The Ohr Hachaim asks: the possuk told us that we will do Teshuva and return to Hashem and His land. The possuk refers to a bona-fide Teshuva, it is done with all of our hearts and souls. And we will be rewarded for it with great bounty. We have been returned to Eretz Yisroel, Hashem has taken pity on us, we have been gathered in from the corners of the world, even if we have traveled great distances from Him. What more is missing? How are we still distant from Hashem? Why do we still need our hearts to be circumcised? Are we not pure in front of Him?
Another question the Ohr Hachaim asks is from the possuk later that says וְאַתָּה תָּשׁוּב וְשָּׁמַעְתָּ בְקוֹל ה' וְעָּשִׂיתָּ אֶת כָּל מִׂצְוֹתָּיו אֲשֶׁר אָּנֹכִׂי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם - and you shall return and listen to the voice of Hashem and you shall perform all of his commandments that I am commanding you today. Why is a new teshuva necessary? The first mention of teshuva includes וְשַׁבְתָּ עַׁד ה' א -לֹהֶיךָ...... בְכָּל לְבָּבְךָ וּבְכָּל נַׁפְשֶךָ – you shall return to Hashem your G-d with all of your heart and all of your soul. Nobody can claim that the original teshuva is somehow lacking, and the reward Hashem will give us will be commensurate. What is this new teshuva the Torah is describing?
Essentially, this Parsha mentions teshuva three times, telling us that we need to do teshuva three times; the first one is וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד ה' א לוֹקיךָ – and you shall return until Hashem, your G-d. The second is, וּמָּל ה' א לוקיךָ אֶת לְבָּבְךָ – and Hashem shall circumcise your hearts. The third is וְאַתָּה תָּשׁוּב וְשָּמַׁעְתָּ בְקוֹל ה' – and you shall return and listen to the voice of Hashem. What is the purpose of these three teshuvos? How do they differ from each other and why are they all necessary?
The Ohr Hachaim explains his point based on that which he already wrote in last week’s Parsha. He learned the entire rebuke of Parshas Ki Savo with this idea. There are three aspects to a complete worship of Hashem and teshuva, and they must be completed in the correct order. A person must learn Torah, be careful not to transgress any prohibitions, and then be careful to follow all positive commands. If a person does not learn the Torah and attempts to be careful with his prohibitions, he will not be successful. By learning Torah, he will have the Divine assistance necessary to be protected from his evil inclination, and his work in fighting his yetzer hara will be successful. If he attempts to fight the yetzer hara without learning Torah as he should, he will never see any success. If he has not cleaned up the prohibitions he has transgressed and is still mired in sin, his positive actions will not be accepted on High. It is like serving a meal to the king on a dirty plate. Only when a person has cleansed himself from the aveiros that he does, ‘divorced his gentile wife’ and distanced himself from these prohibitions, can he attempt to begin his ascent on the mountain of service of Hashem.
When a person attempts to do teshuva, he must focus on these three matters, and constantly check himself to see where he is holding in these endeavors. But the Ohr Hachaim adds that this must be done in the specific order that the Torah gives us. A Mashal to this would be a large library filled with all kinds of Seforim. When a library has a huge variety of books, it must be kept in order. If a person seeks a Gemara and finds an obscure teshuva sefer in its place, he will never get to do his research. In fact, Reb Elchanan Wasserman used to say – when things are in order, the more Seforim a library has, the better it is. A person can find whichever Sefer he is searching for. When things are disorderly, and Seforim are not placed in their correct places, the more Seforim a library has, the worse things are.
Many people, specifically at this time of the year, wish to do teshuva on many aveiros at once. They often do not know where to start doing teshuva, which aveiros to repair first, and how to go about things. The Ohr Hachaim is our teacher for these matters, and he set up the order as above – first learning Torah, then cleaning out the prohibitions that he has mired himself in, and only lastly increasing the mitzvos he performs, in quantity and quality.
These are the three types of teshuva mentioned in this parsha.
Learning Torah as the first step.
The first one is וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד ה' א לוקיךָ וְשָּׁמַעְתָּ בְקֹלוֹ that a person should return to Hashem through learning Torah. The yetzer hara sometimes convinces a person that although he has not repaired his neshama and has not learned much, he must now focus on more basic things than sitting and learning. He misinterprets various expressions of Chazal and tells a person that without having repaired his other aveiros, he cannot start learning. The Ohr Hachaim tells all of us, in all generations, that this is never true. The first step for every person, wherever he is standing, whatever his spiritual position currently is, is to open a Gemara and delve into it. He must make for himself a serious commitment to learning Torah. Only then can he be considered someone who is וְשָּׁמַעְתָּ בְקֹלוֹ listening to His voice. The Zohar explains that when a person learns Torah, the Torah reveals to him that which he is missing in life and avodas Hashem. Only through learning Torah are these secrets uncovered. The Torah works like a magic lamp, illuminating a person’s soul and highlighting the stains and rips in its fabric, showing a person where he should focus when he reaches the next level of teshuva.
