitzva. The מצוה mitzva of confession is to God, but really, it's to yourself. And this מצוה mitzva actually is, is the מצוה mitzva. The רמב\"ם Rambam, Maimonides writes in הלכות תשובה Hilchos Teshuva, the Rambam writes, כל מצוות שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה kol mitzvos she'ba'Torah bein asei bein lo sa'asei, every mitzvah in the Torah, positive or or negative, אם עבר אדם על אחת מהן im avar adam al achas meihen, if a person violates one, by accident or on purpose, כשיעשה תשובה k'she'ya'aseh teshuva, when you do תשובה teshuva. It's a fascinating formulation of the Rambam, right? He doesn't say if you do תשובה teshuva, here's how. He says when you do תשובה teshuva. Isn't that interesting? He attributes to every human being a natural desire to want to fix what they broke. So he doesn't say if you do תשובה teshuva, here's the way to do it. He says, כשיעשה תשובה k'she'ya'aseh teshuva, when you will do תשובה teshuva, this is the way you should do it. Fascinating, right? So what's the way to do it? וישוב מחטאו V'yashuv mei'cheto, when you come back, when you return, חייב להתוודות לפני הקל chayav l'hitvados lifnei ha'Kel. You're obligated to confess. You have to articulate what you did wrong. זה וידוי דברים Zeh vidui devarim. This is the obligation of confession with words. וידוי זה מצוות עשה Vidui zeh mitzvas asei. Says the Rambam Maimonides, this confession is a positive biblical commandment. And without it, you haven't done תשובה teshuva. Without it, you have not done תשובה teshuva. Isn't that incredible? So if in my heart I know I did something wrong, and if I pledge to never do it again in the future, but I've never verbally said what I did. I gossiped. I judged that person unfavorably. I was jealous of that person. I stole, I cheated on my income tax, I reported this as a business expense when I shouldn't. I told them at Disney my kid was three years old when he was five years old. I, if I didn't articulate, if I don't verbalize, if I don't say out loud what I've done, then even if I commit to never do it again, I've not done תשובה teshuva. It's incredible. So that's the בפיך b'ficha. That's in my mouth. But it's not enough to just verbalize what I've done and not feel it in my heart. That's in the heart. That's what the Sforno says. בלבבך B'levavcha is להכיר בלבבך l'hakir b'levavcha, to feel it in your heart, to recognize it in your heart, and ולהתוודות אז בפיך u'l'hitvados az b'ficha, but to confess it, to say it, to address it with your lips. Why do you have to address it with your lips? Why do you have to say it out loud? Why is it that if you've not said it out loud, you haven't done anything? You need to internalize it. Internalize it. I think about it. I'll reflect about it. I feel it. I'll meditate about it. Why do I have to say it? So you can hear what you're saying. To hear what you said, right? So let me read to you the Rav's words. Rav Soloveitchik in על התשובה Al HaTeshuva. Rav Soloveitchik in על התשובה Al HaTeshuva says the following. Feelings, emotions, thoughts, and ideas become clear and are grasped only after they are expressed in sentences bearing a logical and grammatical structure. As long as one's thoughts remain repressed, as long as one has not brought them out into the open, no matter how sublime or exalted they may be, they are not truly yours. They are foreign and elusive. The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly weak. Who can know it? said Jeremiah. Yirmiyahu did not mean one cannot know what it is in in the heart of others, and others cannot know what's in your heart, that man does not know for sure what's in his own heart until his feelings and thoughts become crystallized and are given shape and form in the usual modes of expression. Repentance contemplated and not verbalized is valueless, said the Rav. Repentance contemplated and not verbalized is valueless. In other words, we bluff ourselves in our hearts all day long. We bluff ourselves. We think we came to the conclusion, we didn't really, we gave ourselves the benefit of the doubt, we're dishonest with ourselves about who we are and what we've done and how we feel. We can bluff ourselves in our heart, but we can't bluff ourselves when we put it out there, when we say it with words. Why do some people keep a diary? Why does it feel good to write that email, even if you never send it, but you needed to get it off your chest? When you put it in words, it becomes real. It's tangible. You can deal with it, you