The number forty in Igeres Hateshuvah and its connection with 20 Av and preparations for the days of Teshuvah

00:04 Today we’ll discuss another point in Igeres Hateshuvah, connected to what we’ve been discussing over the last few days about [unclear]. It’s connected to the number forty, and also to twice forty, which adds up to eighty: an open mem and a closed mem. The Rebbe spoke about this in 5744, when it was forty years since 20 Av. The Rebbe pointed out that the Chumash mentions forty years twice. On 20 Av, we read Parshas Eikev, and there it says “forty years” twice. Eighty, too, is twice forty—an open mem and a closed mem. What does this have to do with Igeres Hateshuvah? In Igeres Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe also speaks about forty. In chapter 2, the Alter Rebbe discusses fasts and self-mortification. He says that we find Tannaim and Amoraim who fasted even over a minor matter, and he gives several examples. One is Rav Huna: the strap of his head tefillin turned over. You have to take care that the black side of the straps faces outward, and once his strap turned over. It says that he fasted mem—forty fasts. So here we find the number forty. The Alter Rebbe says that over a minor matter they would fast very many fasts. Forty fasts he calls “very many fasts.” The Rebbe asks: Why are forty fasts called very many? Certainly, forty fasts is a lot, but it isn’t very many. Now, it does say there about Rabbi Yehoshua that his teeth turned black from fasting. His teeth were actually damaged, so apparently those were very many fasts. But forty fasts aren’t very many, especially since later the Alter Rebbe mentions eighty-four fasts and 150 fasts. He speaks about much more

02:48 astronomical numbers. Forty fasts aren’t very many, yet the Alter Rebbe calls them that. What is it about the number forty in connection with fasting? This was in 5729, when the Rebbe began teaching Igeres Hateshuvah. That year, at every farbrengen, the Rebbe gave explanations of Igeres Hateshuvah. It was also forty years since the Rebbe’s wedding: 5729 was forty years after 5689. On Shabbos, 14 Kislev, there was a farbrengen—[unclear]. The Rebbe held a farbrengen, and at that farbrengen he also spoke about the number forty. He explained the significance of forty at length, based on Igeres Hateshuvah. It’s very interesting that we find the number forty in several broad areas: Torah, prayer, and teshuvah. With Torah, there are the forty days over which the Torah was given. There’s also a verse in Parshas Eikev, connected with 20 Av: “I fell down before Hashem for forty days and forty nights.” Moshe Rabbeinu spent forty days on the mountain. There were several periods of forty days: forty days for the first tablets, forty days for the second tablets, and forty days of prayer. So we find the number forty in connection with Torah. And it isn’t only the forty days Moshe Rabbeinu spent on the mountain; the number forty also has a place in every Jew’s Torah study. For example, Chazal famously said that it takes forty years for a person to grasp his teacher’s thinking. Here, too, we see the number forty. To truly reach the deepest level and grasp the depth of his teacher’s thinking takes forty years. So once again we find forty years. “Hashem has not given you a heart to know, eyes

05:01 to see, or ears to hear until this day”—that was said in the fortieth year. Only after the Jews had been with Moshe Rabbeinu for forty years did they gain a deeper understanding. They understood what it was really all about, what Torah is. We find something similar in the saying “At forty, understanding.” Pirkei Avos says, “At forty, understanding.” In other words, forty is a number associated with deep study and comprehension. All of this is in the realm of Torah. Similarly, in the realm of prayer, as we said, Moshe Rabbeinu prayed for forty days—“I fell down.” Those were forty days of prayer, from 19 Tammuz until Rosh Chodesh Elul. They were the middle forty days, when Moshe Rabbeinu prayed. So there, too, we see him praying for forty days. We find this elsewhere as well. The Gemara says there was once a student who prayed at great length, and people went to tell one of the Tannaim—I don’t remember his name right now—that they had seen this student praying for an exceedingly long time. The Tanna said, “Does he pray for more than forty days? Moshe Rabbeinu prayed for forty days.” If he doesn’t pray for more than forty days, that isn’t yet considered praying at length. So we find the concept of extended prayer associated with the number forty. Where else do we find forty in connection with prayer? The days of the month of Elul. We all know that the avodah of teshuvah, the avodah of... is also connected with the avodah of prayer. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” is connected with prayer. As is well known, the Hebrew initials of that phrase spell Elul. We speak about “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” as referring to the avodah of prayer, and it has four yuds. “I am my beloved’s

