Igeres Hateshuvah Chapter 11

00:00 Speaker 1 Today we’re learning chapter 11 of Igeres Hateshuvah. In the previous chapter, if you remember, we said that when a person is praying, the prayer has to come from joy. Prayer is, in essence, teshuvah ila’ah, the higher level of teshuvah. But you can’t reach teshuvah ila’ah without first doing teshuvah tata’ah, the lower level, and you can’t do both at once. So a person should first do teshuvah tata’ah for their sins, with all the pain, regret, and expression that entails. They should do that at night, either during the Shema before bed, at Tikkun Chatzos, or at both. Psalm 51 is said at both. Then, in the morning, they’ll get up ready to pray with great joy and teshuvah ila’ah. You can’t do both at once. But chapter 11 begins: “Yet submission in one’s heart”—which is the level of teshuvah tata’ah, as explained above—“and joy in Hashem” can both be there together.

01:15 Speaker 2 Boruch Hashem, I remembered.

01:16 Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

01:17 Speaker 2 I’m missing the introduction.

01:18 Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

01:19 Speaker 2 Yes, boruch Hashem.

01:20 Speaker 1 They told me you weren’t coming today.

01:21 Speaker 2 That’s right, I thought so too. Boruch Hashem I made it. We gained something.

01:26 Speaker 1 All right, so unlike previous times, today’s introduction was a line and a half. It was very short.

01:34 Speaker 2 Wow.

01:36 Speaker 1 We went straight into the text. Now, when you read this, it’s really astonishing. In the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe said quite plainly that joy and bitterness can’t be in the heart together. He said it plainly and also explained why. Then he begins chapter 11 just as plainly, without any introduction: “Yet submission in one’s heart.” What is submission? It is teshuvah tata’ah. Which teshuvah tata’ah? The very one we discussed above. “And joy in Hashem”—both together. Suddenly it is possible, with no explanation. It’s astonishing. The previous chapter ended by saying it was impossible, and suddenly it’s possible. What’s going on? The Alter Rebbe continues: The idea that both can be present together isn’t such a great novelty; it was already stated in Likkutei Amarim, at the end of chapter 34. Do you remember? There are several chapters there about breaking oneself. Chapters 29 and 30 say that a person who has a dullness of heart or mind needs to break himself. And even if that breaking causes him bitterness, he shouldn’t worry. It’s all right, even though a person is supposed to be joyful. He shouldn’t get upset about the fact that he’s upset now. Why? Because the sadness that comes from bitterness over sins, from bitterness over being distant from Hashem, isn’t called sadness; it’s called bitterness. It’s warm, it’s boiling, it cleanses the soul. And precisely that bitterness brings a person to joy. Then, over several chapters—31, 32, 33, and 34—he discusses ways to be joyful, things that bring a person to joy. He ends chapter 34, which is effectively the end of the first part of Tanya, if you remember what we discussed then, by saying that it’s possible to have both joy

04:06 Speaker 1 over holiness and drawing close to Hashem, and bitterness over the body, over the animal soul. How can both be present together? He brings an account from the holy Zohar: When Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught his son, Rabbi Elazar, the secrets concerning the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, Rabbi Elazar was deeply moved and said to his father, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: “Joy is lodged in my heart on one side, and weeping is lodged in my heart on the other.” In other words, on the one hand, he’s thinking about the destruction; his hair stands on end and there’s weeping in his heart. On the other hand, he’s so happy about the secrets of the Torah that he’s filled with joy and happiness. Both happened at once. How is that possible? We’re not talking about our chapter right now. For the moment, we’re asking how joy and sadness can be present together. The Alter Rebbe says it’s as explained in chapter 31. What does chapter 31 explain? How is it possible, and why? It’s talking about a beinoni. Right? Here, in Igeres Hateshuvah, we’re talking about a baal teshuvah. There, it’s talking about a beinoni, and a beinoni isn’t a baal teshuvah. A beinoni is someone who is already free of sin. He doesn’t sin and won’t sin. He may have sinned at some point, but he has already done teshuvah and distanced himself from it; evil is out of the question for him. That means a beinoni might suddenly have a thought arise from his animal soul—even a desire for something tempting, even to do something forbidden. Good evening.

05:56 Speaker 3 One second, let’s say: for the recovery of Ilana bas Rosa, Rosa—

05:59 Speaker 1 Yes.

06:00 Speaker 3 Meza [unclear] bas Kalia [unclear], and for complete success—

06:02 Speaker 1 And for the elevation of the soul of Dov ben Tova. My father left today.

06:06 Speaker 3 Oh, wow. Wow, certainly. And also for the elevation of the soul of Rabbi Yair ben Sarah.

06:11 Speaker 4 Amen. One moment, one more.

06:14 Speaker 3 What did you say you wanted to mention? Ah, for the recovery of Rabbi Yitzchak ben Esther Markavi [unclear].

06:20 Speaker 4 Amen, amen.