could look at it, you could read it, you can hold it, you can point to it. It's real. Right? In the Rav's words, if it's in your heart, it's foreign, it's elusive, no matter how sublime or or exalted. But only when you put it in sentences with a logical and grammatical structure, now it's real. Now I can deal with it. Now I've heard it. Now it's crystallized. Now it's given shape. Now it's given form. Now I can address it. Now I can address it. It's in my heart, I bluff it, I deny it. I think I came to the conclusion, I didn't really. It's contemplated. It's not verbalized and therefore it's valueless. And that's why the Rav says, the Rambam says, confess in words with his lips, give voice to those matters which he has resolved in his heart. That's the Rav in על התשובה Al HaTeshuva. And then you have to correct it then. Of course. וידוי Vidui alone is not enough. It's not enough. If I stand there and say, I hurt you, I took all our money, I went to the Hard Rock Casino, I gambled it away. I'm wrong, I'm weak. I have a gambling addiction. I can't believe I hurt you in that way. I'll never do it again. And that night I'm at the casino again, my confession is nothing. Exactly. But if I never go to the casino again, but I never turned to you and said, I hurt you when I lost all of our money because I had a gambling problem, then I have never repented, repented, I have never restored our relationship, I've never repaired it. Even if I never went to the casino again. Because I've never confronted the reality of my weakness, of what I did wrong. I've never been truly accountable for it. I've never validated how I made you feel. You know, this is what I wrote about this past week in in the in the weekly and on the blog, that this whole issue that the Jewish world is confronting right now, the scandal of abuse, people who've suffered abuse, this is my, thank God I don't have direct knowledge, but from what I've read and consulted with experts and spoken to victims and understand, is that victims cannot begin to heal without validation and without accountability. So even if the Jewish community were to say, we'll make sure it never happens again in the future, but failed to in retrospect say, to to validate, we failed you, this is where we went wrong, this is how it happened. We neglected to protect you. And we are accountable. And this is who we're holding accountable. The failure to do so, victims can never go on. Even if there's a commitment to make sure it won't happen again. It's a misnomer. I've seen people write, well, the important thing is that we make sure it doesn't happen again. That's the greatest thing we can give victims. That's the most important thing. Sure, it's really important. Of course, it's critically important that we ensure it never happen again. But it's not enough. It's not enough in the Rambam's process of תשובה teshuva. It's not enough in our own interpersonal relationships with others. Right? Somebody has an affair on their wife and they walk up to her and say, look, I had the affair. But let it go. I'm telling you right now, it will never happen again. And they never address and they never are accountable and they never confess and they never I'm sorry. How's that relationship going to look? Is she going to, okay, look, as long as you've made a plan why it will never happen in the future, we don't need to talk about the past. I don't think that's going to happen. And if it happens, I don't think they're going to have a very meaningful marriage. If a relationship was damaged, hurt, there needs to be accountability, there needs to be confession, there needs to be one needs to validate the feelings, and the emotions, and the hurt. Otherwise, one one can't go on. And that's what the Torah is telling us. בפיך B'ficha. If you don't articulate, if you don't validate, if you don't eloquently put it out there, then you haven't fulfilled this problem. This uh, this uh obligation. It's critically important. Let me read to you the the words of Rav Hirsch. Says Rav Hirsch about this, בפיך b'ficha, in your mouth. The first step of תשובה teshuva, which is the most essential, and at the same time the most difficult, is וידוי vidui, the confession, or rather the admission to oneself that one has sinned. It is not God who needs an avowal or confession from us. He knows us through and through. God didn't need you to say what you did wrong. If anyone knows it, it's God. Says Rav Hirsch, you're not standing there saying it for