Igeres Hateshuvah - General Introduction

00:00 Well, as is generally known, we’re approaching the month of Elul, the time for teshuvah. In Hayom Yom it is called the month of reckoning; it is also the month of mercy. It has quite a few names and quite a few acronyms. The Rebbe always spoke about the five acronyms associated with Elul, each connected to an aspect of serving Hashem: purification, prayer, tzedakah, teshuvah, and Geulah. And of course, as we learn in the maamarim, the main theme of Elul is teshuvah. Elul is the last month, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah. What does “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” mean? It is the time of “I am my beloved’s,” and so on. Many books have been written to explain teshuvah, but the Alter Rebbe introduced something very new here. The Alter Rebbe wrote Igeres Hateshuvah; originally, as is known, it was not part of Tanya but a work on its own. He wrote it as a letter, an epistle explaining teshuvah according to Chassidus. It was written in the form of an epistle for the chassidim, just as Igeres Hakodesh contains many letters on tzedakah. The Alter Rebbe was the Alter Rebbe: he revealed Chabad Chassidus and gave every subject a systematic treatment. So there is Tanya, which deals with the avodah of the beinoni, and there is Igeres Hateshuvah, which was originally separate. It was not printed together with Tanya at all; it was printed on its own. Some years later, the Alter Rebbe revised it, and it was included in Tanya. The wording changed as well. Today the earlier version of Igeres Hateshuvah has also been printed, and you can see that there are many, very substantial differences between the two versions. But of course, the Alter Rebbe decided to include it in Tanya. So he

04:59 divided it into twelve chapters, and that is the Igeres Hateshuvah we have today. The Rebbe said many times that although the Alter Rebbe originally wrote Igeres Hateshuvah as a separate work, not as part of Tanya, and only later joined it to Tanya, nevertheless, since in practice it became part of the book of Tanya, the verse on Tanya’s title page applies to Igeres Hateshuvah too. The verse the Alter Rebbe puts on the title page of the whole Tanya is: “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” In other words, regarding serving Hashem in general—what is called the avodah of the beinoni—the Alter Rebbe comes to teach us that “it is very close to you”: every single person is capable of it; it is close and relevant. He teaches how a Jew can serve Hashem and be a beinoni in thought, speech, and action. The same is true of teshuvah. Igeres Hateshuvah has that very same aim: “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” It teaches us about the avodah of teshuvah. If you study teshuvah in various books, particularly works of Kabbalah and other books, it can sometimes sound extremely difficult, as though it involves far too many things. Even Shaarei Teshuvah by Rabbeinu Yonah—who was not a Kabbalist and writes more in the language of mussar and halachah—makes it very difficult. He sets out many conditions and many details. With so many details, a person can sometimes feel that it is too much. Especially since later books also discussed fasts, mortifications, and all sorts of things one must do to rectify the soul. So often, when a Jew approaches teshuvah,

06:51 he looks in those books and it seems impossible to do. So when the Alter Rebbe wrote “For the matter is very close to you” on Tanya’s title page, he meant teshuvah as well: to explain how it is very close, how the avodah of teshuvah is within everyone’s reach, relevant to everyone, and suitable for everyone. Teshuvah itself is an avodah; the point is simply to teach us the way. That is what the Alter Rebbe did. What is more, the Rebbe points out that the verse itself—there is a sicha of the Rebbe in volume 30, on Parshas Nitzavim, about the verse “For the matter is very close to you”; we’ll mention this part too—when you look at the early commentators, you find a disagreement over what the verse means. What “matter” is it speaking about? From Rashi, it would seem that it refers to the entire Torah and its mitzvos. Rashi explains “For the matter is very close to you” as a continuation of the preceding verses: “For this commandment is not beyond you, nor is it far away from you,” and “Nor is it across the sea.” These are the well-known verses in Parshas Nitzavim. According to Rashi, “this commandment” appears to refer to the entire Torah and its mitzvos. It is about them that the verse says, “For the matter is very close to you.” “The matter” means Torah and mitzvos. That fits with Yalkut Shimoni and with Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe applies “For the matter is very close to you” to all of our service of Hashem, and, as is known, to the avodah of the beinoni. But the Ramban disagrees with Rashi on this verse. The Ramban says that “the matter” is singular, so it does not refer to the entire Torah and its mitzvos. Since it says “the matter” in the singular, the Ramban says it refers to a verse earlier in the same parsha, Parshas Nitzavim: “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d”—the mitzvah of teshuvah. In fact, that is the verse the Alter Rebbe cites here in chapter 1. The mitzvah

