The reason this topic was chosen is very, very obvious. Today is ערב ראש חודש אלול, tonight is the first day of ראש חודש אלול, and we know the whole month of Elul is called the חודש התשובה, the month of teshuvah, and therefore we have to know what we have to do. We're obligated to do teshuvah, and we have to know what teshuvah is all about. And therefore, when someone suggested to speak about this topic, I thought this was the best idea, to discuss what is the concept of teshuvah. I believe what I will be saying will be nothing new to anybody, to everybody that's here, because I won't be coming up with, as we call it, too many chiddushim, too new ideas. These are things which are known. But nevertheless, every year when this time of the year comes around, it is very important to review even things that we know, just like we review every week the same parsha we learned last year. We're learning Shoftim now, and last year the same week we learned Shoftim, and we relearn it again. In chassidus we learn every year Likutei Torah, so we have to review even though we know it. Every year on Purim we read the megillah over again. We've read it last year, we know the story, we read it again. So too, we are going to review the general ideas behind what teshuvah is. And as I said, they might be very simple things, but nevertheless, it's important to think about it, and then it'll bring us לידי מעשה, to do, actually to do teshuvah. That's really what counts. It's not enough if we know what teshuvah is, we actually have to do teshuvah. Now really, as we all know, teshuvah means to return, to repent for any aveirot that we did. And this concept of teshuvah applies whether a person did one aveirah, one sin, you are obligated to do teshuvah for that sin, or if a person lived a lifestyle that was not according to Torah, and then you have to do teshuvah and return to the lifestyle of the Torah. But it's the same idea, the concept of returning, going away from the aveirah that you did. In order to understand what teshuvah is, we first have to understand what an aveirah is. If we have to do teshuvah for aveirot, for sins, we have to understand what is the meaning of an aveirah. And when we get the idea of the meaning of an aveirah, we will understand what does it mean to go away from the aveirah and return. We know an aveirah is something wrong, it's a sin, it's going against Hashem's will. Doing something Hashem doesn't want us to do or not to do something Hashem did want us to do. And when we think about what an aveirah is, there are two approaches we're able to take. One approach is to think how terrible the punishment will be. We will, God forbid, the person does an aveirah will go to gehenom, he will burn and all kind of things. You know, as the expression go, \"You will burn in,\" and et cetera, et cetera. And there are different sefarim, actually, that describe all the different things that take place in gehenom, all the different punishments that Hashem gives for people who do aveirot. And when you think about that, you realize how terrible an aveirah is, because it's going to bring terrible punishment upon the person. That's one approach. But then there's another approach: not to take the approach of punishment and things like that, but to realize what you accomplish when you do a mitzvah and what you're missing when you do an aveirah. Just by understanding the importance of it, which would be referred to as it the the the truth behind a mitzvah and aveirah shines by in the person, and when it shines, it's easier for the person to understand what it is, rather than taking it as a punishment and fighting it. When you look at it from the point of view as punishment and evil and things like that, basically you're fighting the person. You're telling the person or you're fighting against the nature of the person. A person wants to do it and you're trying to fight it. And the nature of a person is that when you fight the person, you will try to fight back. That's nature. The מידת הנצחון, the מידה, the attribute of נצחון, which is victory, is so strong in the person that when someone tries to fight against you, you will always fight back. If you're forced to it, you'll fight back. And that's what happens. If you fight the human nature by telling him, \"You're going to burn and who,\" and all these things, the nature of the person is that the yetzer hara will make him fight back and try to overcome and not care. There is an interesting halachah in Rambam. Rambam says that, taken from the Gemara, that when you besiege a city, when the yidden would fight war, the din is you shouldn't surround them all four sides. You have to surround them for three sides and leave one side open. Don't force them to fight. Because if you're going to fight them very strongly in a way that they have no way to go away, they're going to fight back. And when you fight back, you might win the war, but when there is a war, there is all they're always casualties. So you have to leave it open, they should run away. Here too, if you go strongly against the nature of the person, then what will happen is the person will fight back. And therefore, that's not such a good way to go about it. The best way is to understand the importance of a mitzvah and what happened, what you lose by doing an aveirah, then you realize how terrible it is and then it's easier for a person to do teshuvah. And there is a famous mashal that's brought down in sefarim concerning these two different ways. And it's a very elementary mashal, everyone knows it, but I'll repeat it anyway, that there was once an argument between the sun and the wind. There was a person walking in the streets and he had a coat on. There was an argument between the sun and the wind, who could get this coat off the person faster. And the wind started blowing, and the coat started opening up and falling off. What the person did, he buttoned himself. Then the wind started blowing stronger, so he put on a belt. And the wind started blowing stronger, so he started holding his coat, but he didn't take the coat off. The sun said, \"Well, now watch me.\" All it did, it came out and started shining, and the person took off the coat himself. Because when it shines, you get rid, but the person, you're not fighting the person. The same thing here: if you go in the derech, in the way like some people would, trying to show the person, fighting the nature of the person, then the person will fight back. The yetzer hara will help you fight back, and then you'll cover yourself up with your coat, you'll button yourself. But if it shines, the light is there, then it's easier to take off. This is just like an introduction of how to look upon a mitzvah and an aveirah.