God. In fact, better than we know ourselves. But we ourselves are very much in need of honest and unreserved confession. It is to our own selves that we must admit that we have done wrong, for without such a confession to ourselves, we can never become better. It is a difficult admission indeed for a man to make. There is within each and every one of us a small defender whose ready at all times to deny outright that we have done wrong at all, or at least to try to make excuses to mitigate, to cloak our transgressions. That's what I was saying. When we think about it in our heart, in the same sentence that we a little bit admit we did something wrong, we're already making excuses and defending and mitigating. We have a little defender within us, says Rav Hirsch. In this manner, our defender veils from our eyes the true picture of ourselves as we really are. But by so doing also effectively blocks the path to our betterment. Therefore the first and the most essential and indispensable part of the confession that we must make to ourselves is, אבל אנחנו חטאנו aval anachnu chatanu, we have sinned. That's what we're going to be doing, ladies and gentlemen. Not ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, we begin סליחות Selichos this מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos. What's the end of סליחות Selichos is all about confession. Then we say סליחות Selichos on between ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur and יום כיפור Yom Kippur is all about confession. And what is יום כיפור Yom Kippur all about? Not just the generic confession in the מחזור machzor. Right? אשמנו בגדנו Ashamnu bagadnu. That's not what it's all about. The Rav had a great vort on that by the way. Said the Rav, how bizarre is it that we're singing it to a happy tune. You know, we never think about it because we sing it in the Hebrew. אשמנו בגדנו גזלנו דברנו דופי Ashamnu bagadnu gazalnu dibarnu dofi. Sing it in the English. We have sinned, we failed you. I. So for another time, Rav Soloveitchik had an answer to that. But the point is, it's not enough to generically say that. What we're supposed to do is sit down, put pen to paper and fulfill this obligation by actually identifying where did we go wrong this year? What do we want to work on? God, I failed you this year because I stopped coming to שול shul. I failed you, I wasn't as careful what I put in my mouth. I wasn't as careful what I took out of my mouth. My taxes weren't what they were supposed to be. I looked at things I shouldn't have looked at. God, I to specifically put it down and when we come to shul, in the מחזור machzor, stick that piece of paper. And that's what we should be thinking about throughout the davening. That's what makes יום כיפור Yom Kippur a cathartic, rehabilitative experience. The real וידוי vidui. Like Rav Hirsch says so beautifully, to squash and extinguish the defender inside us. And how do you get rid of that defender, that defender that puts us in a state of denial? Denial is not just a river in Egypt. How do we get rid of that defender? When you begin, אבל אנחנו חטאנו aval anachnu chatanu. God, no excuses. I failed. I made a mistake. Period. End of sentence. If the sentence continues, I failed, but I'm better now and I'm making sure it's never going to happen in the future. אבל אנחנו חטאנו Aval anachnu chatanu. Period. End of sentence. Next sentence can begin. Here's how I'm going to make sure it won't happen again, and I feel tremendous remorse and shame right now. But I have to be willing to say, אבל אנחנו חטאנו aval anachnu chatanu. Otherwise, otherwise I have not accomplished. Right, Rav Hirsch writes elsewhere, So long as you deceive yourself with regard to your sins, so long as you refuse to recognize that you have sinned, so long as you hear a voice within you glossing over and excusing your wrongdoing, so long as you do not clearly and faithfully see yourself as you are and your sin and its consequences which you have already suffered, which according to strict justice you must still expect, then you have not yet taken the first step to return. Therefore, cast away the deception. Don't listen to the extenuating voice within you. Have the courage to see yourself as you are. That's what ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, יום כיפור Yom Kippur, that's what Elul's about. Have the courage to see yourself as you are. Learn the kind of life which the Torah demands and compare with it your own. And wherever you find any