08:49 of teshuvah from the Torah, as it says, “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d.” The Alter Rebbe explicitly says that in Parshas Nitzavim it says, “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d.” So according to the Ramban, “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d” is the mitzvah of teshuvah, and it is about teshuvah that the verse says, “For the matter is very close to you.” This makes it even clearer that the Alter Rebbe’s point is to explain that the avodah of teshuvah, too, is very close to everyone. It is very interesting. This is a very important point—really, very, very important to understand. Why? Because if you approach it this way, it helps you understand many things here in Tanya. You see that in Igeres Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe seems to be explaining the essence of teshuvah in a way that does not require a person to be on some special spiritual level. For example, look at the Alter Rebbe’s entire treatment of suffering. In Tanya, throughout the first three chapters of Igeres Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe explains the subject at length according to the revealed dimension of Torah. Throughout the discussion, you can see what the Alter Rebbe is trying to explain to us: when you learn Gemara, it isn’t so simple. You learn Maseches Yoma, the relevant discussions, Midrashim, and so on; you learn mussar works, and it sounds as though teshuvah necessarily involves suffering and purification. There is such a concept of suffering and purification, and mussar works discuss it as one of the components of teshuvah. The bochurim who studied here with him will remember that the rosh yeshivah cites Rabbeinu Yonah. In Shaarei Teshuvah, Rabbeinu Yonah speaks about it in [unclear], as one of the components of teshuvah: having to go and break one’s attachment to the physical, to break the body. Teshuvah, measures corresponding to the sin, all sorts of approaches to teshuvah, which…

11:00 There has to be pain corresponding to the pleasure, and so on. Then the Alter Rebbe comes along and does away with that entirely. The Alter Rebbe explains that everything our Sages said about suffering that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings upon a person is not your concern at all; it is not part of a person’s avodah of teshuvah. Here you can see “for it is very close to you” in a tangible way. In other words, the Alter Rebbe comes and says: Everything written about those things does not apply to you. It is not a person’s avodah; it is not the teshuvah a person needs to do. A person’s avodah of teshuvah is something else entirely. And there are a number of other examples along these lines. There is the matter of fasting: the Alter Rebbe says that in our generation one must not fast, and he replaces fasting with tzedakah. All these kinds of things have one purpose, one point: to explain “for it is very close to you.” This has practical implications, in which the Alter Rebbe is lenient on a number of matters. There was a saying about this. There’s a story I heard recently about a meeting between a chossid and a misnaged in the time of the Tzemach Tzedek. They were two important rabbis. One was a Chassidic rabbi; I don’t remember whether it was Reb Aizik of Homil or someone else, but in any case he was one of the great chassidim. The Chassidic rabbi and the misnagdic rabbi met and spoke together, and the chossid showed him Tanya, Igeres Hateshuvah, and they discussed it. The misnaged was a rabbi very much devoted to mussar, something like that. He studied the first chapters of Igeres Hateshuvah, and then he said to him, “I see that the Alter Rebbe is very lenient about fasting and self-mortification. He is very lenient about teshuvah, about the process of rectification.” So the chossid answered him, “That’s right, he

12:59 is lenient about the rectification of teshuvah, but he is strict about the transgression.” When you study Tanya, you know that a transgression is a serious thing. The Alter Rebbe is strict about the transgression and lenient about its rectification. That is very important, because it explains a fundamental principle of Tanya very powerfully. On the one hand, the Alter Rebbe teaches us the depth of what sin and wrongdoing are, what spiritual damage is, what happens when a transgression is committed, what happens to the soul, and just how serious it is. On the other hand, when I say “for the matter is very close to you,” we need to understand that “very close to you” does not simply mean that the Alter Rebbe comes to make it easier. That is a mistake. I remember Rabbi Zalman Auer... [?] once spoke about this, just before he became ill, the last time, I think. He spoke about this point. It is very interesting. He explained that people understand “for it is very close to you” to mean that the Alter Rebbe came to make it easy. But “close” does not mean “easy.” The translation of “close” is “close”: to bring it closer, to make it more accessible, you could say. That is, more relevant, closer—but not necessarily easier. “Easy” is not the right word. And this is very important to our subject. What is the foundation of Igeres Hateshuvah? Its foundation is that the Alter Rebbe comes to tell us that teshuvah means to return. Yes? Teshuvah means returning to who you really are. In other words, what the Alter Rebbe teaches us in Igeres Hateshuvah is that if I understand what a soul is, if I understand the soul’s connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, if I understand that “Hashem’s people are His portion,” that my essence is a part of G-dliness,