The real way to look upon a mitzvah and aveirah is in a positive way, which means that the concept of a mitzvah is that it connects a yid to Hashem. That's really what it is. We all know that every yid is connected to God no matter what, whether he knows about it or not, or whether he likes it or not. Every yid has a neshamah. We know that. That's what makes a yid different than a goy. He has a neshamah. What's a neshamah? A נפש אלוקית, a godly soul, which is, as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, part of Hashem Himself. So every yid has Hashem in himself. And therefore, every yid is connected to God because he is a yid. The fact that he was born a yid, or the fact that he converted according to the way the Torah says, this person has a neshamah, and this neshamah makes him close to Hashem, whether he knows about it or not, whether he likes it or not, whether he acts upon it or not, he is close to Hashem. Nevertheless, this closeness that a Yid has to Hashem could be in a hidden form, could be concealed. It's not always revealed. In order to reveal that connection, you have to do a mitzvah. When a Yid does a mitzvah, then he strengthens that connection to Hashem. The word mitzvah we all know means not only commandment, but the word mitzvah also means צוותא וחיבור, which means connection. When a Yid does a mitzvah, he connects himself to Hashem. And as I said, not that he doesn't have the connection before, but you don't feel the connection. When you do a mitzvah, the connection is stronger and therefore it becomes revealed in an open way. We find that also concerning tefillah, which is one of the mitzvot. The word tefillah means to daven, and as I explained when we learned about tefillah, tefillah has another meaning. Tefillah comes from the word נפתולי אלוקים נפתלתי, which means connection. Or there is a משנה, הטופל כלי חרס, which means that the Hebrew word of tefillah means connection. When you daven to Hashem, you connect yourself to Hashem. Every mitzvah we do, we connect ourselves to Hashem. Every word of Torah that we learn, we connect ourselves to Hashem. We have Hashem within us. We all know the famous interpretation in the word Anochi. The first word of the עשרת הדברות, the Ten Commandments, was אנכי, which means \"I\", \"I am God your God who took you out of Egypt.\" But the word אנכי, the Gemara says, is an abbreviation of four words in Aramaic: אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, which means, \"I myself wrote it and gave it.\" But then there is a deeper פשט: \"I wrote myself in and gave myself over in the Torah.\" So when we have the Torah, we have Hashem. So when we have the Torah in our mind, we actually have Hashem in our mind. If we don't have the Torah, we don't do the mitzvot, we don't daven or any other good deed that we're supposed to do because Hashem told us to do, then that connection that we have is not felt. Which is similar, an example I probably, I think I gave last time also, the example of, you have a great person, whether he's a great scholar or a great just famous person, and here you have a simple person. The simple person feels he has no connection to that great person. But when he listens to him, and the person asks him to do something and he listens to him, he feels close. Imagine if the president of the United States would walk over to any ordinary person and say, \"Please do me a favor. I would just like you to do something for me. Any small thing, just go...\" go to the store for me. How honored you would feel, how close you would feel, \"I did something for the president.\" Or lehavdil, this is a better example, if the Rebbe would come to one of us and say, you know, \"I would like you to do something,\" as small as it is, we would jump from joy, we would feel so great, we would feel so close. So when we do a mitzvah, we get close to Hashem. On the other hand, when, God forbid, someone does an aveirah, what happens is he lacks this connection. And whatever connection he had before, it makes it less. Not that it actually makes the connection less, but the feeling that he might have of the connection to Hashem becomes less. That's why it's called aveirah. The simple translation of the word aveirah is to go against, against Hashem. Aveirah means to pass over. You pass away, you pass over, you're missing out in the connection that you should have had. Or you're taking the connection that you do have and you're minimizing, you're making it less. There's another word for aveirah in Hebrew, which is the word chet. Now the word chet has another meaning. The word chet means missing. Missing. It says in the pasuk, \"והייתי אני ושלמה בני חטאים,\" but it means missing. When you do an aveirah, when you do a chet, you're missing in the connection to Hashem. That's really what it is. So the word mitzvah, which means commandment, also has the meaning of connection. The word aveirah, which means sin, also has the meaning of missing that connection, missing out of the connection that a Yid normally has to Hashem. And when a person does an aveirah, or doesn't do the mitzvah he was supposed to do, which in itself is an aveirah, because there are two types of aveirot: you could do an aveirah in an active way, you do something Hashem said not to do, or in a passive way, Hashem said to do something and you don't do it, it's also an aveirah. Whichever way, you have this aveirah, and if a person does it, does an aveirah, or not doing a mitzvah, which is an aveirah, then this person is lacking this connection. And this lack of connection is not a minor thing. Like someone would say, \"Well, okay, so I'm lacking the connection.\" It's not so. You're lacking the fulfillment of the whole mission that Hashem gave the person by bringing him into this world. Hashem put a Yid into this world, every single Yid, for a reason. Hashem sent a neshamah down for a reason. Gave him a mission, and the mission is to do all the mitzvot, which means that he has a mission of connecting himself to Hashem. That's the mission Hashem gave to this to every single Yid. And if he doesn't do it, so it's not just, \"Oh, he's lacking something. Okay, so I'm poor, so I'm missing something.\" He is going against, fighting or going against the whole concept of why he was sent down to this world. And furthermore, not only against why he was sent why he personally was sent down to this world, this affects the whole mission of Klal Yisrael, of all Jews, why they were brought into this world, which basically means this affects the whole reason for creation. Because in addition to every single Yid individually having a job that he has to do in this world, which basically is to keep the mitzvot and do, learn Torah, chas veshalom not do aveirot, there is a collective mission that we all have. And if one person is missing in his connection or does something that affects his personal mission in this world, it automatically affects every single other Yid. There's always the mashal, the famous mashal is given from the person who was sitting in the boat, paid for his seat, and then he was sitting and making a hole in the floor under his seat, and someone said, \"What are you doing? You're crazy!\" So he says, \"It's my seat. I paid for it, don't tell me what to do.\" But it's not so. Your seat is connected to the other seats, it's all one boat, and if you make a hole and your seat will allow water, it will affect everybody else. I remember another time the Rebbe used this idea. It was when the first time they sent the rocket up to the moon. First time actually it didn't reach the moon, it circled the moon, I think it was ten miles around the moon, and this was a there was a פארברענגען שבת פרשת ויגש. And the Rebbe spoke about it, he said that being the Baal Shem Tov said that everything that we hear, everything that we see in this world, even if it has no connection to Torah u'mitzvot, but we have to take a lesson from it. So the Rebbe brought out many lessons from sending the rocket. And one of the things he said, amongst many, many other lessons, this is what he said: he said that here you see people who are put into a rocket, and they're told exactly what to do. Exactly. Every moment of their life in that rocket is controlled. They cannot tell them when to eat, they tell them when to sleep, they tell them when to move, and they tell them they should know that if they don't listen, you know, you jeopardize not only your own life, the life of all the people inside the rocket, you jeopardize the whole project, which cost the government billions of dollars. With your one misbehavior, doing something wrong, you could affect the whole project, which affects everything. So the Rebbe said, here we see that when some people say, \"Well, don't tell me what to do, and if I don't behave the way I'm supposed to, it's my business and it doesn't affect anybody else,\" so the Rebbe said here we see the lesson that it does. Anyway, getting back to the point, so this is the way we're supposed to look at an aveirah. An aveirah means whichever aveirah it is, we're supposed to look at it that by doing an aveirah, this is minimizing, spoiling my connection that I have to Hashem, at least in the revealed way, which is spoiling the mission that Hashem gave me, which is definitely affecting the mission of Klal Yisrael in this world, which is affecting the whole creation of why Hashem created the world. So you can imagine how one little aveirah, what kind of effect that could have. And this is not with the approach of you'll get Gehinnom and you'll do this, that's Some people hear, like I said before, some people do that and it might affect some people, they get scared, but this is not like you're fighting This approach is not fighting, it's just explaining. If a person thinks about it and realize that this is an aveirah, so you realize how terrible it is. And the moment you realize that, what does that bring a person to do? What's the point? So what do I do about it? If I did something wrong and I affected my mission and I affected the mission of Klal Yisrael, what do I do? So Hashem says like this: I give you a chance. If you do teshuvah, I will forget about it. I will erase everything as if nothing happened, if you return to me, if you do teshuvah. And then everything is erased. It says if a person does teshuvah, and we'll get into what teshuvah is in a moment, if you do teshuvah, then it says in רמב״ם, אין מזכירין לו דבר וחצי דבר ביום הדין. Hashem will not mention anything to the person when it comes to the day of judgment. He will not mention anything that you did, because if you do teshuvah, then everything that you did was erased.