06:26 Speaker 1 So the explanation there is: How can such a thing actually happen? Let’s try to picture ourselves being both happy and sad. How can that happen at the same time? Here’s the explanation. A beinoni is someone who has distanced himself from evil. His animal soul can still stir something up in him—he’s a normal person, a beinoni. Something might pass before his eyes, or nothing might; suddenly he might simply have a thought of desire, even a desire for something forbidden, even something seriously forbidden. That can happen. We all know our own animal soul well: suddenly a desire might arise in the mind or heart to do something one knows is forbidden. It can happen to anyone. But what happens when a beinoni has such a thought? He’s alarmed. The natural reaction of someone who has risen somewhat in his level is: How could such a thing occur to me? How? Where did it suddenly come from? That’s not where I am; I don’t want it. Right? So he fights it and rejects it immediately. It’s not that he has no thoughts like that, or no desires. He does. But those desires aren’t him. The desires are over there, and he is here. If a desire arises in his heart or mind for a moment, it alarms him. He’s alarmed, he fights it, he rejects it. He doesn’t want it. That’s a beinoni. What does that mean? It means that his G-dly soul and animal soul are separate. They aren’t together, and because they aren’t together, they don’t affect one another. In other words, they aren’t working together. One wants this and the other wants that, each on its own side. Each

08:13 Speaker 1 one holds firmly to its position. They aren’t mixed together; they’ve already been separated. That’s why a person can be angry at the material nature of his body and, at that very same time, rejoice in his closeness to Hashem. There’s no contradiction. The body is over there, so he’s angry at it. The G-dly soul is over here, and he rejoices with it. One doesn’t interfere with the other. But what happens with someone who isn’t a beinoni? A baal teshuvah is still connected to sin. So when his G-dly soul is happy, it’s mixed together with his animal soul, which is happy too. You can’t subdue the animal soul while the G-dly soul is rejoicing, because if the G-dly soul is happy, the animal soul is happy too. You can’t subdue it. And the reverse is also true. When he’s angry at the animal soul, the G-dly soul’s joy can’t be complete. They’re mixed together. Even someone who has already done teshuvah—meaning that he has broken away from evil—has made that break, but it happened recently. He made a firm, genuine decision, after reflection, that sin no longer belongs in his life. Yes, but his sins weren’t long ago. The taste of the pleasure he took in sin is still there; he can still feel it, and it’s still there in the background. So even though he has broken away from evil intellectually, and even emotionally, the animal soul still affects the G-dly soul, and vice versa. They’re still mixed together. That’s why he can’t have joy about one and sadness about the other at the same time. If he’s angry at his animal soul now and then starts rejoicing in the joy of his G-dly soul, that will undermine his anger. He won’t be able to subdue the animal soul completely.

10:35 Speaker 1 And the reverse is also true: if he now contemplates the joy of the G-dly soul, the closeness to Hashem—“the nearness of G-d is good for me”—he will not be able to subdue the animal soul completely. He has to separate the two. There is no choice; he has to separate them. So that is the difference between a beinoni and a baal teshuvah. In chapter 34, which discusses a beinoni, there really is no problem: both can exist together. In chapter 10, the previous chapter, the discussion is about a baal teshuvah. For a baal teshuvah, they cannot go together; he has to separate them. What happens in our chapter? Our chapter discusses a Jew who has already risen, within teshuvah itself, to the level of teshuvah ila’ah. As we said in chapter 6, a person at the level of teshuvah ila’ah has had “a spirit pass over them and purify them,” and he is entirely filled with a longing for G-dliness. He has already moved much farther away from evil. Granted, he is a baal teshuvah: he committed a transgression, he remembers it, and, on the contrary, we said that the second bond builds on the first, and it is specifically teshuvah tata’ah that makes teshuvah ila’ah possible. But... but he has detached himself and moved away. Because he has detached himself and moved away, he is now like a beinoni: he can do it. And here the Alter Rebbe introduces a major new idea. A beinoni can experience joy and sadness at the same time. But sadness over what? Over the coarseness of his body. He has a coarse body; he has a body that causes him dullness of the heart. He cannot manage to concentrate during davening; he cannot manage to concentrate on learning. Yes, that bothers him. That is what bothers him. He has no transgressions. A beinoni can bear that sort of sadness. But suppose a beinoni had some matter involving a transgression. That cannot really apply, because he is a beinoni, right? But suppose he did have some matter involving a transgression. He could not carry that together with joy. Something that merely interferes with G-dliness because

