SHUVAH 85 - VIDUY

 

Shuvah 85 - Viduy

v  Gemara megilla 4a purim on shabbos we speak about purim and we're not concerned that one may bring his megillah. So too, we already had 3 days of aseres yemei teshuvah absent of viduy, we'll speak about viduy.

v  We use a tune... But even litvaks who say zmiros, "zmiros yomeiru”, sing a tune for this? -  viduy yizamru?

v  How should we approach the extensive list of על חטא ?

To search within ourselves for each one or to say it absent mindedly are both not very good approaches.

v  We have to first understand that viduy is a Mitzvah of its own...

Ø  Rambam mitzvah 73 - mitzvah with teshuva... toward end of the mitzvah, he clearly says "it is clear that Viduy is a מצוה בפני עצמה"

Ø  Rambam hilchos teshuva 1.1 when doing teshuvah mitzvah to confess

Ø  Chinuch mitzvah 364 (=10 days after full hebrew year yom kippur = השטן) At time of regret, mitzvah to confess

All this clearly indicates that Teshuvah and viduy are separate things. The TIMING for the independent mitzvah of viduy is when doing teshuvah.

v  So let's understand what each is separately.. Maran asked, to change from sin to keep the mitzvos is certainly not Teshuvah - everyone must keep mitzvos going forward as part of their duty regardless of past. But Teshuva requires long term commitment - as opposed to just the daily kabolas malchus shamayim to follow Hashem's commands that day. Also, teshuvah requires removing oneself from even thinking about the sin going forward.

Ø  Teshuvah at its core may be either regret (R' Yonah) or long commitment (Rambam) but none necessarily incorporate Viduy.

Ø  Minchas chinuch 364.1 Discussing the famous case of the Rasha who betrothed a woman on condition that he is a Tzaddik...Without him saying any verbal viduy, "surely teshuvah alone even internally in the heart... is forgiven.... He is a tzaddik regardless of viduy.... Footnotes bring similarly from Mabit (kiryas sefer) & chelkas Mechokek.

Ø  RCK in derech sicha Nitzavim (pg 614/615) Brings from Ponovezher Rav that the Chofetz Chaim's message to Americans is that Teshuvah is easy. He also then writes that of course teshuvah may be done on Shabbos, regardless of the lack of viduy on Shabbos.

Ø  Another illustration Pninei Hagra ki seitzei 21.22 If there will be in a man a chet deserving of death... By the time he is being brought to be stoned, he certainly regrets his sin, so it is just "חטא" a shogeg - as teshuvah from fear downgrades the sin... - (This was without a viduy)

Ø  From all this we see that viduy is really an entirely independant mitzvah, which is just timed together with teshuvah.

Ø  But even more so, if a person already regretted and committed to improve, he already was forgiven as is a Tzaddik and beloved to Hashem. Then Viduy is completely just "for Hashem" as any other mitzvah - like an esrog! It is not self-serving, nor truthfully bound to any negative, remorseful, painful, difficulty in changing. All that has already been done in teshuva! Viduy then, is entirely a mitzvah of love to Hashem! Of course we should sing and dance with it!

 

v  So let us delve into this new mitzvah...The Rambam (teshuvah 1.1) The time for this mitzvah is any time a person regrets a sin. However, he writes in 2.7 that Yom Kippur is a designated time for everyone to do teshuvah - and say viduy.

Ø  This is actually a Targum Y.B.U. achrei mos 16.31 on yom kippur לפני ה' תטהרו means confess your sins before Hashem and thereby be purified.

Ø  As a matter of fact although the minchas chinuch raises a case in which teshuvah was done for a bitul mitzvas assay (ie: skipped krias shema) without saying verbal viduy, the person has no net gain, since now he is also missing a mitzvas assay of viduy! However, an actual BITUL assay would only apply if viduy was not said yom kippur, which is the Torah's designated time for teshuvah

Ø  So, what is viduy? - Both The Rambam & Chinuch bring that ikkar viduy is אבל אנחנו חטאנו - as is brought from Shmuel in Yoma 87b that when the Chazzan said those words Shmuel rose to a standing position.

Ø  Truthfully though, even just one word is already a viduy and requires standing! Mishnah Berurah 134.4 states that we must stand by the short prayer אל ארך... before taking out the Torah, because the word חטאנו renders it a viduy and requires standing.

Ø  Similarly, in hilchos yom kippur The Mechaber 607.3 tells us that viduy must be said standing. This is a real requirement, and leaning is not permitted.

Ø  Mishnah Berura 10 says that it also should be bowing... This seems to be somewhat of a contradiction...