And what is teshuvah? The main part of teshuvah is if the person decides seriously, sincerely, never to do it again. That means, for instance, using an example of one specific aveirah, because like I said before, teshuvah doesn't mean like we know nowadays a baal teshuvah. Baal teshuvah means a person who behaved one way, lived one lifestyle, is going to change. Everyone has to do teshuvah. If a person does something wrong, one aveirah, God forbid he did something wrong on Shabbos, teshuvah means he makes up his mind never, ever, ever to do it again. That's really what teshuvah is. That's the main part of teshuvah. In truth, teshuvah is made up halachically of three parts, which is חרטה על העבר, regret for the past, you have to feel bad why you did it; the second thing is קבלה על להבא, you have to accept upon yourself not to do it again, or other words, another term for the same is עזיבת החטא, to let go of the sin, meaning not to do it again; and the third thing is vidui, which is to express your regret in words, or using the goyishe word, confession, which really has a bad ring to it, that's why I don't like to use it, but that's what it means, confess not to a human being, to Hashem. These are the three parts of teshuvah, the main three parts. But of these three parts, the main one of the three, which without it it's not teshuvah, is קבלה על להבא, it's acceptance for the future, or we call it עזיבת החטא, not to do the aveirah. On the other hand, if you missed the other two, even though you didn't do what we call שלמות התשובה, complete teshuvah, but you still did teshuvah. While if you missed this, you didn't do teshuvah. That means if a person would not regret the past, he did something wrong and he says, \"I don't feel bad about it. I have a good excuse why I did it, and I don't feel bad, but nevertheless I promise to myself I'll never do it again,\" that is teshuvah. It's missing, really you should regret, and if you don't you're missing the שלמות, the completion, it's not complete, but you did teshuvah. But if a person the opposite, he feels bad why he did it, but he doesn't make up his mind not to do it again, which unfortunately happens sometimes, in our own life we know, we feel bad, but can't get ourselves never to to make up our mind never to do it again, that's not teshuvah. Certainly, if a person says, \"I sinned,\" and doesn't plan to stop, certainly it doesn't count. The Rambam says if a person does that, he says vidui, he says, \"I sinned,\" and doesn't make up his mind not to do it again, he's כטובל ושרץ בידו, like he goes to the mikveh holding a sheretz in his hand. A sheretz is one of those insects or things that make a person tamei, impure, if you hold it. So he goes to the mikveh holding a sheretz in his hand. That means you never dropped the tumah because you're holding the sheretz. On the other hand, if a person makes up his mind or her mind never to do it again without regret for the past and without vidui, without even saying, you have fulfilled the mitzvah of teshuvah, even though it's not שלימות התשובה, it's not complete teshuvah, but the mitzvah of teshuvah was done. And as you've noticed, I've been using the word mitzvah of teshuvah, that teshuvah is a mitzvah. It is a mitzvah that if a person does something wrong, it is a mitzvah, a commandment, to do teshuvah. And why am I stressing it? Because there are some acharonim, some poskim, some commentaries that are of the opinion that according to the Rambam, תשובה is not a mitzvah. There is no obligation to do teshuvah. If a person does an aveirah, and he doesn't care if the aveirah is there, and he doesn't care, let him be punished, there is no obligation for the person to do teshuvah. If you don't care, don't do teshuvah. If you want to get rid of the aveirah, then Hashem says, \"I gave you a way to do it. I didn't tell you to do it, if you don't want to, that's your business.\" So according to this opinion, teshuvah is not a mitzvah. There's no obligation to do teshuvah. There are conditions, if you want to do teshuvah, the Torah tells you what to do, if you decide on your own you want to do teshuvah. But if you don't want, don't. But the Alter Rebbe in Tanya, in the in the section of Igeret HaTeshuvah, writes clearly that teshuvah is a mitzvah. He refers to it mitzvat ha-teshuvah. It is a mitzvah. That means that when a person does an aveirah, he is now obligated to do teshuvah. And in simple terms, it means if a person does an aveirah, and then doesn't do teshuvah, he automatically has two aveirot now: the first aveirah he did, and then he didn't do the mitzvah of teshuvah, which if you don't do a mitzvah you have to do, it's an aveirah, like someone doesn't put on tefillin, someone doesn't eat matzah. If you don't do a positive mitzvah that you're commanded to do, that you're obligated to do, it's an aveirah. So if a person does an aveirah, he's obligated to do teshuvah, and if he doesn't do teshuvah, he has a second aveirah. Now the Minchat Chinuch is one of those that holds that according to the Rambam it's not, and I'll tell you where he takes this from. Because the Rambam, when he starts off the laws of teshuvah, he says like this: \"When a person does teshuvah, he is obligated to confess.\" So the Rambam says, \"Look, he doesn't say when a person does an aveirah he's obligated to do teshuvah. When a person does teshuvah, he didn't say you have to, when a person does teshuvah, you have to do vidui.\" So the Minchat Chinuch says based on that, we see that the Rambam holds teshuvah is not a mitzvah. But as I said, the Alter Rebbe in Tanya says clearly מצות התשובה, that teshuvah is a mitzvah. And the Rebbe once explained, where does the Alter Rebbe take it from? He says, and the Alter Rebbe speaks according to the Rambam, so he says if you look in the Rambam, in the heading of הלכות תשובה, see the word that I quoted before were the beginning, the first words of the laws of teshuvah: \"When a person does teshuvah, you should confess. You have to, you're obligated to confess.\" But before that there is a heading. Every section in Rambam has a heading, tells you what these הלכות are going to be about. So the heading is that what is the what's in הלכות תשובה, that the mitzvah is to do teshuvah when you sin and to confess. So in the heading, which was written by the Rambam himself, the Rambam makes it clear that teshuvah is a mitzvah. He says the mitzvah is to do teshuvah. And later on, from other words in the Rambam, the Rebbe brought other proofs that the Rambam holds teshuvah is a mitzvah, and that's where the Alter Rebbe took it from. Now, I once told in shul that I was once talking to Rabbi Soloveitchik, Rabbi Yoshe Ber, J.B. Soloveitchik, and we were talking about the Rebbe's opinion in teshuvah, so I didn't tell him what the Rebbe said. I just asked him, \"What is your opinion? Is teshuvah a mitzvah according to the Rambam or not?\" So he tells me, \"Well, you know the Minchat Chinuch, right? It's not.\" I said, \"I know the Minchat Chinuch, but what's your opinion?\" So, \"I'll tell you. I hold definitely that the Rambam holds teshuvah is a mitzvah.\" \"How do you know that?\" So he says, \"How? Look at the heading of the Rambam! The Rambam writes clearly teshuvah is a mitzvah.\" And then he brought other proof from the other, exactly like the Rebbe said. So I asked him, \"Did you any by any chance speak to the Lubavitcher Rebbe lately?