13:03 Speaker 1 it is not G-dliness, because it is physical—a beinoni can bear that. But sadness arising from a transgression, from his feeling bitter that he acted against Hashem’s will, with such intense bitterness—that does not apply to a beinoni. But when we speak about someone at the level of teshuvah ila’ah, he can have both together. What does “both together” mean? Not merely bitterness over the coarseness of the body alongside joy, but submission—teshuvah tata’ah—alongside joy. He can hold both in his heart at once. Not just joy together with bitterness over the body, but joy together with bitterness over transgressions, a much more severe, much more difficult bitterness. In other words, the conclusion is that a person who has reached the level of teshuvah ila’ah is, in a sense, beyond a beinoni. His inner capacities allow him to do something a beinoni cannot do. That shows his level is higher. But what about this? After all, a baal teshuvah—even one at the level of teshuvah ila’ah—committed a transgression. What is he doing teshuvah for? He is doing teshuvah because he once committed a transgression. Right. So how can he be far from sin if he once committed one? The only way a baal teshuvah can be joyful is if he believes with complete faith that Hashem has forgiven him. Once he has confidence—not, you know, what—

15:07 Speaker 5 Can that come through understanding?

15:08 Speaker 1 Hmm?

15:08 Speaker 5 Can that come through understanding?

15:10 Speaker 1 Yes.

15:12 Speaker 5 So it is not just faith.

15:13 Speaker 1 Hmm?

15:13 Speaker 5 So it is not just faith.

15:14 Speaker 1 Confidence—faith or confidence. We will say it in the next few words. What is the difference between faith and confidence? We spoke about this once. Hmm? Faith is when a person believes; he truly believes. And—yes, but when will it happen, and how will it happen? He is worried. I believe that, in the end, there will be a large, thriving Chabad school in Afula. But what will happen? And until there is one, where will the funds come from, how will we manage, and what will people say? That worries me. I will not say it does not worry me. It does worry me, yes. That is faith. I truly believe. It is not confidence. Confidence means the person is calm. Why is he calm? If Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants it—and Hakadosh Boruch Hu certainly wants it—then what difference does it make to me whether it happens one way or another? It will certainly happen. It is obvious that it will happen. So he is calm. Yes. That is the difference between faith and confidence. So when a person has not only faith that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him, but is certain of it—he knows Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him, and it is as clear to him as the sun—and because it is clear to him—

16:31 Speaker 6 Doesn’t that bring excitement?

16:32 Speaker 1 What?

16:33 Speaker 6 It does not bring happiness; it brings excitement. It is as though he already knows he has been cleared.

16:38 Speaker 1 That is the point. Because he knows with certainty that Hashem has forgiven him, it brings him an immense additional joy, something a beinoni cannot have. On the contrary, it is precisely because he is a baal teshuvah at the level of teshuvah ila’ah, and has detached himself completely from the sin, that if he knows—if he trusts Hakadosh Boruch Hu that He really has forgiven him—that will bring him immense joy. In other words, both his bitterness over the transgression he committed and his joy will be complete. Both sides will be much stronger. Is that clear so far? Now let us see it written inside: “And together with faith and confidence, for his heart to be firmly confident in Hashem, for He desires kindness and is gracious and merciful and abundantly forgiving.” So to reach this level of a baal teshuvah at teshuvah ila’ah, a person must believe and be certain that Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him. From here until the end of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe explains just how—or how we arrive at—that confidence that Hashem really has forgiven me. For Hakadosh Boruch Hu is gracious and merciful and abundantly forgiving, teikef umiyad, as soon as one asks forgiveness. What is the point of the double expression teikef umiyad, “at once and immediately”? “Immediately” means immediately, now. It refers to time. What does teikef mean?

18:20 Speaker 6 I don’t know.

18:22 Speaker 1 Teikef also relates to time, but it has more of a sense of connection. The Gemara says, regarding kilayim, that if a garment is made of kilayim, it is forbidden to wear it. What makes it kilayim? That wool and linen are joined together. When are they considered joined? If they were merely tied together, are they already joined? If they were only stitched to each other, are they joined? Or must they actually be woven together? When are they considered joined? Right? So the Gemara says there that if he has a wool garment and a linen garment and stitches them together with a single stitch, that is not considered a connection. In other words, he made one connection with the needle. Right? So if it is only one connection, one stitch, it is not considered joined. So teikef, samuch, tefifah—teikef comes from a word for connection. That is, not merely closeness in time, but an essential connection: the two things have been brought together. So the Alter Rebbe says that a person must be certain that when he has asked forgiveness, regretted what he did and done teshuvah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him. He must be certain that Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s forgiveness is teikef umiyad: not only immediate in time, but also immediate in the sense of connection. Just as I connected myself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu connected Himself to me at once. Hmm, I found the line.

20:11 Speaker 6 Yes.

20:11 Speaker 1 “At once and immediately, as soon as one asks Him, may He be blessed, for pardon and forgiveness: ‘According to Your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions’; ‘wash me,’ ‘purify me,’ and so on; ‘He bears iniquity,’ and so on.” So immediately—whenever he asked for it, at night or during the day—as soon as he asked, Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgave him at once and immediately. And there is no doubt about Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s forgiveness, not even the slightest doubt in the world. The proof is that in every Shemoneh Esrei, as soon as we ask, “Forgive us,” and so on, we immediately say the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, gracious One Who abundantly forgives.” Now, there is a rule that when a blessing is in doubt, we refrain from saying it. True, I asked Hakadosh Boruch Hu to forgive me, but how can I say, “Blessed are You, Hashem,” for forgiving me? Perhaps He did not forgive me. Right? If He did not, it would be a blessing in vain, so I would be forbidden to say it. When a blessing is in doubt, we refrain from saying it. If there is any doubt, one may not say the blessing. So how do we say it? Because we are certain He has forgiven us. The Rebbe notes here that...

