אגרת התשובה

LIKKUTEI AMARIM PART THREECalled “Iggeret Hateshuvah”*For an introduction to this part of the Tanya, see Addendum, p. a.It has been taught in a Baraita at the end of Tractate Yoma:186a. There are three types of atonement, and repentance accompanies each. If one neglects a positive commandment and repents, he is forgiven forthwith. If one violates a prohibition and repents, his repentance is tentative, and Yom Kippur atones.

(This means that though, in terms of fulfillment, positive commandments are superior and supersede2Yevamot 3b. prohibitions, this is because by performing a positive command one precipitates an illumination and flow into the higher worlds3Kabbalah and Chasidut explain the difficulty in creating a finite physical universe by an infinite Creator with the concept of tzimtzum, or contraction, concealment. There was a series of concealments of the presence and infinitude of the Creator, resulting ultimately in our physical universe, in the virtually total obscuring of G–d. The noncorporeal intermediate steps between Creator and this material world are called “Worlds,” four in general terms, with innumerable subgradations within each of these Worlds. The highest World is Atzilut, “Emanation,” a state of proximity and relative unity with G–d. Lower Worlds appear to be independent, entities apart from the Creator. In the fourth, Asiyah or “Action,” there is the spiritual plane where physical matter does not yet exist, and the final corporeal World we inhabit. “Higher” and “lower” refer to stages closer or more distant from the Creator, with a deeper or lesser awareness of Him, hence a greater or lesser awareness of their own being. (There is no implication of physical distance, an obviously irrelevant concept.) Through performance of mitzvot, positive commandments, subordinating the physical world and specific objects at hand to a higher, Divine purpose, all stages (or Worlds) experience a clearer apprehension of the Creator, become “closer” to Him, His presence and being becoming more evident. This “illumination” extends also to the individual soul performing the mitzvah. It will be noted shortly that sin has the opposite effect, both for the transgressing soul and “higher.” It is of interest that the beneficial results of good and the deleterious effects of misdeed concern far more than the individual involved. Man’s importance is cosmic. All the “worlds” feel the repercussions of man’s actions. This concept of man as the ultimate in Creation, the determinant of the fate of the universe, is found frequently. See Rashi on Genesis 1:1 for a typical statement. The word “reflected” is used in the text here for, at most, the revelation is at a far remove from His true being, or even from the light emanating from Him. The term hints at the unbridgable chasm between finite and what, for want of a better word, we call the Infinite. Some of the terms discussed here are explained more fully in the Translator’s Explanatory Notes to On Learning Chassidus and in The Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskalah Movement, p. 110, footnotes 3 and 4. Likkutei Amarim, Parts 1 and 2 are, of course, primary sources. from the reflected Light of the En Sof, blessed is He, (in Zohar4 Tikkunei Zohar 30. we find the 248 positive commandments equated with the 248 “organs5The revelation of G–d effected by performance of mitzvot varies according to each mitzvah, for example, a mitzvah of thought (Torah study, etc.), speech (Shema reading, etc.), or deed (charity, donning tefillin, etc.). A different organ of the body performs the mitzvah, and a different “organ of the King” is revealed through the performance, perception of a different aspect of the Creator. (The 613 Biblical commandments are divided into 248 positive and 365 negative commandments.) of the King”) and also to his Divine soul,6See Likkutei Amarim, end of chapter 1, and chapter 2, describing “animal” and Divine souls. as we declare in the blessings, “Who has hallowed us with His commandments.”7The blessing recited before performing a mitzvah is associated with a positive act rather than with the (passive) restraints exercised in observing a prohibition. Performance brings sanctification with it. But concerning repentance, though the punishment for rebelling against His rule and not performing the King’s word is commuted, nonetheless, that illumination is withheld….8The status quo ante, as it were, is maintained. The beneficence ensuing from performance is not granted, but neither is there any charge of neglect.

Our Sages9 Berachot 26a. apply the verse, “A misdeed that cannot be corrected,”10Ecclesiastes 1:15. to neglecting the evening reading of Shema or….11…the morning reading (Deuteronomy 6:7) or morning or evening prayer. Though he will be scrupulous henceforth about reading the morning and evening Shema forevermore, his repentance is ineffectual in correcting what he once neglected.

By violating a prohibition, evil cleaves to his soul, he impairs its root and origin (in the garbs of the ten sefirot12The sefirot are attributes or aspects of G–d, approximating the intellectual and emotive attributes of man, and are indeed the sources of these human attributes. Man reveals himself, he acts, through his attributes (or their “garbs”—thought, speech, and deed). The revelation of G–d, His actions, are similarly through His attributes, the ten sefirot. These sefirot exist on each of the Four Worlds noted above in note 3. See the Explanatory Notes cited there. of Asiyah,13Corporeal man exists on the physical plane of Asiyah, derives from the spiritual Asiyah. as Tikkunei Zohar14Introduction. writes, “You have made garments for them,15i.e., the ten sefirot. from which souls issue forth to man….”) Therefore there is no atonement for his own soul or higher until Yom Kippur, as is written, “He will atone for the holy place for the impurities of Israel and their sins…before G–d will you be purified.”16Leviticus 16:16. “Holy place” refers to atonement for the impure who entered the Sanctuary. See Tractate Shavuot, beginning. Before G–d is stressed.17Indicating that purification must attain to that high plane, “before G–d” Himself.