\" He said, \"No, why are you asking?\" So I told him, \"Because it's exactly what the Rebbe said, that teshuvah is a mitzvah. In other words, when a person does an aveirah, there is an obligation upon the person to do teshuvah.\" What is the most important part of teshuvah? The most important part is עזיבת החטא, the Alter Rebbe says there, to drop the aveirah, which means קבלה על להבא, to make up one's mind never to do it again. And when we say make up one's mind, It doesn't mean just to say it in words, or even to think the words, \"I will never do it again,\" but it means to mean it. And the way the Rambam expresses it is that you have to make up your mind in such a way עד שיעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לכסלה עוד, that the One that knows all hidden things, which is Hashem, could testify that you will not do it again. But if a person doesn't really mean it, that's not called teshuvah. I mean, words you could say, I could say anything, I can say now is the middle of the day. I mean I can say, the same you I can think words which make which are not true. It means you have to really mean it, to make up one's mind, if a person does something wrong, to make up one's mind never I will really really never do it again. And if I don't really mean it, I have to think about it again, and make till I come to an understanding, a decision, a clear decision that I will never do it again. That's what teshuvah is. Now, in addition to that, in order to have שלמות התשובה, the complete teshuvah, you have to have עזיבת... you have to have חרטה על העבר, you have to regret the past, and you have to also have vidui, these are the three things. This is a mitzvah that we have to do. And this is not a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, it's not like one of those mitzvot that have a time limit. There are certain mitzvot which are limited to certain times. This is not. And why am I mentioning this? Because if it would have been a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, a mitzvah connected to time, the women would be exempt. We know that women are exempt from all positive mitzvot which have a connection to time. Teshuvah is not a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, and therefore women are obligated to do teshuvah as much as men. It does say that there are certain times of the year when Hashem makes it easier to do teshuvah, when it's more important to do teshuvah. But it doesn't mean that it's connected to that time, like some people think, \"Oh, teshuvah is a mitzvah we have to do on Yom Kippur.\" Okay, so it's once a year, so women should be exempt. It's not so. It does say that during Elul it's easier to do teshuvah. It says during Elul the י״ג מדות הרחמים shine, the thirteen attributes of mercy of Hashem shine. Whether we see it or not, but it makes it easier for us to do teshuvah. Elul, we know the famous mashal of melech basadeh, the king in the field, so He is closer to us. It says the expression in Kabbalah and Chassidut that during Elul is the zman, the time of קירוב המאור אל הניצוץ. That's an expression. מאור is the the big candle that shines, and ניצוץ is a spark. And the fact is, the nature is that when you put a big flame close to a small flame or spark, the small flame will be pulled automatically. So the time the big flame, which is Hashem, is close to every little flame, we all have a little flame within us, which is the neshamah, נר ה׳ נשמת אדם, the candle of Hashem is the neshamah. So during the month of Elul it says there is קירוב המאור אל הניצוץ. Hashem, the big flame gets close to us, so it makes it easier for us to do teshuvah. Then on Aseret Yemei Teshuvah the Rambam writes like this, he says that אף על פי שכל השנה, תשובה is good all year round, but during these ten days, the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, he says, היא יפה ביותר, it's better, ומקבלת מיד, and it's accepted faster, right away. Then the Rambam continues, that on Yom Kippur everybody must do teshuvah. So that's a time more that a person has to sit down and do teshuvah, but it doesn't mean that it's chas v'shalom limited to a certain time. So the mitzvah of teshuvah is all year round. Any time a person realizes he did something wrong, there is an obligation on the person to do teshuvah, which means he has to make up his mind not to do it again. When a person realizes what I did, and as I explained before, I did an aveirah, I ruined everything, I ruined everything, I ruined my mission, I ruined the whole mission of Klal Yisrael, and he decides to do teshuvah, you're that time you're obligated to do teshuvah. There are certain times when it's easier to do teshuvah. And in truth, when we talk about the mitzvah of teshuvah, to make it clear, even if it would be a case where a person would know that Hashem will not forgive anyway, you still have to do teshuvah. In other words, this is important to know, teshuvah is not only a means to an end. It's not like since I want Hashem to forgive me for my sin I have to do teshuvah. So let's say in theory, if someone would know in theory his sin will not be forgiven, and I'll give an example in a moment when it says it's possible, you still have an obligation to do teshuvah. It's a mitzvah, you have to do teshuvah. For instance, the Gemara says זה הבא, הבא על הערוה והוליד ממזר. If someone had relations with a forbidden woman and has a child, and that child is a mamzer, later on as much as he will do teshuvah, the Gemara says that teshuvah can't really wipe out the aveirah completely, because this is a case where the aveirah not only remained in the spiritual worlds, it's an aveirah that was נתלבש, we call it, was dressed into a a physical body. You have a physical aveirah walking around. And therefore, when you do teshuvah, you know that the aveirah is still there, you still have to do teshuvah. Because the teshuvah the teshuvah is not limited, it's not only a means to an end so Hashem should forgive. Certainly we know when we do teshuvah, Hashem will forgive. But for in another case, it says Acher, this famous Acher who used to be a great tzadik, a great tanna, and he turned off the path. And then he heard a voice from heaven say, שובו בנים שובבים חוץ מאחר. Hashem says, \"I want everyone to do teshuvah except Acher. I won't accept his teshuvah.\" So what he did was, when he heard that, he says, \"In that case, if I won't have the world to come anyway, my teshuvah will not be accepted, let me enjoy this world.\" So he went out all the way. But it was wrong. The Gemara says it was wrong of him. Why was it wrong? If his teshuvah wouldn't be accepted anyway, if he knew the voice of heaven said it won't be accepted anyway, so why was he wrong from going out all the way? Because you have to do teshuvah whether it be accepted or not. There is an obligation upon every Yid whenever you do an aveirah to do teshuvah. Certainly if a Yid behaved completely in a certain wrong lifestyle, whether intentionally or by mistake or not being taught, whatever reason it is, there is an obligation that you have to do teshuvah. And that is for any time of the year. You always have to do teshuvah whenever it is. Certainly when it comes to Elul, certainly when it comes עשרת ימי תשובה, certainly Yom Kippur, then you have to do teshuvah even more.