15:00 and that the name Havayah within the soul is connected to the name Havayah above, then I understand the soul’s great stature, the damage caused by a transgression, and the whole matter. And teshuvah means to return. In other words, teshuvah does not mean that you have to start something new. Teshuvah does not mean starting something new or doing something different. You return to your inner essence. You come to return to Hashem truly and wholeheartedly. So “for it is very close to you” means something much deeper here. “Close to you” means close. Yes? Close means that it is part of me. That is what “close to you” means. I don’t have to go looking for teshuvah in the seventh heaven. I don’t have to go off somewhere and become someone else. You don’t have to do something different. You have to return to your inner self and connect with it. So teshuvah is within you, inside. It means revealing your inner self. And then teshuvah is close. It is close because it is within me, it belongs to me, it is part of me. There is also a sicha of the Rebbe about this, a famous sicha. The boys know it. There is a famous sicha in which the Rebbe discusses the translation of the word teshuvah. In English, and in other languages too, including Spanish—if you ask someone on the street how to translate teshuvah into ordinary language, in Spanish they say arrepentimiento, and in English, repentance. The Rebbe cites this in Likkutei Sichos: that is how it is translated in everyday language. And the Rebbe says that in Hebrew, that is not teshuvah; that is regret. I regret what I did. The idea is that I was on the wrong path, and now I regret it and start on a different path. But the true meaning of teshuvah, as we said, is not to regret; it is to return. Of course there is an element of

16:59 regret as one of the components of teshuvah. If you don’t regret what you did, you’ll do it again. But that is not the essence of teshuvah. The essence of teshuvah is to return. And if you understand the word “return,” it is, if anything, the opposite of regret. Regret means: I was on a faulty path; I need to start a new one. Teshuvah means: No. At your core you are a Jew; at your core you are a part of G-dliness; at your core you belong. That is your true place. You need to return to that place—to return to your essence, to your innermost point. So this once again explains the depth of “for it is very close to you”: the avodah of teshuvah is close to everyone; it is part of serving Hashem. All right, in practical terms, how is Igeres Hateshuvah divided? If we want to divide it up, we can say generally that every three chapters form a subject. There are twelve chapters. I think we can divide them broadly into four parts. Let’s try to see how that works. Chapters one, two, and three are the revealed dimension of Torah. The Alter Rebbe explains teshuvah according to the revealed dimension: What is the Torah’s mitzvah of teshuvah? Which aspects of teshuvah are also required by the Torah, but are details rather than its essence? There is the mitzvah of teshuvah itself; there is confession and atonement—sorry. After that he addresses fasting, and then he speaks about tzedakah. In other words, he explains the process of teshuvah according to halachah. That is the body of the subject, and there are wonderful novel insights there. When you study Tanya, every line is... That is chapters one, two, and three. Chapters four, five, and six are three chapters in which the Alter Rebbe explains the deeper meaning of sin. To understand how to do teshuvah, we need to understand what happens when a person commits a transgression. As we said, the Alter Rebbe is strict

18:50 Through sin. So what does the Alter Rebbe explain in chapters 4, 5, and 6? He explains the greatness of the soul. This shows what Chassidus is about: Chassidus does not begin by talking about the transgression. To understand the depth of a transgression, you first have to understand what a Jew is. We begin with the positive side. What is a Jew? What is a soul? He explains the soul’s superiority over all created beings, even angels. He explains how “For Hashem’s portion is His people”—the Yud-Hei and Vav-Hei—shines within every soul, and what those letters mean within the soul. He explains “and He blew,” referring to the soul down here, in the body. From there, he develops the deep, inner connection between the soul below and the soul above, and the cord that connects them. Then, when a person commits a transgression, a separation occurs; a blemish develops. The cord weakens, and that distance can reach the point of kares, which is in the hands of Heaven—being cut off, may Hashem spare us, from the source of life. He also explains the difference between the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood and the time of exile. So chapters 4, 5, and 6 explain what a sin or transgression brings about. Chapters 7, 8, 9, and half of 10—that is three chapters plus a bit—deal with teshuvah tata’ah and teshuvah ila’ah. What does a person do in teshuvah? What is the actual avodah of teshuvah? Essentially, if we look at Chassidus as practical avodah, how does Chassidus view the practice of teshuvah? Chapter 7 deals with teshuvah tata’ah. In chapter 8, he moves from teshuvah tata’ah to teshuvah ila’ah. Chapter 9 explains the details of teshuvah ila’ah, and the beginning of chapter 10 adds a few more details. Broadly speaking, these chapters—7, 8, 9, and half of 10—explain the stages of teshuvah: teshuvah tata’ah and teshuvah ila’ah, the difference between them, what each means, and exactly what we need to do and how to do it. The second half of chapter 10, and chapters 11 and 12,