Ø  But truthfully, the requirement to stand, in itself is quite strange as the actual viduy of yom kipur of Aharon - achrei mos 16.21 - was done while leaning his full weight upon the korban!

So, we must understand this mitzvah better...

v  The source passuk for this mitzvah brought by Rambam mitzvah 73 is parshas Naso (regarding confession upon falsely swearing) והתודו את חטאתם

Ø  Regarding the viduy in the avodah of Yom Kipur, it is interesting to note that at first viduy is referred to as וכפר. As the korban has not been slaughtered yet, this obviously cannot mean כפרת דם but rather ודוי דברים . Why is it called כפרה here but called elsewhere - and even just a bit later, in the confession of sins of all klal yisrael - והתודה?

Ø  R Nissan Alpert notes the distinction but does not offer a clear resolution

Ø  The word והתודה is also strange in the fact that it always appears in the התפעל form (not “he crashed”, but “he go into a crash”) Both the Malbim (naso 5.7.19) and RSRH note the strange language.

Ø  The Malbim (Vayikra 5.5.319) explains the word וידוי itself always represents something that is normally not expressed but remains restrained in the heart. When admitting that someone is right, it is called Modeh or hoda'ah. When admitting that you are wrong it is וידוי and it is ejecting the constrained information, and the person is relieved from that "secret". Hence the expression is always in התפעל.

Ø  RSRH (Vayikra 5.5) says similarly that it is a language of ejection, like מיידה when an item is flung from the person holding it.

Ø  However the use of וכפר for viduy still needs explanation. Kaparah is always with blood on the altar. The Be'er Moshe (last piece in Achrei Mos) says that a Bal teshuvah is like a new person with a new covenant of commitment to Hashem. Just as at Sinai the covenant was with Milah Tevila & Blood, so too the Teshuvah process cuts away from the arlah of the past sin with charatah, Purifies the future with commitment....and Atones like with blood with viduy. However, he doesn’t explain the connection.

Ø  RCK notes that all year we ask סלח לנו and מחל לנו but only on Y.K. we ask כפר לנו. When a person regrets etc.. he is forgiven. Hashem is mochel and He now loves that person as a Tzaddik, but kaparah means to cleanse the stain of sin. Depending on the sin, that needs either YK or a korban's blood, or yissurim etc.

Ø  So how is viduy וכפר - cleansing - like the blood of a korban?

Ø  The Rambam's description of viduy (teshuvah 1.1.) comes from the gemara and includes אנא ה, I sinned, I regret, I commit... but he adds בושתי. It is based on a passuk. But it's interesting that he notes it to be part of a classic viduy.

Ø  I believe the shame is the כפרת דם. And it is because of the בושת in a viduy that it can be called וכפר.

We now see that there are different functions in viduy. Ejection and Shameful transparency.

v  R Moshe Feinstein (kol Ram inyanei yk .6) notes that the Rambam says YK is the time for teshuvah and therefore viduy as well, for everyone. But many people are great Tzaddikim and probably did Teshuvah for their rare sins long before? Also, the avodah of YK required even Aharon Hakohen - and many other great Kohanim gedolim to confess.... upon what?

Ø  I suggest that we see from here the clear reason for the distinction in the Torah's language for viduy. For the Kohen Gadol, it is probably on long gone sins, that are not part of who he is at all. that doesn’t really need mechilah or slicha, it has already been regretted long ago! But kaparah needs yk or דם and that viduy is וכפר because although there is no ejection of a secret sin hiding within, there is still shame about some long-gone sin that is certainly NOT "myself" anymore.

Ø  The fact that shame applies and atones even for long gone sins that are not really part of you anymore is proven from the gemara megillah that thought not to publicly translate the reading of the עגל because it would bring us shame. However, the gemara says that this is specifically why we SHOULD read it, so that the shame will be a kapparah. We see that shame and its related kaparah can be on sins that are quite detached from ourselves - by thousands of years and regret!

Ø  Yet, certainly, the shame of the person who still has a connection to the sin will be much greater. This is expressed in viduy Rabeinu Nissim בושתי וגם נכלמתי כגנב הנמצא במחתרת –

Ø  It is not a coincidence that the passuk (mishpatim 22.1/2) Says אין לו דמים! Perhaps we can explain in drush, that if he was not ashamed to do this, אין לו דמים - and we may kill him. But also, in the next case אים זרחה עליו השמש יש לו דמים. If the robber was ashamed, he has life! Because the glowing shine of shame is a forgiveness for him!

Ø  Rabeinu Yonah (beginning of Iggeres HaTeshuvah) actually uses this exact terminology אים זרחה עליו השמש if the glow of yiras Hashem shines upon a person's face in the expression of... Shame!