Hence one dare not infer any leniency from this, G–d forbid, in the positive commandments, particularly in Torah study. On the contrary, our Sages assert, “G–d has pardoned idolatry…”18Jerusalem Talmud, Chagigah 1:7. The Sage infers from Jeremiah 9:12, “Because they forsook My Torah” (were the afflictions of exile to be brought upon Israel) that the cause of exile was not idolatry, licentiousness, or bloodshed, but rejection of Torah. These three are cited because of their exceptional gravity (they alone must be kept even at the price of martyrdom) and because the Prophets had denounced these shortcomings in the people.—though excision and capital punishment are involved—“and did not pardon neglect of Torah study.”)

If one commits a sin of excision19See Exodus 12:19 and 21:21 for examples. or execution, repentance and Yom Kippur are tentative and sufferings scour (i.e., they complete the atonement. Memarkin, the expression here, denotes scouring and rinsing to “polish” the soul. Kapparah, atonement, is the term for cleaning, removing the impurities of the sin), as we find, “I shall remember with a rod their sins, and with afflictions their misdeeds.”20Psalms 89:23. Thus far the Baraita.

The commandment of repentance as required by the Torah is simply the abandonment of sin (cf. Sanhedrin,2125b. ch. 3; Choshen Mishpat, end of sect. 34, regarding witnesses). He must resolve in perfect sincerity never again to revert to folly to rebel against His rule, blessed be He; he will never again violate the King’s command, G–d forbid, neither a positive command nor a prohibition.

This is the basic meaning of the term teshuvah, repentance, to return to G–d with all his heart and soul, to serve Him, and to keep all His commandments. “Let the wicked abandon his way, and the sinful his thoughts, and return to G–d….”22Isaiah 55:7. In Parashat Nitzavim it is written: “Return to the L–rd your G–d and hearken to His voice…with all your heart…,”23Deuteronomy 30:2. and “Return O Israel to the L–rd your G–d…,”24Hosea 14:2. and “Bring us back, L–rd, to You….”25Lamentations 5:22.

This is not at all the common conception that repentance is synonymous with fasting. Even where sufferings are the completion of atonement, as in the case of sins of excision or execution, G–d brings the sufferings on the sinner. (“I shall remember with a rod,” clearly specifies I.) When the repentance is acceptable before Him, as he returns to G–d with all his heart and soul out of love, then following the initiative from below,26Kabbalah and Chasidut frequently refer to the dual concepts of “arousal (or stimulation, awakening, initiative) from below,” meaning by human beings, and “arousal from Above” by G–d. Either may be the cause of the other. For example, the Exodus was the result of G–d’s initiative, arousal from above, for the people had not “earned” redemption. The hurried escape, the arousal below, followed. During the Rosh Hashanah repentance period, initiative must come from below, repentance, followed by an arousal Above, forgiveness. The initial stimulation awakens a dormant reaction. (The terms are found in Zohar II:135b). and “As water reflects the Countenance…,”27Proverbs 27:19. there is an awakening Above, arousing the love and kindness of G–d, to scour his sin through affliction in this physical world. “For whom the L–rd loves He chastises….”28Ibid., 3:12.

Therefore Maimonides and Sefer Mitzvot Gadol make no mention of fasting in the mitzvah of teshuvah, even for sins of excision or capital sins. They cite only confession and the plea for forgiveness—“They shall confess their sin….”29Numbers 5:7.

But then we find in Joel,302:12. “Return to Me with all your hearts, with fasting and weeping….” However, this was to nullify the Heavenly decree that had already been issued, to expunge the sin of the generation through the affliction of locusts. This is the justification for all fasts undertaken for any trouble threatening the community, as in the Book of Esther.

There are descriptions in the Mussar literature,31For a description of the approaches of Musar (ethical teachings), Chakirah (philosophical speculation), and Chasidut, see On the Teachings of Chassidus. particularly the Rokeach and Sefer Chassidim, of numerous fasts and mortifications for excision and capital sins. The same is true of sins punished by death by divine agency,32Exodus 21:29 and Rashi for an example. like wasteful emissions of semen, as the Torah recounts of Er and Onan.33Genesis 38:7-10. In this sense their judgment is identical. These fasts and mortifications are intended to avoid the punishment of suffering at the hand of Heaven, G–d forbid, and also to urge on and expedite the conclusion of his soul’s atonement. Also, perhaps he does not return to G–d with all his heart and soul out of love, but only out of fear.