21:11 Speaker 6 But you need to finish quickly—you are saying a blessing.

21:14 Speaker 1 What?

21:14 Speaker 6 But you need to finish quickly; you are saying a blessing, after all.

21:16 Speaker 1 Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came to be.

21:19 Speaker 6 Amen.

21:25 Speaker 1 The Rebbe points out here that this idea appears in many other verses and teachings of our Sages, but the Alter Rebbe cites this one specifically. Why? For example, when Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu to forgive the Jewish people, Hashem tells him, “I have forgiven, as you said,” and that happened immediately too. Right? So why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe bring that verse from the Torah as proof? Moshe Rabbeinu asked, and Hashem forgave immediately. The answer is: no, that’s no proof. Moshe Rabbeinu was the one asking. If I ask, who says it will happen? Hashem forgave because Moshe Rabbeinu asked. Who says Hashem will forgive me immediately if I ask? So that isn’t proof. There are other places where it says that the Jewish people did teshuvah, or the people of Nineveh did teshuvah, and they were forgiven immediately. The Rebbe says that isn’t proof either. They were many people, a whole community. I’m one individual; maybe it won’t work for me. But we’re talking about an ordinary Shemoneh Esrei, which a simple Jew prays even without a minyan, and even without so much concentration. Nevertheless, he immediately makes the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, gracious One who forgives abundantly.” That proves that as soon as we ask, Hakadosh Boruch Hu truly forgives. Since we asked, “Forgive us, pardon us,” if we did not go back and sin again, we would be redeemed immediately, just as we say in the blessing, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Redeemer of Israel.” Now, that’s really a question, not so much an answer. Why do we make any blessing? Because we’re certain it won’t be a blessing in vain. So how can we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Redeemer of Israel”? We haven’t been redeemed! How can we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Healer of the sick”? We haven’t been healed on...

23:21 Speaker 1 the spot. So how can we make the blessing? The Rebbe says no, it isn’t the same thing. He says it here, in these very words. What?

23:32 Speaker 6 A name for Hashem?

23:34 Speaker 1 No. I mean the same proof from Shemoneh Esrei. If the only reason we’re allowed to make the blessing “gracious One who forgives abundantly” is that He really does forgive, then by the same logic, the only reason we’re allowed to make the blessing “Healer of the sick” would be that we really are healed. But that doesn’t happen. So how are we allowed to make the blessing?

23:52 Speaker 6 We’re sure Hashem will do it.

23:55 Speaker 1 Will do it? How can you make a blessing now over something Hashem will do?

23:58 Speaker 6 I don’t know.

23:59 Speaker 1 The Rebbe says no. There’s a difference between the blessing “Forgive us” and all the other blessings. All the other blessings depend on what we do. As he says here, if we did not go back and sin again, we would be redeemed and healed, and everything would happen on the spot. All the other requests in davening depend on us too. So when we ask for the Redeemer of Israel, Hakadosh Boruch Hu certainly redeems us immediately. But because we sin, the Geulah He gives does not come down into this world, right here. From His side, He gave it; it just didn’t reach down here. But with the blessing “Forgive us,” there’s nothing that needs to become apparent down here. Forgiveness is entirely with Him. There’s nothing else involved beyond what happens with Him. So if He forgives, He forgives. That’s it. He really has forgiven. The Rebbe says even more than that. So there’s a first step: first of all, a person must know, believe, and be certain that Hakadosh Boruch Hu definitely forgives. Then he goes further. Is it such a remarkable thing that Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives? After all, even when it comes to a human being, a person must forgive as soon as he is asked for forgiveness. If someone wronged another person and asks him for forgiveness, the other person is obligated to forgive him immediately. So if a person is obligated to forgive, wouldn’t Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgive? And he must not be cruel and refuse to forgive. The Gemara even gives the example of someone who cuts off another person’s hand. He has caused him harm—irreversible harm, plus pain—and then he comes and asks his forgiveness. “I didn’t mean to; I’m sorry.” You are obligated to forgive him. And if he is obligated to forgive, that means he is able to forgive. So if a person can forgive another person even for something like that—otherwise it would not be required of him—