07:02 and my beloved is mine” ends with four yuds, corresponding to the forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur, when we need to devote ourselves to the avodah of prayer, as stated in the halachic works. And then, of course, there is teshuvah. With teshuvah, too, we find forty days of teshuvah. For example, we see this with the Jewish people: “I have forgiven, as you have spoken.” The Jewish people’s teshuvah took forty days, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur, and then came “I have forgiven, as you have spoken.” That teshuvah took forty days. That is why we sound the shofar from Rosh Chodesh Elul: that is when the days of teshuvah begin. That is how it was in the wilderness, too. It took forty days for the Jewish people to do teshuvah, until Moshe Rabbeinu came down from the mountain with the second tablets. Yom Kippur was the fortieth day. Similarly, we find forty with Nineveh. When the prophet Yonah went to Nineveh, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sent him to tell its people that He was going to overturn the city: “In another forty days, Nineveh will be overturned.” So there, too, it was forty days. We find these forty days in Torah, in prayer, and in teshuvah. Similarly, the halachic authorities are cited as saying that forty days of fasting is a general number that applies to all forms of teshuvah, because every transgression has a number of forty fasts. Beyond that, there are eleven fasts, twenty-one fasts, sixty-one fasts. But according to the halachic authorities and various mussar works—works that discuss rectification—there is a minimum number of forty days of teshuvah, forty fasts. So we find forty in all these areas. Why is that? Why is forty such an important number? Why is the number forty considered

09:09 Why is the number forty so important that it appears in all these things? There must be something essential about forty that explains why it is used in so many places. The explanation is based on what the Gemara says: the formation of a child in the womb takes forty days. With a child, there are three general stages. First is the beginning of the child’s existence, which happens in an instant. As the Tanya calls it in chapter 2, the drawing down of the drop is a single point, a single moment. [unclear] But then there is the form the child takes on. The Gemara says that until forty days, one can pray and still bring about various changes through prayer. The Gemara even says that one can still pray for a change from male to female during those forty days. In other words, after forty days, the form can no longer be changed; the child has acquired its general form. From forty days onward, over the course of up to nine months, the child develops—all the limbs and all the details. So we see three stages in a child’s development: the initial formation happens in an instant; the general form, the overall structure, takes forty days; and after that come all the details. Altogether, it takes nine months, generally speaking. Some take more, some less, as is well known. We can learn from this about anything that involves bringing something into being. A child is a new existence. The whole idea of birth is something like creation from nothing: a new existence comes into being. That is the point. This tells us something about serving Hashem, too—about matters of Torah, teshuvah and prayer in which a person has to become a new person. Regarding Torah study, what does it say? “Whoever teaches his friend’s son Torah is considered as though he gave birth to him.” Through Torah study, the son

11:23 of his friend whom he teaches Torah is considered as though he gave birth to him. Through Torah study, a person becomes a new person, as though born anew. He becomes a person of Torah. Similarly, in the service of prayer, he stands “like a servant before his master.” He becomes a new person. In prayer, a person changes: he lets go of what he was before, and now becomes someone who is self-effacing, a servant. “Like a servant before his master”—that is a new existence. All the more so with teshuvah, and so on. Teshuvah is like being a newborn child. A moment ago, a person was utterly wicked; now he becomes completely righteous. He becomes a new person through Torah, through prayer and through teshuvah. That is the idea of birth: a person is born and becomes someone new. And since birth has three stages, these things have three stages as well. Take Torah, for example. The moment a Jew says one verse of Torah—even one word of Torah—it is Torah. As the halachah says, if you want to study Torah, even a single verse or a single word, you must say the blessing over Torah study. The essence of Torah is there in a single moment, a single point. When a child begins to speak, we start with “The Torah that Moshe commanded us.” He already has Torah; the entire Torah belongs to him. He has that point of Torah. That is one point. But then comes what we discussed: giving it form, which takes forty. For it to take hold and assume a general form, the number is forty. That is why the Torah was given over forty days. That is also why learning is connected with the number forty: “At forty, understanding”; forty years. The number forty is connected with developing that initial point until it takes shape and becomes something substantial, something that defines it. After that, there is no limit. Torah is infinite: “Your commandment is exceedingly broad.” A Jew must study without end. That