Ø  Now we can understand the dual language in the Avodas YK. On the Kohen's confession is says וכפר with the norm that any sin he is saying in his viduy is really long gone and repented for already. It is just embarrassingly stated before G-d. However, the sins of klal yisrael that are confessed upon the Azazel goat, is on sins that are still quite current. And it is expressing and ejecting those dark secrets. Hence, והתודה. Of course, the shame and its related kapparah can be in both cases, but והתודה only applies to the one who is still expelling and ejecting his sins through the viduy.

Ø  This works in perfect tandem with what the Chinuch says in the reasoning for viduy. He gives two! One is to help the process of עזיבה - abandoning the sin for the future. This is a person who is still somewhat attached to his sins. The other is a statement of emunah - I know Hashem knows my sins and thoughts anyway, so I will come forward in shame with them and state them openly.

Ø  The Zohar (3.20a) also describes viduy as an act of open vulnerable transparency – recognizing that nothing can or should be hidden from Hashem.

Ø  This now also explains the seeming contradictory stance of viduy - standing but bowing, and also the huge question we asked from the actual viduy on yk which is done while fully leaning on the goat!

Ø  Most people have both parts of viduy together. Some old past sins that just need the shamefully open statements of viduy called וכפר. And also, the actual expelling and ejection of those hidden things that are still part of us and need ejection. So, we do a blend of both. However, by Aharon they were clearly split. His own far-gone sins had a standing kaparah cleansing through his verbal statements. And Klal Yisrael's sins were expelled and ejected (into the very שעיר!) through והתודה which is done in a broken-hearted way of bowing or leaning something else.

This two factor Viduy can now explain another question that had me perplexed for a long time.

v  We mentioned earlier that we learn from Shmuel that the core of viduy are the words אבל אנחנו חטאנו. I have a problem with 33% of core viduy... Why is אבל part of the core of viduy??? It is just needed for the grammar to continue from what was previously said!

Ø  Perhaps it is not only needed for the grammar of the previous words, but for the forthcoming lengthy and detailed viduy. While we firmly believe as the Ramban told his student, that we are guilty of them all, however without considerable time, focus and self-introspection, we won’t feel regret remorse or commitment on them. It certainly is not והתודה -- an ejection of inner dark secrets, and an empty viduy certainly IS an עזות פנים! So, as we proclaim that we ARE ashamed and not עזי פנים for some sins that we are hopefully acutely aware of, we say אבל - indeed we sinned all of the forthcoming sins. And although they are long gone or forgotten - we are admitting shamefully with full transparency, knowing that Hashem knows them all. We are thus at least fulfilling וכפר and it is not an empty chutzpadik viduy.

Ø  That אבל is what makes the following confession into a valid viduy.

 

v  The tremendous atonement and cleansing power just in the simple honest shameful viduy – regardless of the surrounding components of Teshuvah can be illustrated in a few amazing examples.

Ø  Yalkut Shemoni (Balak) says what a conniving rasha Bila’am was. He knew the power of teshuvah and  that the angel could not touch him if he confesses. So he said חטאתי. Now it is hard to assume Bila’am actually did Teshuvah with regret or commitment – he was still on his way to curse the Jews! But the transparency of honestly, verbally, stating your sin openly is still so powerful!

Ø  Adoni Bezek (Shoftim 1.7) was a horrific Cnaanite king who removed the thumbs and toe thumbs of 70 surrounding kings and had them eating his leftovers under his table. Yet when the Jews did the same to him he said it is because I did this to others that this has befallen me. – and this “viduy” granted him atonement and burial in Yerushalayim!

Ø  There was an infamous informer who was drawn to regret through a one time honest prayer of סלח לנו  one mincha, and after remaining firm not to divulge negative information he was beaten and eventually died. The Rav received a message through she’eilas Chalom that he was atoned for and deserved an honorable levaya…

Ø  The Zohar writes (naso 122a) regarding last week’s parsha הנסתרות לה' that although a person’s Torah and mitzvos may be evident to others, one’s ahava and yirah are הנסתרות לה' – never truly known to others. A person can seem like an infamous informer as he has been for years before. But only Hashem knows of the brief Yirah or Ahava that traversed his heart and brought forth a viduy that can atone.

 

 

v  Let us understand and appreciate the tremendous mitzvah and cleansing power of viduy! Whether for recent sins that we can expel from deep within ourselves with a true remorseful confession, or for long gone sins that are an ancient memory but nonetheless a shameful thing to bring forward.  It is a mitzvah to be joyful for and we should sing it with love!