26:05 Speaker 1 how can you ask me whether Hakadosh Boruch Hu might not forgive? Of course Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives. It’s all the more certain, as the Gemara says at the end of chapter eight of Bava Kama. To the point that if he asked him three times and the other person did not forgive him, he no longer needs to ask, because by law the other person was already obligated to forgive. And there’s another step beyond that. Even the Gibeonites—King David, peace be upon him, asked them for forgiveness on behalf of Shaul, who had killed Gibeonites. Who killed the Gibeonites? Not David. Shaul killed them. Shaul did not ask their forgiveness; David asked on Shaul’s behalf. And they weren’t Jews; they were Gibeonites. Shaul had not merely cut off their hands; he had killed them. And not only that—he hadn’t asked their forgiveness. Who asked? Someone else entirely. Because they did not forgive, they were punished. So if even a non-Jew whose parents and children were killed can forgive, is obligated to forgive, and is punished if he does not forgive, why are you surprised that when you simply ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu, He forgives? What is there to be surprised about? Of course Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives. David decreed that they could not enter the congregation of Hashem, whose members are merciful, and so on, as it says in chapter eight of Yevamos. So certainly, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it is infinitely more so: the moment a person asks, even with half a heart, half a mouth, a quarter of a mouth, it is absolutely certain, without any doubt. There isn’t even a shadow of a doubt, and a person should be completely confident that the moment he asks, Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him on the spot and completely. But that raises a question in the opposite direction. If even a human being can forgive, and is required to forgive even

28:21 Speaker 1 in cases like these, why do you praise Hakadosh Boruch Hu so much for being “the gracious One who forgives abundantly”? A human being forgives too. What is so praiseworthy about Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgiving so abundantly? A human being is obligated to forgive—even a non-Jew is obligated to forgive things like these. What is so praiseworthy about Hakadosh Boruch Hu?

28:41 Speaker 7 Even if people sin a lot, He forgives.

28:43 Speaker 1 Huh?

28:43 Speaker 7 He forgives every time.

28:45 Speaker 1 Yes, but what’s the point behind that? When we praise Hashem and make the blessing “the gracious One who forgives abundantly,” what are we praising Him so much for? Human beings have that quality too. But the answer is that the word “abundantly” is precise, as it says in Ezra, “abundant in forgiveness.” In other words, what is unique about Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not that He forgives this sin and that sin, but that He is abundant in forgiveness. What is so remarkable about His forgiving abundantly? There is a difference between Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s forgiveness and a human being’s forgiveness—a fundamental, essential difference, not a difference of degree. With a human being, if one person wrongs another, asks his forgiveness, and is forgiven, but then goes back to his old ways, it is very hard for the other person to forgive him a second time, let alone a third or fourth time. Right? Once, twice, three times. I could give examples. I imagine everyone can give examples from their own experience.

29:47 Speaker 7 He argues with him one Shabbos, then argues with him the next, then the third. Amazing.

29:57 Speaker 1 There are more common examples. Someone bothers his friend, makes fun of him, humiliates him in public, throws some remark at him, and then asks forgiveness. Then he does it again. And again. How many times can you forgive someone? If you’ve repented, why are you bothering me again? And so on. But with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, there is no difference between one time and a thousand times. What’s the point here? What does this mean? The Alter Rebbe says that the difference between human conduct and the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu acts isn’t just a matter of quantity—that a person can forgive once or twice, maybe three or four times at most, while Hakadosh Boruch Hu can forgive many times. Quantity isn’t the point. The point is the quality of the forgiveness. Why? Because forgiveness comes from the attribute of mercy, one of His holy attributes, and His holy attributes are not limited or finite but infinite, as it says, “For His mercies have not come to an end.” His attributes are infinite. Well, so what if His attributes are infinite? How does that relate to our discussion? Does it mean He can forgive many times? So I forgive ten times and He forgives a million times. Fine. But what’s the point? The Alter Rebbe explains that, relative to infinity, there is no difference at all between a small number and a large one. “For everything before Him is considered truly as nothing,” and small and great are equal. That’s the point. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s forgiveness does not weaken. The thousandth time is just like the first. The point isn’t that He can forgive again and again and again. The point is that even the who-knows-how-many-th time, it is exactly the same forgiveness as the first time. Our Sages said that a baby begins to dry out from the moment it is born. Have you ever heard that

32:14 Speaker 1 expression? Our Sages said, “A baby begins to dry out from the moment it is born.” Besides the fact that it’s small and soft, and then dries out as it grows older, that isn’t the point. The point is this: when a baby is born, it has the strength to live 120 years. After it has lived ten years, it has the strength to live only another 110. When it reaches sixty, it has the strength to live only another sixty years. In other words, its strength is constantly diminishing. A person’s capacity to forgive diminishes. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s is infinite. Infinity doesn’t diminish. The first time, a person asks forgiveness in the most superficial way, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him completely. Then the person sins again wholeheartedly and asks forgiveness halfheartedly. And again, Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him wholeheartedly, completely and utterly. The same is true the third time, the fourth time, and without end. That is what “abundant in forgiveness” means. It means that every instance of His forgiveness is abundant. His forgiveness does not weaken. The very nature of His forgiveness is entirely different. So this gives the person doing teshuvah even greater joy in his teshuvah, as you said—much, much, much greater joy. Because I have now come close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and there is no question that He has forgiven me. More than that, the confidence grows stronger and stronger that He has certainly, one hundred percent—I don’t know what other words to use—forgiven and pardoned me. And so Hakadosh Boruch Hu removes our guilt each and every year. All the sins we confess in the Al Chet every year on Yom Kippur—even if a person went back and committed those same sins