divergence, make no mistake. Sin is there. Learn what the Torah expects of you, compare what your life looks like next to it, and recognize that any variance is because we've failed. It's because we've failed. And Rav Hirsch goes on and describes very, very beautifully. So that's what that's what the section is is all about. Let's look at the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. So now, even before we look at the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, let's reread these psukim together. כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום Ki ha'mitzva hazos asher anochi metzavcha hayom. Moshe tells them, it's high expectations of you, my friends. You're going into the land of Israel. God's given you this Torah, it's got hundreds or thousands of mitzvos. You are to be a light unto nations. You're to teach the world what it means to be disciplined, to strive for sanctity, to be a holy people, to be a people of integrity and honesty. You're to set up a society of ethical business dealings and and impeccable interpersonal relationships and holiness and sanctity. That's who you are. That's who you're supposed to be. And you know what? You're going to make mistakes, and you're going to fail, and you're going to come up short because you're human. You're human. I don't remember if I did I share this last week in the Parsha class? Daf Yomi had about two weeks ago, the Gemara that listed things that were created before the world was created. Did I mention that here? Among that list of things that are created before the world was created is תשובה teshuva. תשובה Teshuva, the capacity to return. God created it before he created the world. What does that mean? For God, there was no timeline. God operates outside of time. What does it mean that God created the world? For God created the world first, he created תשובה teshuva. What does that mean? God doesn't operate in time. Because he knows we're vulnerable people. So I understand it to mean, even before God created his world, תשובה teshuva is not a concession to man. God didn't create a world and then say, I really expect people to be perfect, but since they're imperfect, I better figure out a way out for them. You know what? I have to create this thing called תשובה teshuva. It's the way out. No, God said before he created the world, I'm creating an imperfect people. I'm creating a frail, vulnerable, deficient people. And therefore, before creation itself, I'm creating the mechanism for them to return, to restore, to repair. תשובה Teshuva was created before the very world. So Moshe turns to the people and he says, המצוה הזאת ha'mitzva hazos, this, I'm setting up a lot for you היום hayom. And you're going to fail. But you should know the capacity to change, to return, to repair, לא נפלאת היא ממך lo niflais hi mimcha. It's not concealed, it's not wondrous, it's not miraculous, it's not supernatural, it's not impossible. ולא רחוקה היא V'lo rechoka hi. And don't say I got to fly over there. I've got, it's, you know, I'd have to to to change my diet, to start exercising, to be more careful with my speech, to start keeping Shabbos a little more carefully or kosher. לא בשמים היא Lo bashamayim hi. It's not in the heavens. לאמר מי יעלה לנו השמימה Leimor mi ya'aleh lanu hashamayma. To start keeping kosher is not impossible that they say, I got to climb to the heavens. No. לא מעבר לים היא Lo mei'ever la'yam hi. It's not on the other side of the sea to stop gossiping, being more careful with what you look at, that you say I can't do it. כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד Ki karov eilecha hadavar me'od. Change, it's within you. You can be a different person. Don't say like we spoke about last Rosh Hashanah, it's not me. Say it can be me, it is me. It is me to be healthy. It is me to be on time to shul. It is me to be nice. It is me to extend myself. It is me to do chesed. But where is that capacity for change? Where does it begin? בפיך B'ficha. With your mouth. Think of Rav Hirsch. It begins by getting rid of the defender within you. It begins by seeing you as you really are, not as you wish you were. It begins בפיך b'ficha with the Rav's words, when you articulate it with a grammatical structure in a sentence, so that it's real, not valueless, but valuable. ובלבבך U'vilvavcha and it's in your heart. This is all describing the מצוה mitzva of תשובה teshuva. