Ein Yaakov 025b – Yuma 86 – Sukkah – No Sin Is Beyond the Power of Teshuvah

Ein Yaakov 025b – Yuma 86 – Sukkah – No Sin Is Beyond the Power of Teshuvah – Speaker: Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld zal.
00:00 – When a person returns to HaShem and His Torah, the mistakes of the past can be turned into mitzvot .
01:55 – When a person commits a sin, he creates an accusing angel. When a person regrets a sin, the evil is removed from that angel.
03:46 – What is teshuvah ?
05:31 – The greatest leaders of Israel were Moshe Rabbeinu and Dovid HaMelech. Both made an error that caused them to be punished by HaShem. Even though these were not actual sins, each one’s mistake in judgement teaches us about the nature of teshuvah. Why did Moshe ask HaShem to publicize his mistake, while Dovid asked HaShem to hide his?
11:32 – It’s important to honor HaShem in private to at least the same degree that we honor Him in public.
12:41 – One who encourages others to Torah observance is protected from sin. In contrast, one who misleads others in their service of HaShem is not given the chance to repent.
14:55 – As Dovid HaMelech says: כִּי׀ לֹא־תַעֲזֹב נַפְשִׁי לִשְׁאוֹל לֹא־תִתֵּן חֲסִידְךָ לִרְאוֹת שָׁחַת – “You will not let Your follower(s) go down to the netherworld” (Tehillim 16:10). Although in this phrase the word “follower” is written as plural, it is read as singular. This hidden meaning supports the concept that a teacher is protected by the good he instills in his students.
16:22 – Tosefot speaks about Acher, who was a great scholar yet turned away from the Torah and became an atheist. He was misled when he saw a boy climb a tree to fulfill the mitzvah of “sending away the mother bird” – a mitzvah which is rewarded by “length of days” yet the boy fell and was killed.
17:07 – There are two mitzvot for which the reward is longevity – Shiluach HaKen and Kibud Av VaEm. The most difficult mitzvah in the entire Torah is Kibud Av VaEm – respecting one’s parents. The easiest: “sending away the mother bird.” The reward for both of these mitzvot is the same: “length of days”.
19:26 – Why was Acher punished in the next world if his student, Rabbi Meir, was a tzaddik? Acher’s mistake was to think that arichat yomim (length of days) means chronological time in the present material world, when it actually refers to spiritual reward in the next world, beyond the limits of time. “Long life” does not mean life on this earth.
23:25 – *A person who says “I will sin and then repent” and then repeats this sin is in danger of not being given the chance to repent. Similarly, a person who says “I will sin and Yom Kippur will atone” is not forgiven by means of Yom Kippur. Sins that are between man and man are not forgiven until the person seeks forgiveness from the person against whom he sinned. מַיִם־גְּנוּבִים יִמְתָּקוּ – “Stolen waters are sweet…” (Mishlei 9:17).
28:10 – No sin is beyond the power of teshuvah. The Baal Shem Tov HaKadosh interprets the words of chazal in a positive light: that a person is always given the chance to repent, no matter how grave their wrongdoing.
30:03 – Resolving issues between man and man is debated by chazal. Rabbi Yirmiyahu seeks forgiveness from Rabbi Abba but endures disgrace. Rabbi Yirmiyahu prayed: “As is said Tehillim: ‘HaShem elevates a poor person from a garbage heap…’ so let this come true for me!”
34:25 – The Arizal says that Rav, the Chief Rabbi of Syria, was really Rabbi Abba, student of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai zal. He served as the scribe who wrote down the Zohar Hakadosh as given over by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. When he tried to make peace with a a butcher who was disrespectful, he was insulted further. As a result, the butcher was suddenly killed in a work accident.
36:40 – Rav asks forgiveness of his student, Rabbi Chanina, 12 times over 12 years, but the student refused to make peace. Normally we only ask forgiveness 3 times. But Rav would not give up. It turned out that Rabbi Chanina was stubborn on this point in order to prolong his own life.
39:50 – Confessing a sin is not enough to atone, there must also be teshuvah. True teshuvah is accomplished through leaving the sin completely and not ever repeating it.

Indexing and Notes by S.Y. Wurtzel.