34:30 Speaker 1 again during the year—he confesses them again on Yom Kippur the following year, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him again. And the next year, He forgives him wholeheartedly, just as He did the year before, no less. And so it goes forever. And not only every year, but every single day. Three times a day we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, gracious One Who forgives abundantly.” If someone commits a sin between Minchah and Maariv, and then again between Maariv and Shacharis, and so on, then three times a day he asks for forgiveness, and three times a day Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him. Every single time, the forgiveness is completely genuine.

35:15 Speaker 8 So why did they offer such a large sacrifice?

35:16 Speaker 1 Just two more lines. In a moment. As our Sages said, “The prayers were instituted corresponding to the daily offerings.” So the prayers correspond to the daily offerings. What did the morning daily offering do? It atoned for the sins of the night, and the afternoon daily offering atoned for the sins of the day, every single day, forever. So our prayers, which correspond to the daily offerings, also atone for sins. But I should point something out before we go on. No, I didn’t expect you to remember, but when we learned chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Igeres Hateshuvah—the first three chapters—do you remember?

36:01 Speaker 8 What we learned today?

36:03 Speaker 1 Chapters 1, 2, and 3, the beginning of Igeres Hateshuvah.

36:06 Speaker 8 Before Atah Tzaddik.

36:10 Speaker 1 Ah, yes, yes, yes. [unclear] Right. I think that was in chapter 3. Have we reached chapter 3 yet? Tomorrow. In tomorrow’s Tanya. So the general idea in the opening chapters was that teshuvah has three aspects: teshuvah, atonement, and becoming as beloved to Him as before the sin. Remember? That you do. Good. Teshuvah means deciding that I won’t do it anymore—accepting the yoke of Heaven. I’m done with the sins; I’ve done teshuvah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven me. After that, to repair the sin, to put the past right, atonement is needed. Atonement means making the repair. How does that happen? Through suffering that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings upon a person from Above. Then, after there has been teshuvah and atonement, and no trace of the sin remains, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him, the light has been restored, the damage repaired, and everything is back the way it was before. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu still doesn’t want me the way He did before. As if to say, “Thank you for fixing it. Don’t do it again; stay over there.” It’s like what happens between people. We said that when someone wrongs his friend, he says, “Yes, I’m sorry,” and the friend says, “All right, I forgive you.” “No, wait, I’ll also give you something. I damaged your—whatever it was. Here, take some money. I’ve paid for it too.” “Yes, thank you. You’ve made it right.” But in his heart, he still doesn’t feel the same. So to become as beloved to Him as before the sin, teshuvah and atonement aren’t enough. Something more is needed to show Hakadosh Boruch Hu that I truly want to be close to Him. After the whole matter of teshuvah and atonement is settled, that additional thing, he said, is to bring a gift to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And that means

38:21 Speaker 1 bringing an olah offering, which is voluntary. A person isn’t obligated to bring it. It isn’t an asham offering or a chatas offering; it’s an olah, a voluntary offering just to show goodwill. And today, when we don’t have offerings, it means fasts that a person undertakes himself. That’s what we discussed then. So the three aspects are teshuvah, atonement—suffering that comes from Above—and becoming as beloved to Him as before the sin: bringing a gift. With the offerings, there is the chatas and the olah. Right. So there we explained that the olah is a gift, brought solely so that one will be as beloved to Him as before the sin. But here the Rebbe suddenly says that an olah atones for sins. That makes it part of atonement, which isn’t what it says there. Is the question clear? The Rebbe explains this in a sicha on the subject. He explains that, in fact, each of the offerings includes all these aspects. It’s just that with the chatas and asham offerings, the main thing is atonement, while becoming beloved is somewhat secondary. With the olah, it’s exactly the other way around. Its main purpose is to become beloved, but it also atones for minor sins. It does provide atonement.

40:06 Speaker 8 What, for us, is an olah offering, and what is the other offering? What do they mean for us?

40:11 Speaker 1 For us?

40:12 Speaker 8 Yes.

