Daily Tanya

Note by the Rebbe: “The Alter Rebbe speaks of ‘the mitzvah of repentance’ (rather than ‘the content of repentance’ or simply ‘repentance’ and the like, recalling the expression of the Rambam in Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2). This would seem to indicate his stand on the basic content of repentance—that abandoning sin is a command of the Torah. This is so even according to the Rambam and the Semag, whose opinions he follows here (see Sefer Hamitzvot of the Tzemach Tzedek, beginning of Mitzvat Vidui U’Teshuvah) and not only according to the Ramban (on Nitzavim 30:11, quoted in Likkutei Torah on that verse). “In the preamble to Hilchot Teshuvah in Sefer Hayad (and it would seem that these introductory headings were written by the Rambam himself), we [likewise] read: ‘One positive command: That the sinner return from his sin before G-d and confess.’ Possibly, this preamble also serves as the source for the words of the Tzemach Tzedek, loc. cit. [So, too,] in Sefer Hamitzvot of the Rambam: ‘The seventy-third mitzvah is that He commanded us to confess [our transgressions] and to articulate them penitently (lit., ‘with teshuvah’).”

Parentheses are in the original text.

25b.

Subsection 29 ff.

Note by the Rebbe: “It will be noted that the Alter Rebbe does not cite Tractate Kiddushin (49b) and the section of the Shulchan Aruch entitled Even HaEzer (38:31) with regard to marriage, even though these two sources respectively precede Tractate Sanhedrin and Choshen Mishpat (see also Minchat Chinuch, Mitzvah 364). [The Gemara in Kiddushin teaches that even if an utterly wicked individual betrothed a woman on condition that he was a tzaddik, the betrothal is valid—for at that moment, he could have repented in his heart; the Shulchan Aruch in Even HaEzer determines that such a betrothal has a degree (albeit uncertain) of legal validity; and the Minchat Chinuch in fact cites the above-quoted Gemara to demonstrate that the abandonment of sin in itself constitutes teshuvah. Why, then, did the Alter Rebbe not draw on these sources?] “It could be suggested by way of explanation that he prefers to adduce proof from fiscal law where any particular case is not determined by a majority of instances. This is to say that it is not only in the majority of instances (but in all instances) that abandonment of sin alone suffices.”

The Rebbe notes that the Alter Rebbe’s point here is that the main element of repentance is not fasting, as he goes on to prove, but the abandonment of sin. However, the text also makes it clear that verbal confession is not essential to repentance (as is demonstrated by the citation from Choshen Mishpat where verbal confession is not mentioned). It is only that when one does confess verbally and ask for forgiveness, these steps are incorporated in his repentance and enhance it—for which reason Rambam speaks of them. Fasting, however, is a totally separate thing, as the Alter Rebbe explains at the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next—for which reason (as he goes on to say) “the Rambam and the Semag make no mention whatsoever of fasting as related to the mitzvah of repentance.”

Note by the Rebbe: “Though this requires action on his part, nevertheless, he so resolves.”

Note by the Rebbe: “For by transgressing a negative command, rebelliousness is evident—which is not the case when he fails to perform a positive command.”

Isaiah 55:7.

Note by the Rebbe: “The Alter Rebbe cites the parshah [Nitzavim] rather than simply stating that the quoted verse is found ‘in the Torah,’ as he does later on, in order to make it clear that he is not referring the reader to Parashat Vaetchanan (Deuteronomy 4:30), for there, the Torah merely relates events, as we see from the beginning of the text, ‘I call as witnesses against you….’ Furthermore, and more importantly (for it could be pointed out that even from a narrative in the Torah, we could learn what is considered repentance), there, the verse does not specify that it be done ‘with all your heart.’”

Deuteronomy 30:2.

The Rebbe suggests that the reason the Alter Rebbe quotes the Prophets (Isaiah) before the Torah (Deuteronomy) is that the Prophet explicitly states that repentance involves the abandonment of sin. The Rebbe adds: “See Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2.”

Hosea 14:2.

Lamentations 5:22.

Parentheses are in the original text.

Proverbs 27:19.

Ibid. 3:12.

Positive Command 16.

Numbers 5:7.

Sanhedrin 65a.

2:12.

4:16.

Note by the Rebbe: “Especially problematic here is the mention of mortifications, for in the context of averting a decree, the sources speak only of fasts, as in the Books of Esther and Joel cited above. An alternative explanation must therefore be found.”

Genesis 38:6-7.