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. ולא רחוקה היא V'lo rechoka hi. שהרי אמרו חז\"ל L'sheharei amru Chazal, our rabbis told us Gemara Nedarim, היכי דמי בעל תשובה Heichi dami baal teshuva? How do you do תשובה teshuva? כגון שבא אותו מעשה לידו ופירש ממנה K'gon she'ba oso ma'aseh l'yado u'peirish mimena. To be in the exact same circumstances again and not to repeat the behavior. Last week, someone had juicy לשון הרע lashon hara, so you said, nu tell me. And you repeated it. This week, someone has juicy לשון הרע lashon hara, gossip, and you say, I'm not interested. That's תשובה teshuva. Last week you couldn't help yourself and you ate something even though it didn't really have the proper hechsher. You failed to make the bracha, the blessing before. This time you're about to eat, you say, you know what? I'm not eating that until I can clarify if it's kosher. You know what? I got to make the blessing first. So says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, what is תשובה teshuva? To be in the same situation and not to do it. מחר רבי יהודה באותו פרק באותו מקום באותו אשה Machar Rav Yehuda b'oso perek, b'oso makom, b'oso isha. So Rav Yehuda adds, no, you know what complete תשובה teshuva is? You got to be, the Gemara is dealing with an example, the extreme example. A man had an affair, inappropriate relations with a woman. So the first opinion says, you know what תשובה גמורה teshuva gemura is? He sees another pretty woman and he has thoughts, but he says, not doing it, not doing it. Says Rav Yehuda, no, no, that's not תשובה teshuva. You know what תשובה teshuva is? He's alone with the same woman, with the same opportunity. She has the same interest in him. They're all alone again. It's the same woman. And he says, no, not interested. אם כן מי שחטא באשה מעבר לים שמה תאמר שאין לו תקנה עד שיעבור אורחות ימים לאותו מקום שחטא בו V'im kein mi she'chata b'isha mei'ever la'yam shema tomar she'ein lo takana ad she'ya'avor orchos yamim l'oso makom she'chata bo. So if you sinned on a business trip to China, now you're back in Boke, you say, I can never really do תשובה teshuva if it means being with the same woman in the same circumstance, the same, until I go back to China. It's on the other side of the sea, it's impossible. זה ימנענו מן התשובה Zeh yimna'enu min ha'teshuva. So what are you going to say? There's no point. I can't do תשובה teshuva. I can never be in the exact same circumstance, so I can't do תשובה teshuva. על זה אמר שאין הדבר כן. כי קרוב אליך הדבר, בפיך הודוי ובלבבך החרטה Al zeh omar she'ein hadavar kein. Ki karov eilecha hadavar, b'ficha ha'vidui u'vilvavcha ha'charata. Says, it's not true. You can do תשובה teshuva even without being in the exact same circumstance. Where is the תשובה teshuva found? In your mouth with וידוי vidui, confession, and in your heart with regret, with remorse, with shame. That's enough because you know where change happens? In your mouth and in your heart. כי הלב הוא תלוי תאוותך Ki ha'lev hu talui ta'avascha. Your heart was what led you astray to begin with. והוא מקום התיקון בתשובה V'hu makom ha'tikun b'teshuva. It's what needs to be repaired. If your heart had been fortified, if your heart had been strong, you would have looked at the woman and said, absolutely not. No interest. If your heart was strong, you'd look at that juicy gossip and say, thanks, not for me. If your heart was strong, you'd stand at the line cashier with Disney and say, my kid's five years old, full fare. Why did you make the mistake to begin with? Because your heart was soft. It was weak. You were weak. So where does repair happen? By strengthening the heart. ודין נמי באותו מקום כי לא אמר באותו אשה אלא לרובך דמילתא, אין נקרא תשובה תלוי בזה U'din nami b'oso makom, ki lo omar b'oso isha ela l'rovcha d'milsa, ein nikra teshuva talui b'zeh. It was an exaggeration. It was for emphasis to say you have to be with the same woman in the same place and the same temptation. But without that you can still repair. How? By addressing it with your mouth, articulating your mistake, and then strengthening your heart, which was the area of weakness that led to the problem to begin with. All right, so we saw what this section is really talking about is not the totality of Jewish life, but specifically our mitzvah right now of תשובה teshuva. It's a mitzvah, it's not optional, we have to repair. The methodology of repair begins with the mouth for the reasons the Rav and Rav Hirsch gave us, and then continues with the heart, the change of heart, remorse, regret, shame, and a commitment to make sure it never happens again in the future.