40:12 Speaker 1 So we said that a sin offering corresponds to the suffering Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings upon a person. And a burnt offering corresponds to the suffering a person brings upon himself—fasts and self-denial, or, in our case, giving tzedakah. And as for prayer... that was in terms of action. As for prayer, we said that atonement is connected with confession and teshuvah, which is lower-level teshuvah, while the burnt offering corresponds to the prayers, which need to be said with joy. So it depends on which plane we’re talking about, but there is always the stage of atonement and the stage of moving beyond it. In any case, daily... we spoke about... what did we say here? We said that just as the burnt offering used to atone for transgressions several times a day, so too, for us, prayer atones for transgressions during the day. Right? So someone immediately asked here—I don’t remember who—what’s the difference between Yom Kippur and an ordinary day in the middle of the year? If a person can bring an offering every day, can pray every day, and can say each time, “the gracious One Who forgives abundantly,” and Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives him for everything, then why do we need Yom Kippur? That’s what the Rebbe answers. It’s the obvious question here. The Rebbe answers: Yom Kippur atones for serious transgressions, meaning violations of negative commandments. The daily offering, which is a burnt offering, atones only for violations of positive commandments. Likewise, prayer nowadays, together with teshuvah as discussed above, atones only for violations of positive commandments, for less serious transgressions. For serious transgressions, even today, only Yom Kippur atones. But there’s still a question to ask. Our Sages said that if a person says, “I will sin and repent,” he is not given the opportunity to repent. He isn’t helped to do teshuvah. So how can you say here that he can sin, do teshuvah, sin and do

42:38 Speaker 1 teshuvah, sin and do teshuvah, and everything’s fine? Hakadosh Boruch Hu will always forgive him. So how does that fit with what our Sages said—that a person must not sin and rely on teshuvah, and that one who says, “I will sin and repent,” is not given the opportunity to repent? How do the two fit together? The Alter Rebbe explains that a person sinning again and again is not necessarily a case of “I will sin and repent.” That’s not what our Sages were talking about. Why? Because what does “I will sin and repent” mean? At the moment of the sin, he could have overcome his yetzer, but in his heart he relies on teshuvah. Since teshuvah is what causes him to sin, he is not given the opportunity, and so on. The Rogatchover says something similar: “A prosecutor cannot become a defender.” Yom Kippur atones for all transgressions except transgressions committed on that day. For example, if a person ate or drank on Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur does not atone for that. Why? What’s the difference? Why can it atone for every other transgression but not this one? The Rogatchover says: “A prosecutor cannot become a defender.” Yom Kippur was the occasion for his transgression. How can it defend him? Right? Is that clear? The Alter Rebbe says the same thing here. If what caused you to sin was knowing that you could do teshuvah afterward, then if teshuvah caused the sin, how can teshuvah atone for it?

44:23 Speaker 8 So, no—

44:24 Speaker 1 …?

44:25 Speaker 8 So, no—

44:25 Speaker 1 So he says that this is what our Sages meant when they said that one who says, “I will sin and repent,” is not given the opportunity to do teshuvah. Why does he allow himself to sin now? Because he’s relying on being able to do teshuvah. Soon it will be time for Minchah, and I’ll say, “Forgive me,” and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will forgive me. Everything’s fine. No, no, no, no. It doesn’t work that way. If teshuvah is what causes a person to sin, he is not given the opportunity to do teshuvah. But if, at the time of the sin, he isn’t sinning because he’s thinking he’ll do teshuvah afterward—he sins because... because he didn’t withstand the test—that isn’t called “I will sin and repent,” and Hakadosh Boruch Hu does forgive that. And even so, the Alter Rebbe points out, even in a case of “I will sin and repent,” he is only not given the opportunity; he isn’t helped to do teshuvah. But if he pushes himself, strengthens himself, overcomes his yetzer and does teshuvah, his teshuvah is accepted. Even someone who is denied help in doing teshuvah—if he persists, his teshuvah will certainly be accepted. But when we ask each day, “Forgive us,” we’re asking in prayer. We’re asking sincerely; we truly want to be forgiven. We don’t say it as a reason to sin. We aren’t making those calculations. We first ask, “Bring us back in complete teshuvah before You”—meaning that we should not return to our folly. Likewise, on Yom Kippur we ask, “May it be Your will that I sin no more.” So we are certainly given the opportunity and helped, as our Sages said: “One who comes to purify himself is helped.” Precisely one who comes: as soon as he comes, even before he asks forgiveness—he has only come to ask forgiveness—Hakadosh Boruch Hu already forgives him. What’s more, the forgiveness and pardon are immediate. …? All right so far. The Alter