20:48 you could say, are the last three chapters, and they deal with joy. The Alter Rebbe comes to explain the joy that must be part of the avodah of teshuvah. This is one of the great innovations of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the importance of joy in general, but the idea that there must be joy in teshuvah is something new. Ask someone who has not studied Chassidus about teshuvah, and seemingly they cannot understand it: How can you do teshuvah with joy? The two do not seem to go together. But in these last three chapters, the Alter Rebbe reveals how there must be joy, primarily in teshuvah ila’ah. He then explains teshuvah together with trust, and afterward the idea of suffering accepted with love, suffering accepted with joy. Those are the final chapters of Igeres Hateshuvah. So that is the overall structure of Igeres Hateshuvah. Now, one last point about Igeres Hateshuvah for today. We know that the Rebbe gave the most wonderful explanations of it. That is, the Rebbe devoted particular attention to Igeres Hateshuvah. It is remarkable, but we can see plainly that, more than any other part of Tanya, Igeres Hateshuvah has explanations from the Rebbe. For several years, the Rebbe would explain a passage from Igeres Hateshuvah at one farbrengen after another. This continued for years, and thanks to that we have wonderful sichos. Not only that: in later years, the Rebbe also edited a large portion of those sichos, in 5750 and 5751. I remember those Elul months, when I was in yeshivah. Yes, in 5750 and 5751, from Menachem Av until Yom Kippur, on most Shabbosim the weekly booklet was not about the parsha; it was devoted entirely to Igeres Hateshuvah. Those were, so to speak, the week’s Likkutei Sichos, from Menachem Av 5750 until Yom Kippur 5751. Similarly,

23:05 from Menachem Av 5751 until Yom Kippur 5752. I do not remember the exact details now, but more or less, on those Shabbosim, that was the Likkutei Sichos booklet. Every Shabbos the Rebbe edited one of the sichos. They provide the foundations for understanding Igeres Hateshuvah in depth. The Rebbe maintained that in our generation—and the Rebbe explained this plainly as well—because we are the generation of the Geulah, and the Rambam says that the Torah has promised that, in the end, the Jewish people will do teshuvah and immediately be redeemed, Igeres Hateshuvah has a particular relevance. This began after the Six-Day War; that was mainly when it started. At that time, the Rebbe said that Igeres Hateshuvah should also be printed separately, and a separate booklet of Igeres Hateshuvah was published. From then, shortly after the Six-Day War, the Rebbe began preparing the world for the Geulah and spoke about how the preparation for the Geulah must be through teshuvah. That was when the explanations of Igeres Hateshuvah began. Igeres Hateshuvah together with the Rebbe’s explanations is simply an extraordinary work of genius. You see depth within depth, how every word in Tanya has such profound meaning. It is astonishing. And as is well known, a large part of this is also based on Reb Levi’s notes in his copy of Tanya, which the Rebbe cherished greatly. Reb Levi’s notes contain explanations throughout Tanya. Nevertheless, the eighteen notes Reb Levi wrote on Igeres Hateshuvah became the basis for most of the explanations we now have in Likkutei Sichos, volume 39. They are wonderful explanations that illuminate all of Igeres Hateshuvah for us. With Hashem’s help, in the next class we will choose one of the chapters. We will not learn it from the beginning; we simply do not have much time, so we will take just one chapter. I am still, how should I put it, looking into whether it will be chapter 7 or 8. But in any case, with Hashem’s help, we will study one of these chapters

25:00 inside the text.