That teshuvah has a very special power. Teshuvah even has an effect on the past, which is something special. Normally we know you cannot affect the past. You can't change history. Something that was done was done, but you cannot change it. Impossible. Something that was done before, I could from now on not do it, I could do every, but I can't change the fact what was done yesterday. If something is done, it's finished. Teshuvah has this power of affecting the past. When a person does teshuvah, so the aveirot he did before are not sins anymore. All depends what the type of teshuvah. If you do a very high level of teshuvah, strong teshuvah, me'ahavah, out of love, the aveirot you did before turn into mitzvot. You're actually affecting the past. Now this is only true concerning Yidden, not by goyim. So I'll explain this. The truth is a goy could also do teshuvah. And a goy is obligated to do teshuvah. If a goy does something against Hashem, he has to do teshuvah. As a matter of fact, the big, big טומל everyone makes on Yom Kippur, everyone, you know, argues over who is going to get maftir Yonah, the maftir that you read by Minchah, maftir Yonah. Why do we read maftir Yonah? It's the story of Yonah. What's the story of teshuvah. Since it's Yom Kippur, it's the story how Yonah came and anyway he told the people in Nineveh and they all did teshuvah. That was teshuvah of goyim. The city of Nineveh were goyim. So there is teshuvah by goyim. But it says the teshuvah that goyim do does not affect the past. It's מכאן ולהבא. It's from now and on. They did teshuvah, Hashem says now, but what they did, they did, the fact is there. The past is there. When a Yid does teshuvah, it changes the past. It actually makes the aveirot into mitzvot. It as if that what you did before was actually a mitzvah. Now how does that work? It's very hard to understand. How could you affect the past? Now the explanation that's usually given why the aveirot are turned into mitzvot is very simple. We know that a baal teshuvah, it says in the Zohar and we see it with our own eyes, we see it nowadays more than they used to see years ago because now we have so many baalei teshuvah, that a baal teshuvah serves השם בחילא יתיר. בחילא יתיר means with a stronger power. A baal teshuvah serves Hashem stronger. You have the people who are, as we would call them now, FBBs, frum from, or FFB I mean, frum from birth. So they serve Hashem and they do mitzvot, it's fine, it becomes a habit. A person who becomes a baal teshuvah, you can see what kind of התלהבות, kind of feeling and excitement they do mitzvot. Why? Very simple. Because they didn't have it all these years, they just realized the thirst is there. There's a mashal given in Tanya, a person who has water constantly, you don't enjoy it so much, you don't drink it with such geshmak, with such enjoyment. But imagine a person who's in a desert and didn't have water and he gets thirsty and thirsty, and finally he gets the water. Can you imagine with what kind of geshmak and feeling you drink the water? Same thing here. A person who always has mitzvot, so he doesn't really feel the importance. But when a person did aveirot and then you start doing mitzvot, so that brings you to חילא יתיר, a stronger koach. You serve Hashem stronger. Now when we start thinking about it, what brought this person to serve Hashem stronger? The aveirot that he did. So obviously the aveirot were like a stepping stone to his serving Hashem better. So the aveirot become, as we call them, הכשר מצוה. It's a preparation for a mitzvah. It became part of the mitzvah, that's why it's like a mitzvah itself, because that brought the person to do the mitzvot better. But Still it's hard to understand, how does it affect the past? So maybe now it's better, now you'll, but we're saying more than that, it actually affects the past. So here it says a very, another explanation: You can't change the past, that's true, impossible. In this case, you're not changing the past. All you're doing, you're revealing the truth that was there, which till the person did teshuvah, we didn't realize what it was. We know that every Yid, in truth, in essence wants to do only good. Every Yid wants to do good. Even while a person does aveirot, he in truth doesn't want to do it. So why does he do it? His yetzer hara forces him. That's what the Rambam says. That's why the Rambam says על פי הלכה, if you force a Yid to do a mitzvah, it's not considered being forced. It's considered doing it willingly. Why? Because the reason he didn't want to do it, because he was forced by his yetzer hara. All you did is you forced off his force. You took it away, so you're back to what was there. So when a person does teshuvah, all he does, he reveals what was there the whole time. When you do an aveirah, what did we say before? The whole concept of aveirah is you cut yourself off to a certain degree from Hashem. You're missing that connection. But you're not. You think you're missing, but after you do teshuvah, you reveal the truth that you weren't missing the whole time. So then you're not changing the past. That is from our side, from the Yid's side, and the same is from Hashem's side. How does teshuvah work? Now, a little bit looking at it from the kabbalistic explanation, when a person does an aveirah, he makes a פגם, using the terms of חסידות, קבלה. He makes a פגם, a blemish in his neshamah, and also in the higher worlds he makes a blemish, in so to speak Hashem. There is a pasuk that says concerning the person who cursed Hashem, we have a pasuk in Chumash, a story in Chumash, the pasuk uses the word ונקב שם השם, which means he pronounced Hashem's name and he cursed. The word ונקב also means not only pronouncing, ונקב means to make a hole. From the word נקב, to puncture a hole. But the pasuk is saying when you do an aveirah, you so to speak puncture a hole in שם הויה. You make a hole in שם הויה, in Hashem's name. When you do teshuvah, what do you have to do? What you have to do is you have to fill up that hole. In order to do that, you have to reach into a level of Hashem which is beyond it. That means a level of Hashem where the aveirah did not have an effect. True, if you start thinking about it, Hashem essentially is not affected by what we do. Hashem wants us to do it. So in the level, I don't know if I'll explain myself enough, because this is a deep inyan in Chassidus, from the level of Hashem's ratzon, from the level of Hashem's will, we affect. Hashem wants us to do something, so in that level, obviously if we don't do it, we're affecting. Because if he wouldn't be affected, we can't say he wanted us to do it. The fact that he wants us to do it, obviously he cares. He wants it, it's important for him. If we don't do it, we affect it. So we affect that level. That's called the level of his ratzon. But then there is the level we call of the בעל הרצון, the one that has the will. So there is a level beyond that will, and that's an essential level where what we do makes no difference. So we have to listen to him because he wants it. In order to take away that bad effect that we caused through our aveirah, we have to reach into that level of Hashem which is higher than where he's affected, and there is no effect, and we bring from there, we reveal from that level, and automatically what we did doesn't count. So the aveirah is forgotten because in that level, if that is revealed, the aveirah doesn't count. Just to use an example to make it easier to understand, if a father and a child, there are two levels of connection between a father and a