13:21 is already the third stage. The same applies to prayer. The essential point of prayer is a single point. [unclear] Prayer begins with a single point. That is why we find that when Moshe Rabbeinu was with the Jewish people in the desert and Miriam had tzaraas, he said, “Please, G-d, heal her, please.” That was his entire prayer. A word, four words, and it was a complete prayer. In other words, prayer itself can be there in a single point. Similarly, when any Jew gets up in the morning and says Modeh Ani, that is already the essential point of prayer. But for prayer to reach its full form—like the formation of a child, as we said—it takes forty days, the number forty. That is why we also say that prayer as it should be involves forty days of prayer. The same applies to teshuvah. The essential point of teshuvah is a single point. As the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, it is “abandoning the sin alone,” “in one hour and one moment.” The essential point of teshuvah takes a single moment. The moment a person firmly resolves to abandon the sin—in one moment—he changes, as the Gemara says about a man who betroths a woman on the condition that he is righteous, even though he was utterly wicked. In a single moment, he goes from utterly wicked to completely righteous. That is the shift of teshuvah. It is the initial moment of a child’s formation. But building it takes forty days, and that is why there are forty fasts. That is why there are forty days of teshuvah, from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur. Forty days are needed. That completes the general structure. But after the structure is in place, the work continues into the details and finer details, without limit. Of this it is said that “all his days should be spent in teshuvah.” The entire year is about teshuvah. Teshuvah is ongoing, yes; that is already the

15:19 third stage of teshuvah. In any case, from all this we learn that forty is a very important, fundamental number in serving Hashem whenever something new is being built. There are three stages: the initial point, which takes a moment; building it, which takes forty days; and bringing it to its fullest expression, which has no limit. Its details extend endlessly, and that is what we see here in Igeres Hateshuvah as well. That is why the Alter Rebbe cites Rav Huna, who fasted forty fasts. Why? Because forty days complete the process. The number forty expresses the completion of teshuvah. It shows that he did teshuvah fully. True, there are also numbers greater than forty, as we said—eighty-four, one hundred and fifty-one. Those already relate to details without end. But when it comes to building the basic structure, to bringing it into its complete form, the number is forty. The Rebbe gives another very interesting example of this, concerning Rav Zeira. The Gemara says that Rav Zeira went from Bavel to Eretz Yisroel. He could not grasp the Jerusalem Talmud, so he fasted in order to forget the Babylonian Talmud and begin studying the Jerusalem Talmud. How many fasts did he undertake? There are two versions. One says a hundred fasts, and another says forty fasts. Some have the reading “forty fasts,” as in Bava Metzia. So why do some say a hundred fasts? That relates to what the Mishnah says: “At one hundred, it is as though he has died, passed on, and ceased to be part of the world.” The number one hundred represents a change from one extreme to the other. But according to those who say forty fasts—why forty? Based on what we have explained, it makes sense. What is the significance of the number forty in what Rav Zeira did? Because it is what gives form to the

19:31 The formation of a child takes forty days. What we’re discussing now, in particular, is two sets of forty. We’re talking about eighty years since 20 Menachem Av, and eighty years is twice forty—the open mem and the closed mem. This is explained: the Rebbe also cites, in that same sicha, what is brought in the books of Kabbalah, that the number forty is especially connected with binah and teshuvah. You see, teshuvah is associated with the sefirah of binah. But the Rebbe says this explicitly in Tanya, chapter 7: teshuvah ila’ah, the higher level of teshuvah, is associated with the sefirah of binah. Binah is ben Yud-Hei, which is the idea of teshuvah ila’ah: the sefirah of binah, learning Torah while engaged in it with awe and love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Now, what is the connection between the sefirah of binah and the number eighty? Binah is the eighth sefirah. According to Kabbalah, binah is called the eighth sefirah, because if we count the sefiros from the bottom up, there are seven sefiros from chesed through malchus, and binah is the eighth. We don’t count daas here. We count daas only when we don’t count keser, but according to Kabbalah we count keser and not daas. So binah is called the eighth, the eighth sefirah from the bottom up. That’s the aspect of binah: eight. And eight times ten is eighty. In other words, eighty represents completeness. So the number eighty is also associated with the sefirah of binah. That’s why it says, “I am binah; strength is mine,” and “At eighty, one attains strength”—which is also binah, the left side, the side of gevurah. So what does this mean in practice, in our avodah? That eighty represents teshuvah, and specifically teshuvah ila’ah, the completeness of teshuvah. The open mem and the closed mem. And we’ve spoken about this over the past few days.

21:47 In any case, even without the Kabbalah—let’s put the Kabbalah aside; that’s Kabbalah—what matters in practice is what this should do for us. Every one of us is now in the forty days of preparation for Rosh Hashanah, corresponding to the forty days of a child’s formation. So each of us needs to begin moving, to awaken. We’re already approaching Shabbos Mevarchim for the month of Elul. We’re already entering that atmosphere. The spirit of Elul needs to begin in each of us now, with “Open for Me an opening as small as the eye of a needle”: to awaken and begin serving Hashem with greater vigor and strength—in Torah, in davening, and in teshuvah. Each of these has a particular connection to forty, so that we can have a new foundation, a new ascent, and truly become new people. Then we will have a new and renewed year, in all matters, both material and spiritual.