Four Components of Teshuvah
13. We know from early rabbanim that there are four components to teshuvah: 1) Azivas hacheit [abandoning the aveirah] – the sinner must abandon his sin and remove it from his thoughts; 2) Vidui [confession] – He must verbally confess and say these matters that he resolved in his heart; 3) Charatah [regret] – He must regret his transgression, as the posuk says, “כי אחרי שובי נחמתי”; 4) Kabalah l’asid [future resolution] – he must resolve in his heart not to do it again (רמב"ם פ"ב ה"ב ). We will explain and focus on each one of the four components to teshuvah.
Charatah
14. The sinner must have total regret for transgressing Hashem’s will. The pain and regret will bring him to a complete, wholehearted desire to have never done what he did (רמב"ם הל' תשובה ).
15. He should understand that he sinned against the G-d of Yisroel, and his regret should come from an awareness that he compromised Hashem’s honor, not just from fear of punishment (שערי תשובה ).
Vidui
16. One must confess each aveirah he did. That is, he must say and confess before Hashem that he sinned against Him.
17. Reasons for vidui. We find several reasons that define the mitzvah of vidui (הגרא"ז בלייער, קונטרס אז יכנע ): 1) To be considered as someone doing teshuvah before Hashem (רמב"ם פ"א ה"א ); 2) To have charatah, as it is normal for one who confesses to have regret (שע "ת ש"א אות י"ט ); 3) To humble oneself before Hashem through vidui (חובת הלבבות פ"ד ) [this is why one must stand for vidui (שו"ע תר"ז ס"ג ) – it is a more humbling way to do it and one will confess wholeheartedly (מ"ב סק"י ). For this reason it is also proper to bow forward during vidui just like during Modim (מ"ב שם ) and bend the head, as that is also a form of humility]; 4) As a type of azivas hacheit, as one who verbally expresses regret will be more careful not to do it again (חינוך מ"ע שס"ד ).
Azivas HaCheit
18. Azivas hacheit means the sinner has to abandon the aveirah, change his negative characteristics that caused the aveirah, and change his ways. This is derived from the posuk “יעזוב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו” (שערי תשובה ).
Kabalah L’Asid
19. The sinner must abandon the aveirah, remove it from his thoughts, and distance himself from all the factors that lead to the aveirah. Thus, one should resolve in his heart with all his will not to sin again. He should also strengthen himself not to sin, i.e., he should take protective measures to distance himself from the aveirah so that he doesn’t easily repeat it. The Rishonim explain that the kabalah l’asid is part of azivas hacheit (רמב"ם, שערי תשובה ש"א אות י"א ); just some say azivas hacheit is first, then charatah (רמב"ם ), while others say charatah comes first, then azivas hacheit (שערי תשובה ).
20. Out of the four components of teshuvah, vidui and charatah are things that are easy to do. As long as a person does not cast off the yoke of mitzvos, ח"ו , he truly regrets what was done. It is also easy to do vidui, as strictly speaking one who says “חטאתי עוויתי ופשעתי” is yotzei (רמב"ם פ"ב ה"ז, טור, רמ "א סי' תר"ז ס"ג ). The difficulty in teshuvah is the kabalah l’asid not to sin anymore. We will now explain.