When we reach this level of teshuva, delving into Torah and toiling on its meaning, our reward will be וְשָּׁב ה' א לוקיךָ אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ וְרִׂ חֲמֶךָ וְשָּׁב וְקִׂבֶצְךָ מִׂכׇּל הָּעַמִׂים אֲשֶׁר ה פִׂיצְךָ ה' א לוֹקיךָ שָּׁמָּה - then Hashem your G-d will return your captives, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Hashem your G-d has scattered you. As the Zohar (Vol. 3 pg 74a) tells us, the merit of toiling in Torah will bring our redemption. A possuk (Yirmiyah 9:11-12) מִׂי הָּאִׂישׁ הֶחָּכָּם וְיָּבֵן אֶת זֹאת... עַל מָּה אָּבְדָּה הָּאָּרֶץ .......עַל עׇּזְבָּם אֶת תוֹרָּתִׂי אֲשֶׁר נָּתַתִׂי לִׂפְנֵיהֶם וְלֹא שָּׁ מְעוּ בְקוֹלִׂי וְלֹא הָּלְכוּ בָּהּ - Who is the wise man that may understand this? Why has the land perished.......Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein. The reason for the exile is that we didn’t wish to learn Torah, and the redemption will come when we repair this breach.
The Ohr Hachaim, in many other places, adds an explanation as to how Torah brings redemption. Klal Yisroel were sent into exile to uplift and redeem the sparks of kedusha that are trapped under layers of impurity in the lands of the diaspora. When a person finds himself in a place that has hidden powers of holiness, through Hashem’s hashgacha, he uplifts those sparks through the mitzvos he performs there. However, when he learns Torah, wherever he is, he pulls those sparks toward him, and they are no longer hidden and trapped in exile. Learning Torah negates the need for Klal Yisroel to be in exile, we can do the job of exile from wherever we are, working remotely, as it were.
When a person learns Torah, his life is settled and he is redeemed from his personal exile. He can now focus on what he has to do, and he can follow the rest of the plan of teshuva. Now he can repair his soul.
We are then ready for the next level of teshuva, which is being careful from prohibitions. If a person attempts to jump to a higher level, adding mitzvos and extras – stringencies and depth, before having repaired his prohibitions, he is akin to a person who builds a magnificent edifice on a foundation of quicksand. His basis is weak and easily destroyed, and his mitzvos will not last too long.
Step two: Keeping away from prohibitions.
וּמָּל ה' א לוֹקיךָ אֶת לְבָּבְךָ – and Hashem your G-d shall circumcise your heart. The evil part of the heart is that which pushes a person to do wicked deeds and to love the wicked. A person’s heart, after being influenced by the evil inclination, naturally chases after evil, and the evil punishes him with its evil. When Hashem circumcises those parts of the person’s nature, and he distances himself from the aveiros that he has done, Hashem will overturn his heart to love Hashem. Until now, this person has foolishly allowed his heart to be led astray, and he has increased his love of this world, his love of wicked deeds, and his love of ephemeral pleasures. When he circumcises his heart and distances himself from these deeds, the same love shall be overturned and used for Hashem. The power of lust and desire that has been captive under a person’s evil inclination and used for nonsense and wickedness will now be overturned and used for positive matters, and the person will have what he wants and desires, but in a holy manner. Instead of loving iniquity, he will love Hashem and his mitzvos.
It is noticeable that this part of Teshuva is done by Hashem. Hashem will circumcise a person’s heart. If he does his part, setting up boundaries and a plan as to how to stop doing aveiros, he will end up with Divine assistance and be successful in the circumcision of his heart.
The reward for this is וְנָּתַן ה' א לוקיךָ אֵת כׇּל הָּאָּלוֹת הָּאֵלֶה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ וְעַל שֹנְאֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר רְ דָּפוּך – and Hashem your G-d will place all of these curses on your enemies and haters that persecute you. When a person has weaned himself of his evil inclination, his evil inclination leaves him and looks for somewhere else to go and drag his package of curses and negativity along with him. Where better than our enemies and haters, who really hate Hashem and everything Torah stands for? The punishments that we undergo will be for those who truly deserve them. They are the nest of iniquity in the world, and there is no better place for the evil inclination to rest than with them.
Step three: keeping the positive commandments.
When a person has cleaned up his act, and no longer chases evil deeds, he is ready to repair the third part of his soul. Now he can follow Hashem with וְאַתָּה תָּשׁוּב וְשָּׁמַעְתָּ בְקוֹל ה' וְעָּשִׂיתָּ אֶת כׇּל מִׂצְוֹתָּיו אֲשֶׁר אָּנֹכִׂי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם - You shall return and obey the voice of Hashem, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. The person will now keep all of His mitzvos and make sure not to miss one of them. Another act of chessed, some more honor of a parent, being careful with the halachos of davening, or increasing focus on the mitzvos that we do already, are all included in this level of teshuva.
When a person does so, his reward is וְהוֹתִׂירְ ךָ ה' א לוֹקיךָ בְכֹל מַעֲשֵה יָּדֶךָ בִׂפְרִׂ י בִׂטְנְךָ וּבִׂפְרִׂ י בְהֶמְתְךָ וּבִׂפְרִׂ י אַדְמָּתְךָ לְטֹבָּה כִׂי יָּשׁוּב יְהוָֹּה לָּשוּש עָּלֶיךָ לְטוֹב כַאֲשֶׁר שָּש עַל אֲבֹתֶיךָ - Hashem your G-d will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Hashem will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers. When a person is careful not to transgress any prohibitions, he is protected from evil and difficulty. However, it takes a focus on positive commandments to bring positive effects to a person’s life and the world. When a person increases the positive commandments he fulfills, giving more tzedaka or between a man and Hashem, he receives more positive blessing in his life.
This piece of the Ohr Hachaim, although we have translated it once in the past, needs to be learned many times and understood properly. When we do so, we will have a clear picture of the path of teshuva, and we will not be stumbling around looking for a way out of our aveiros. The Ohr Hachaim is a map, an entire Shulchan Aruch, of how to do teshuva and replace our warped ways with a Torah path.