child. There is a father or a mother, there is the essential connection. This is the father, this is the child. No matter what the father does, no matter what the child does, it's a child, you can't change that. And there is this essential connection no matter what. Then the father tells the child, I want you to do so and so. The child has to, if the child doesn't do it, the father is very upset, and it affects the father. But at the same time, we can't say it affected the essential connection. It could break the relationship in the revealed level. If a child doesn't behave, doesn't do what the parents want, they could throw him out of the house, they could be angry at him, it could cut off their relationship. But it never could affect that essential connection. And therefore, if a child did something wrong and was basically thrown out of the house and etc., etc., and he wants to return, what would he do? He has to come back, and he has to find the proper words or things to touch in the father that soft spot, that essential connection which is beyond the level of their revealed connection. And when that is revealed, everything is straightened out, and the father says, \"Ah, I don't care what you did. Come back.\" You have to make up never to do it again, obviously. What's the pshat? In the level where, in this essential level, there was never an aveirah to begin with, because in that level the aveirah didn't affect. So when you reveal that level, automatically the aveirot are wiped out. And that's how you affect the past, because all you're doing is revealing that level where there was never an aveirah. The question was, how could you if you did an aveirah before, how could you now affect the past? All you're doing is you're revealing the level where before there was no aveirah either, because that level was not affected by your behavior, and now when you reach that level, you bring it out that that level comes into the open, and at that level there was never an aveirah. Or using the terms of Chassidus, שם הויה is a level which is higher than time. If you really really affect, touch, reach the essence of שם הויה, there is no such thing as time, so you can't say there was before and there is now and I'm going to change the before. There is no such thing as before. But in other words is that you're touching that point of Hashem where the aveirah did not affect. And that is only done through teshuvah. If you do teshuvah, and if you do it the way Hashem prescribed us to do it—you do it on your own way, it doesn't count. Who are we? What do we know? We know how to affect in the higher levels? But if we do it the way Hashem told us to do, then we affect we reach that level which is beyond time, beyond the aveirah, and therefore there is no aveirah. And therefore, everything is wiped out, and then we continue with a new slate and everything as if nothing happened. This is how it affects, and that's why it only could happen by a Yid. A goy cannot affect such high levels, and therefore by a goy he could מכאן ולהבא, from now and on, he could become good, and then it's fine and good, but he can't change the past because he can't reach that level which is beyond time, or he can't reach the level of essence of that connection, because a goy is not essentially connected to Hashem, while a Yid is. So as long as it's a Yid born from a Jewish mother, or converted על פי הלכה, which is a Yid, then that essential connection is there, and that essential connection is revealed by doing teshuvah, and therefore there was never an aveirah before. And this is what the concept of teshuvah is. So the halachah aspect of teshuvah and the conditions of teshuvah is, like I said, the main thing is never to do it, make up one's mind never ever to do it again, sincerely. Then you have the other two details of regret for the past and vidui. If you do that, you reach into the highest levels of Hashem, and therefore Hashem the the aveirot are automatically wiped out.

Then there is just one more, we're it's already time, but just one more point. There's another aspect in teshuvah, and I'll just say it in short, which the Baal Shem Tov said. The Baal Shem Tov said that every person, even the greatest tzaddik, has to do teshuvah. And this is one of the sources of the big machloket between the chasidim and the mitnagdim at the time of the Baal Shem Tov. They claimed that how could you say such a thing? You are mezalzel, you are, you know, being lightheaded with the kavod, with the honor of tzaddikim and talmidei chachamim by saying that everyone has to do teshuvah. And what he explained was another aspect of teshuvah. It doesn't mean teshuvah for aveirot. He says the word teshuvah is based on the pasuk where it says, והרוח תשוב אל האלקים אשר נתנה. The ruach, the spirit, should return to Hashem who gave it. That means that we have to work on the neshama returning to the same level it was before it came down to this world. We all know that the neshama before it comes on into this world, to the body, is in a very high level. What does the neshama do all day? It's bored up there? It learns and daven or whatever we it's it's connected to Hashem. Comes onto this world, Oy, doesn't it have problems. It's put into a physical body, and it's ruled, controlled by the physical body, and the physical body doesn't always want to do mitzvot and want to do the right thing, and the neshama is in galut. And the neshama's connection to Hashem is definitely not the same way the neshama was before it came down. And what we have to work on is trying to bring the neshama back to the level that it was before. And that's through learning more Torah and doing more mitzvot, and that's what he calls teshuva: והרוח תשוב אל האלקים אשר נתנה, the ruach, the spirit, should return back to Hashem. Now it doesn't mean, God forbid, the neshama should leave the body and go back. That's not what we're talking about. While it's in the body, it has to get closer and closer to Hashem, closer to the level that it was before. And that's a very high level of teshuva. Now for us, unfortunately, we don't have to worry about that level so much. We could do teshuva in the simple way of teshuva, because unfortunately, we are not a hundred percent big tzadikim, and there are things that we have to change, especially this time of the year, So we have to concentrate on this simple level of teshuva. When Mashiach will come, which we all know is going to be very, very soon, the Rebbe said Mashiach is on his way, הגיע זמן גאולתכם, then we will all reach it and the neshama will go back to the same way it was before, and then we won't even have to work hard. But now, as long as Mashiach didn't come and we're not such great tzadikim, we have to concentrate on the simple level of teshuva. And that's what we have to do during the month of Elul. The first thing is, in order to get to do teshuva, you have to realize what a mitzvah is, what an aveirah is, like I said in the beginning. Second of all, we have to make a cheshbon of what we did. The year passed, and we have to make a cheshbon. Just like when a person has a business, there is a certain time of the year that you bring in an accountant to see where you're at, what's your מצב, what's your situation, making profit, you're losing money, what's going on? So we may have to make a cheshbon, and I doubt anybody who will make a cheshbon will come to a conclusion that he's a tzadik and he's doing everything correctly. So we'll always find things that we have to change. And after we make the cheshbon and we realize there are things