46:20 Speaker 1 Rebbe asks: Then what does the verse mean, “My sin is before me always”? That seems the exact opposite of everything we’ve learned throughout this chapter. Throughout the chapter we’ve learned that as soon as a person asks forgiveness and wants to ask forgiveness—even before he actually asks—Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes and forgives him, just as He did the first time. That’s certain, without any doubt, one hundred percent. “My sin is before me”—what does “My sin is before me always” mean? I asked, “Forgive us”; my sin is no longer there. What does “My sin is before me always” mean? King David says it in the very same Psalm we’re discussing. How do the two fit together? As for the verse “My sin is before me always,” it does not mean that one should always be sad and dejected, G-d forbid. After all, a few verses later in that same Psalm it says, “Let me hear gladness and joy,” and so on, and another two or three verses later, “Let a willing spirit sustain me,” and so on. Since a person should spend all his days in higher-level teshuvah, which is accompanied by great joy, as discussed above, he certainly should spend all his days in joy, with “a willing spirit” sustaining him, and with gladness and joy. G-d forbid that he should constantly be thinking about his sin and... So what does “My sin is before me always” mean? It says “before me” precisely. When we say that a person stands somewhere, it does not mean “my sin is always with me,” G-d forbid. “Before me” means it stands opposite him, at a distance. As in “You shall stand opposite,” or as the verse says, “They shall camp opposite, around the Tent of Meeting,” which Rashi explains as “at a distance.” “Before me” means: I see my sin from a distance all the time. And... why is that necessary at all? The intention is only that his heart not become haughty, and that he be humble before every person. He should remember that he sinned before Hashem. Who are we talking about? We’re talking about someone engaged in higher-level teshuvah, whose level is above that of a beinoni. But we’ve already said several times in the previous chapters that all higher-level teshuvah rests on lower-level teshuvah. And if he... the moment he forgets that he ever

48:44 Speaker 1 sinned, he could—his nose could start rising a little too high. So to keep his nose at the right height, we tell him: Listen, you once sinned. True, you did lower-level teshuvah. True, you did higher-level teshuvah. True, Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgave you. All of that is true. But listen, people fall. Don’t get too—remember. Remember where you came from. On the contrary, when it comes to joy, remembering his sin will help him all the more, so that he can accept with joy everything that happens to him, whether it comes from Heaven or from other people. If a person is already engaged in higher-level teshuvah and already close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and yet all kinds of suffering befall him, then if he doesn’t remember that he ever sinned, he might start asking all kinds of questions: Wait, what’s going on here? Is Hakadosh Boruch Hu being unfair? I don’t deserve this. But if he remembers that, thank G-d, he wasn’t always a perfect tzaddik, he’ll take these things differently. The Rebbe emphasizes this point here, which is a whole discussion in itself: things that happen, whether they come from Heaven or from other people. When troubles come upon him from Heaven, a person might complain: Hakadosh Boruch Hu did this. Why is He doing it? But when troubles come upon him through other people, those people have free choice. So here he can complain—not to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but to the people. His complaint would seem justified. Why does he deserve such treatment from people? After all, he’s already elevated himself. So the Alter Rebbe says that if he remembers that he sinned, then even when other people trouble him—which really seems to have no reason, because it can’t be that Hakadosh—that it comes as suffering for his sins, because it isn’t from Hakadosh

51:04 Speaker 1 Blessed be He, if he keeps his nose down, he’ll be able to accept even that with love—whether in speech or in action. And this is good advice for avoiding anger and all kinds of resentment, and so on. As our Sages said: “Those who are insulted but do not insult in return, who hear themselves disgraced but do not answer back, who act out of love and rejoice in suffering,” and so on. What does “and so on” mean? Everyone knows how it ends. How does it end? “And those who love Him shall be like the sun rising in its strength.” Right? The Alter Rebbe takes the trouble to quote the entire saying of our Sages here, but leaves the ending as “and so on.” Why doesn’t he tell us the ending too? Because the ending isn’t relevant here. He’s discussing how a person should avoid anger: by being among those who are insulted but do not insult in return, who hear themselves disgraced but do not answer back. He isn’t talking about the result. He’s telling us how a person should behave, how he should hold himself. They act out of love and rejoice in suffering. In other words, he should be one of those people who... And more than that: a person is insulted. Why doesn’t he answer? Is it because he has nothing to say? No. If we say that he is insulted but does not insult in return, that means he could have answered, but he remains silent. He is insulted and doesn’t respond. Why? He hears himself disgraced and remains silent—not because he has nothing to say, but because he restrains himself. Why does he restrain himself? Because he acts out of love and rejoices in suffering. That is the avodah of “my sin is before me from afar”—of “my sin is before me... my sin is before me always.” And “whoever overlooks offenses against him, all his transgressions are overlooked.” So here the Alter Rebbe does quote the ending, because someone who truly overlooks offenses against him and is among those who are insulted but do not insult in return, and so on and so forth—then indeed

53:24 Speaker 1 Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooks not only his sins, but even his transgressions. So what did we have in chapter 11, the second-to-last chapter of Igeres Hateshuvah? The Alter Rebbe is adding a higher level here, another level in the teshuvah of someone who has attained teshuvah ila’ah: he can be not only like a beinoni, but more than a beinoni. But for that, since he really did sin, he needs to remember that he once sinned. And precisely that memory of his sin will add much more joy for him, because he is certain—certain with complete confidence—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him. The final chapter of Igeres Hateshuvah, the next chapter, goes into more detail about what he began to say here in the last few lines. The whole chapter discusses this question: How can a person actually rejoice in suffering? Suffering comes upon him. The bottom line is that he suffers. How can he rejoice in that? That is the final chapter.