Nitzavim: 5785 - From the Haftarah of Chana read on Rosh Hashanah, we learn several laws of prayer. Why specifically from Chana's prayer and not from other prayers in the Torah? Presented by Rabbi Shimon…

00:00 Good Shabbos. Our weekly parsha is Parshas Nitzavim. Moshe Rabbeinu speaks to the Jewish people on his last day, 7 Adar. In Parshas Nitzavim, he speaks to them especially about the mitzvah of teshuvah: “For this mitzvah is not beyond you, nor is it far away. Rather, the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” On the plain level, this refers to the entire Torah. But the Ramban says it refers specifically to the mitzvah of teshuvah. What is so special about teshuvah? A person was far away, and now he has become close. And if we ask who is on a higher level, a baal teshuvah or a tzaddik, the Gemara in Berachos records a disagreement between Rav Avahu and Rabbi Yochanan. Rabbi Yochanan says that although baalei teshuvah have a special quality, of the tzaddik it says, “No eye has seen it, G-d, besides You.” But Rav Avahu disagrees, and the Rambam rules accordingly: “In the place where baalei teshuvah stand, even perfectly righteous people cannot stand,” because baalei teshuvah are on a higher level. And it says, “Peace, peace to the far and to the near”—to someone who was far away and afterward became close. We really need to understand what makes a baal teshuvah so special. At first glance, you might say that a tzaddik is on a higher level. From birth until the age of twenty, he studied Torah and observed mitzvos. He did many mitzvos. A baal teshuvah—depending on when he returned—has done far fewer. But the difference, as the Ramban says, is that the quality of the baal teshuvah’s service is much, much higher. Why? Because what he did, he did with greater strength. That is one explanation. Chassidus gives us a much more vivid illustration from the story we know of Rochel and Leah. Rochel was beautiful in form and appearance, and she was righteous. But it was Leah who took hold of her destiny

01:34 and confronted it. When everyone told her, “The older daughter for the older son, and the younger daughter for the younger son,” she did not accept or resign herself to marrying Esav. She prayed and prayed until her eyelashes fell out, and her prayer was answered. After all, whom did Yaakov marry? It’s true that he married Rochel, but whom did he marry first? Leah. Who bore him half of the tribes? Leah. And with whom did he live for more years? Leah, because he married her first, and Rochel died when she gave birth to Binyamin. So Leah represents someone who takes her destiny into her own hands and fights. That is her special quality. The Rebbe says that she did not only take hold of her destiny and fight; she influenced her children. We see something interesting when we compare Rochel’s children with Leah’s. Rochel’s sons are called Binyamin the tzaddik and Yosef the tzaddik. It says of Binyamin that he was one of the four who died only because of the serpent’s sin. He himself committed no sin. But look at Leah’s children. We have Reuven, who put on sackcloth and fasted. We have Yehudah, who said about Tamar, “She is right; it was from me.” He could have kept quiet and said, “Take her out and let her be burned,” as he had ruled. They would have burned her even after she sent him the staff. But what did he choose to do? He chose to admit the truth. The Rebbe says: From whom did he learn that? From his mother. You fell? It’s all right. Get up and do teshuvah. That is what Yehudah did. Here we see the light that Leah taught us and that Yehudah taught us: You fell? Get up. And that is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves—not that when you fall, you keep sinking, but that you get up, rise higher,

03:04 and do teshuvah. That is why the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 27, that if bad thoughts arise in your mind, do not fall into sadness over them. Push them away, and then you merit to fulfill the mitzvah, “Do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes.” And what happens when you actively push them away? You do not let them remain. You merit what is written in the holy Zohar: “When the other side is subdued, the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rises throughout all the worlds.” When a Jew subdues the yetzer hara, he brings about a great light. Who can bring that about? A tzaddik cannot. Only a baal teshuvah can. That is the special quality of teshuvah. When we all strengthen ourselves in teshuvah on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, we will certainly all merit a good and sweet year. And certainly, teshuvah is so great that it brings the Geulah. Good Shabbos.