that we are not so gevaldiks, not so great in, then we have to do teshuva, which means to make up our mind never to do it again and to do everything the way Hashem wants to the best of our ability. And if we do the proper teshuvah, we know Hashem will forgive us for our aveirot, even though we said before makes no difference, we have to do teshuvah anyway, but we know that he will forgive us. And if Hashem forgives for our aveirot, we are tzadikim, and it says in the Gemara that tzadikim are right away signed and sealed in the Book of Life, and the Eibershter will give us a ketivah vachatimah tovah for a שנה טובה ומתוקה. We will have everything that we need בגשמיות וברוחניות. Amen. Yes. Rabbi, God willing, we're coming to the High Holidays, the ימים נוראים. And we say we say prayers, we say a certain prayer the ones that you'd have to be a completely evil person, a rasha gamur. So in effect, what happens in effect Yeah. when you say when you say those of those tefilot, you're not telling the truth to Hashem ישמור? I I asked that question. I never got I never got an answer that sounds right. Maybe you can you can explain that, what that means. All these aveirot can be done, God forbid, in a very simple way as they are, and you could have these aveirot and call them בדקות, in a very fine, fine fashion. And these aveirot that were the the word this לשון that was established by the חכמים are things which a person, a regular average person, would probably have committed, whether in a simple form or very, very in an eidele, eidele fine form. Because you could do something in a very fine form, have an aveirah done that, according to your level, this is considered an aveirah. Like I just don't know which one even to pick. But לשון הרע, certain things are not לשון הרע, but in my level, it would be לשון הרע. Someone could say so. There are So all these aveirot, a person that You don't have to be an evil person. To do them all in a very poshete way, פשוט לשון הרע, עבודה זרה, everything that is possible to do, you've got to be a very terrible person. But to have these aveirot in a dakudike way, in a very, very fine form, that's possible, very possible. And therefore, we say it because we're not sure that we didn't. So even if there's an aveirah that we're sure we didn't do, we look at the list, \"This aveirah, I know I didn't do,\" you're still not sure you didn't do it. Why? Because maybe you did it in a way that's איידעלדיק לפי ערך. Yes. I'm quite thankful for for being not as loose as all of us. When I look at the list, I think there's hardly any that I missed. What I wanted to ask was when can you stop? Lemashal, a person 10 years ago before he before he was frum, he ate a cheeseburger. Now what? Every year he has to keep doing teshuvah for eating the cheeseburger? There's a pasuk that says, \"וחטאתי נגדי תמיד.\" My sins are always in front of me. And in Igeret HaTeshuvah, the Alter Rebbe talks about it. That means there's a halachah that even the aveirot that you did teshuvah on one Yom Kippur, finished, the next Yom Kippur, you have to do teshuvah again. And one of the reasons is because since we hope that as time passes, every person gets higher and higher, ילכו מחיל אל חיל, he goes from strength to strength, becomes on a higher level, so the teshuvah you did yesterday for the aveirah, in today's level, that teshuvah is not enough. So you have to do teshuvah again. So yesterday the teshuvah was 100% accepted, today it might not be accepted. Which is similar to something else, not the same, but similar, just to make you understand, it says that there are certain things a person might do which would not be counted as an aveirah at all, but when he reaches a higher level, that's counted as an aveirah. They tell a story, the Arizal writes, or it's in Kitvei HaArizal, that one of the talmidim of the Arizal, when after he passed away, he went from היכל to היכל, from one palace to the other, from one world world in Gan Eden to another, to another, and he just went through level till finally he came to one place, they stopped him. They said, \"You can't go further.\" \"What happened?\" \"Because you did something wrong. You committed a sin when you were down here in this world.\" \"What did I do?\" So they said to him that when you davent one day, and you were saying ובא לציון, as we say in the morning davenen, and when you said the words ולא ניגע לריק ולא נלד לבהלה, at that moment your mind went away from your tefillin. You have to always think about your tefillin, you didn't, about your tefillin. That's the reason, by the way, why it says, in some sefarim it says, that when you say these words you should kiss your tefillin. The Rebbe used to kiss his tefillin by these words. I believe it's based on this story. Anyway, so he asked, \"If that's a problem, so how did I get so far? Why didn't they stop me at the first gate?\" So they said to him, \"This aveirah is a very slight aveirah. It didn't even count as an aveirah. But when you reach such a high level, now here it started counting. So here further you can't go.\" Same thing, when a person does teshuvah, and it's accepted, because at your level you did teshuvah, fine. But when you reach a higher level, you have to do teshuvah over again, because now on your level this is doesn't really count. So now it has to be both. Let me explain it. According to this someone might ask, in that case, person that did something wrong, or a person became a baal teshuvah, is all his life on his head he's gonna have, \"I always have to think about this\"? So the Alter Rebbe in Iggeret Hateshuvah says, וחטאתי נגדי תמיד means that my sin is always in front of me, but he uses the word נגדי. נגדי means in front, but far. It's מרוחק. It has to be there, but it shouldn't be on your mind always. It has to be far. From time to time you have to think about it to teshuvah. But if a person is gonna think about it constantly, then you never you won't you can't live that way. So, it's something that a person did and you know it's there and you have for your higher Hope hope that you're on a higher level, you have to do teshuvah for in this higher level, but at the same time you have to generally not think about it. Yes. It's a very good question. If you דרש the word נגדי here from far, so how do you טייטש שויתי ה׳ לנגדי תמיד? Which means Hashem should always be in front of me. Do we mean ה׳ should always be far? So here it also says this this question was asked by ספרים and speaks about it. So there are all different kinds of explanations. One explanation is there that even if He is far, He should always be in front of you. That's one one way of explaining. Another thing it tries to tell us that person has to think about Hashem always, but then at the same time, is it possible every second to think about Hashem? It says in in Tanya, also speaks about this, it says, when a person learns, you have to think lishmah, you have to think that you're learning for the sake of Hashem. But it says if you're gonna think every moment about lishmah, you won't be able to understand what you're learning. So it means from time to time you have to think about it. So it has to be also can't be every second. It has to be basically in your mind, but the actual thinking about it, if you're sitting and learning and trying to understand pshat in the Gemara, you can't at that second think about Hashem. But at the same time, it has to be in your mind as generally in your mind. That's why he uses the word נגדי, that's another pshat. That's פשט פשוט. We've got I'm just kidding. Yes. Yes. It's forgiven and erased in this level. But next year you have to do it again, yes. Maybe maybe that's a better word, right, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Some people have the custom if they know something specific they add in. I haven't seen this custom in Lubavitch and heard, because in truth, any aveirah a person could think of is there, generally. So therefore, I never heard in Lubavitch anybody should there should be any minhag of saying. But I do know there are some people who add, actually it's brought down, they should add if they know a specific aveirah that's not actually written there, you should say it. Huh? That's included. If you look at him, you know. Yes, sir. It'll make him feel like his come back into the house. So, it seems to me that that this this rote format is just is not the type of thing that you would say to your father, cuz he'd say, \"Oh, you're just reading that.