הגהה ומה שכתוב בזהר חלק ג׳ דף רל״א: כל שממועטין עונותיו וכו׳ — NOTE As for what is written in the Zohar III, p. 231: “He whose sins are few [is classed as a ‘righteous man who suffers’],” implying that even according to the Zohar the meaning of a “righteous man who suffers” is one […]

תניא בסוף יומא: שלשה חלוקי כפרה הם It has been taught in a Beraita at the end of Tractate Yoma:1 There are three types of atonement, varying according to the different categories of transgression, ותשובה עם כל אחד and repentance [necessarily] accompanies each of them. עבר על מצות עשה ושב, אינו זז משם עד שמוחלין […]

אך ביאור הענין However, the explanation of the matter, so that we better understand the levels of tzaddik and Beinoni, as well as the various gradations within their ranks, על פי מה שכתב הרב חיים ויטאל ז״ל בשער הקדושה ובעץ חיים שער נ׳ פרק ב׳ [is to be found] in light of what Rabbi Chayim […]

However, in light of the above, it would seem that the same reasoning should apply with regard to transgressions: a higher degree of repentance should be necessary for violating a positive command than for transgressing a negative command — yet according to the above quotation from the Gemara in Yoma the opposite is true. The […]

The Beraita with which this chapter opened is now resumed: עבר על כריתות ומיתות בית דין, תשובה ויום הכפורים תולין, ויסורים ממרקין If one commits a sin [punishable by] excision or execution, repentance and Yom Kippur are tentative, so that the individual is not punished, and sufferings scour (פירוש: גומרין הכפרה, והוא מלשון מריקה ושטיפה, […]

(כדאיתא בגמרא ,פרק ג׳ דסנהדרין, ובחושן משפט, סוף סימן ל״ד, לענין עדות) (18cf. Sanhedrin, ch. 319; Choshen Mishpat, end of Sec. 34,20 regarding testimony21), where it is stated that if a potential witness simply abandons and does not repeat the transgression that had previously disqualified him, he is once again able to testify.22 דהיינו שיגמור […]

ולכן לא הזכירו הרמב״ם והסמ״ג שום תענית כלל במצות התשובה, אף בכריתות ומיתות בית דין It is for this reason that the Rambam and Sefer Mitzvot Gadol34 make no mention whatever of fasting as related to the mitzvah of repentance, even in the case of sins punishable by excision or capital sins. I.e., fasting is […]

ונפש השנית בישראל היא חלק אלו-ה ממעל ממש The second, uniquely Jewish, soul is truly “a part of G‑d above,” “A part of G‑d above” is a quotation from Scripture (Iyov 31:2). The Alter Rebbe adds the word “truly” to stress the literal meaning of these words. For, as is known,1 some verses employ hyperbolic […]

Repentance, as the Alter Rebbe explained in the opening chapter, is in no way synonymous with fasting for a sin that one has committed; repentance merely entails abandoning the sin for all time. This is so even with regard to transgressions — those punishable by excision or by execution — whose atonement becomes complete through […]

ועכשיו שאין לנו קרבן להפיק רצון מה׳, התענית הוא במקום קרבן, כמו שכתוב בגמרא: שיהא מיעוט חלבי ודמי שנתמעט כאלו הקרבתי לפניך כו׳ Today, when we have no offerings to call forth G‑d’s pleasure, fasting replaces the offering. As the Talmud says, that the prayer of one who is fasting is:7 “May my loss of […]