\" It seems to me maybe there's On Yom Kippur, you mean? What you say what? The Al Chet? Yeah, the Al Chet, the vidui, the In truth, the Al Chet shouldn't be just read. The Al Chet have to be meant. It has to be said with sincerity, knowing what you're saying, and it has to be meant, certainly. If a person just says the words and doesn't know what he's talking about, it's nothing. Come up to your father and you pick up a piece of paper, and you read off a list, and you don't even know what you're saying, it's in a different language you don't even understand, it certainly doesn't mean anything, certainly. I was thinking maybe more of like if let's say you if you if a person went ahead and they had שנאת חנם against somebody else, and then then what they would might want to do then is to pray for that person's welfare. And then that Okay, yeah, yeah. Like a child, if you have two children in the house fighting with each other, and the father just can't stand hearing the two kids fighting with each other, if one of the children will say to the father, you know, \"I I hope,\" and he sees that the two children, one child actually praying and hoping for the betterment of the other child That would be the best, true. Yeah, yeah, ein hachi nami. That's that's one of the reasons why we start off davening with הריני מקבל מצות עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, because that's the best way to come to the Father, to Hashem. Is to forgive? No, no, is to show that you have Ahavat Yisrael to another Yid, because then like the mashal you gave. Yes. There's a there's a in the Talmud, in the in the masechta, the tractate of Bava Batra, ט׳ עמוד א׳, it says, \"צדקה צדקה שקולה כנגד כל המצות,\" that the of tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvot. It was said by by the Chazal, you know. Right. So, question is, is that I'm I'm assuming that it's it's it's the truth, it's in the Gemara. I'm not assuming, I know. All right, fine, all right. So, if that's the case, and you you have explained very very well earlier in in the lecture what are mitzvot, what are what are aveirot, and so forth, so what if I take to myself, if tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvot, so I'll I'll I'm going to become a philanthropist, I'm going to become a big baal tzedakah, and I'm going to avoid all the other mitzvot? If they're equal to all the mitzvot, so I'm going to be involved with tzedakah. In fact, tzedakah is such a great mitzvah, you don't have to make a brachah. You don't have to make a brachah on on on Well, how does that exempt you from other mitzvot? It's such an important mitzvah No, no, it's such an important mitzvah, it's as important as all other mitzvot, but does that mean that you don't It says equal, though. Equal, okay, but it doesn't mean that that would exempt you from other mitzvot. It's not a replacement, right? Not a replacement. Well, am I to assume by logic, that that's why I wanted to know. That's a wrong assumption. That's a wrong assumption? 100% wrong. It just means it's that great, it weighs, the word שקול actually literally means it weighs like all the mitzvot, but it doesn't replace all the mitzvot. So because of that I don't have to do another mitzvah, because I did this? When I do it, oh, I ruined it. You ruined my whole comedy. Okay. Okay, I'll I'll address that. This this will be the last question. The teshuvah that a ger, a convert does, does that affect the past also? So let me tell you, there's a difference between a ger and a baal teshuvah. A ger has no past. The past doesn't count, doesn't exist. A ger that's born, גר שנתגייר, a ger that's converted, a person who converts, that moment is like the person is born, and the time before doesn't count. By a Yid who does teshuvah, it counts. And this is like you're a new being, like you were born today. And therefore, you don't even have to do teshuvah. It doesn't count. You The fact that you were megayer, obviously you accepted upon yourself to do all the mitzvot. But it's not a concept of teshuvah, because it's completely different, that the other thing doesn't even exist. That's why I always feel that when a person is megayer, the moment a person is megayer, then here you have the greatest tzaddik in the world. A person Imagine if you have a child that's born an adult. A when a child usually, when you're when a child has no aveirot, a child is is is pure, only thing, it's still a child. Imagine to have a child the purity of a child that's born, but you're an adult with all the seichel and everything. So, I know a few times when I participated in a conversion, I stood by the by the door of the mikveh, and as soon as the person walked out, I stopped him, and I said, \"Give me a brachah right now!\" Cuz five minutes later, I don't know what you'll be already! Who can know? By five minutes later you might have some bad thoughts, and who knows? This second that you just This second you changed, you're such a tzaddik, give me a brachah! Because that moment, a tzaddik, and the past doesn't count. Huh? Is a קטן. Not the same. It's a different ענין, מדרבנן you have to do chinuch, all kinds of things. It's not the same. It's also something, the moment you become a Bar Mitzvah, but here, you're born now. By a Bar Mitzvah, it doesn't say you're born now. A child becoming a Bar Mitzvah becomes born? So the past counts, and even the Rema says that a person should do teshuvah for aveirot he did before his Bar Mitzvah, even though they don't count yet, because there is something there, it has an effect. A child, let's say, eats not kosher food. No aveirah, he doesn't, nevertheless it has an effect on him and it causes all kinds of things, it says. Why? Because naturally, bad. By a goy that becomes a ger, it doesn't say. It's nothing, it doesn't count. Because that second you're born and you have no aveirot, nothing. So, the greatest person. Thank you every- Thank you everybody for coming. Just a few things, if you'll please. Again, we'd like to wish the sponsors for tonight's חנוניך, חנוניך כלו ממעמקים, די מרננים וקוננים, די מרננים וקוננים, די מרננים וקוננים, הוי וקוננים, די מרננים וקוננים, הוי וקוננים. טל, טל, טל, טל, טל בו תברך, בו תברך מזון, טל בו תברך, בו תברך מזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, אל יהי רזון. האום אשר יצרת, אשר יצרת, אשר יצרת כאישון, אנא הפק לרצון, הפק לרצון, הפק לרצון בטל. טל, טל בו תברך, בו תברך מזון, טל, טל בו תברך, בו תברך מזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, במשמנינו אל יהי רזון, אל יהי רזון. האום אשר יצרת, אשר יצרת, אשר יצרת כאישון, אנא הפק לרצון, הפק לרצון, הפק לרצון בטל. [Non-speech audio] [Non-speech audio] [Non-speech audio]