EXOD989 The levels of repentance and its virtues ["Where ba'alei teshuvah stand, complete tzaddikim many not stand" (Berachos 34b); "Great is repentance, whereby one's sins become merits" (Yoma 86b) (Zeh Hash'ar) are in accordance with the degree of one's bitterness and the intensity of one's anguish. It is this type of repentance [i.e., the higher levels of teshuvah] that emerges from the purity of one's soul and the refinement of its intellect. For the intensity and magnitude of anguish that one feels over his many sins is reflective of his understanding and awareness, as the pasuk says (Yeshayahu 57:16), "I shall not contend [with the sinner] forever, nor be angry for eternity, but only until the spirit before Me surrenders, and the souls [that] I made." This means: "When the spirit--which is 'before Me,' for it comes from the supernal realm [See Rashi]--surrenders and grieves, and the souls that I have made surrender, I will no longer be contentious with them, nor will I be angry. How can I not be graceful and merciful to a precious spirit that is 'before Me' and to the souls that I have made?" Consequently, to the extent that one's avodah [i.e. service of Hashem] of sighing weighs upon him, the transgression will be made lighter. This is because anguish emerges from the purity of the supernal soul, and leads to greater reconciliation than that which comes from intense bodily suffering and the pain associated with it. This can be illustrated as follows: A king shows compassion to his family members, who are brought up in his household and are part of the honored aristocracy. He will be more merciful with them than to those who are far removed and of lower status. The pasuk says, "the souls [that] I made," due to their closeness to the supernal realm, even though the body and all of creation are [also] His handiwork [i.e., Hashem shows greater compassion to that which is rooted in the upper spiritual domain.] In a similar vein [this verse]: "The tablets were Hashem's own work." [But isn't all creation Hashem's work? We see that such language points to a higher spiritual quality.] Furthermore, our Sages, z"l, said (Nidah 31a), "There are three partners to man: his father, his mother, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu." Since one's parents are not partners in the soul, therefore, the pasuk says, "the souls [that] I made." Thus, 'the souls [that] I made" is shedding light on the [beginning of the pasuk], "the spirit before Me," [i.e., as further proof that "before Me" denotes the soul's source from the supernal realm] the underlying idea being as we have explained [i.e., they are of greater significance in Hashem's eyes, and, consequently, the anguish of the spirit/soul lightens one's sin.]

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EXOD993 … one who delays repentance, when subsequently the opportunity for sinning presents itself to him again, will fall prey to it as he initially did, in this latter sin will then be even more severe, and his crime will ascend before Hashem. [The reason for this is because] initially it had not occurred to him that this ruling yetzer would so unexpectedly come upon him; but now that he has seen his weakness, how his yetzer has prevailed over him and how much stronger it is, he should have realized that he is at a disadvantage [this verse, lit. "that he is exposed."] As such, he should have formulated a plan for increasing his fear of Heaven-- to case Hashem's fear over his soul, rescuing it from the yetzer's ambush and protecting himself from his sin. Shlomo [HaMelech], a"h, said (Mishlei 26:11), "Like a dog who returns to its vomit, [so is] a fool who repeats his foolishness." What this means is: a dog eats vile things, and when he spits them out, they become even more repulsive. Yet the dog returns to eat them again. So it is with the fool. By doing something reprehensible and [then] repeating it, it becomes even more reprehensible, as we have explained. (Continued at [[DEUT563]] Deuteronomy 12:17 eat GATES 9)

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EXOD994 (Continued from [[LEV176]] Leviticus 16:16 sins GATES 235-6). Anyone devoted to Hashem must be willing to forfeit his life for the sanctification of Hashem's Name, as the pesukim say [this verse], "'Whoever is for Hashem, let him come to me'. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him"; and (Bemidbar 25:7), "Pinchas saw... and took a spear in his hand." It is incumbent upon every God-fearing person, especially when his love [for Hashem] is rooted in purity of heart [Mishlei 22:11], that he arouse himself to zealotry when he sees the hand of princes and viceroys involved in sin. Our Sages said (Bereishis Rabbah 26:5), "Any breach which does not begin with the leaders is not a breach [i.e., this is a serious breach that desecrates Hashem's Name and requires one who loves Hashem to work steadfastly toward its repair (Matnas Chelko)], as the pasuk says (Ezra 9:2), 'The hand of the princes and viceroys has been foremost in this sin."

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EXOD999 Our Sages said (Arachin 15b), "[The sin of] lashon hara is equal to [the] three [cardinal] sins: Idolatry, illicit relations, and murder. By idolatry the pasuk says [this verse], 'Please! This nation has committed a grave sin'…]

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EXOD1005 The eighth principle [of repentance] is submissiveness in deed. He should accustom himself to respond gently, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 15:1), "A gentle reply turns wrath away"; and in a low voice, for this is the way of humbleness, as the pasuk says (Yeshayahu 29:4), "You will be lowly, [as if] speaking from the ground; your speech will be turned downwards, [as if] from the dust." This contrasts to what the pasuk says regarding a wealthy, arrogant person (Mishlei 18:23), "A rich person responds brazenly." Furthermore, he should not be preoccupied with beautiful clothing and jewelry, as the pasuk says [this verse], "And now, remove your jewelry from yourselves" [i.e., to repent for sinning with the Golden Calf.] ... The signs of submissiveness, such as a gentle response, low voice, and looking downwards, will remind one to make his heart submissive.

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EXOD1056 [Compiler's note: It is not clear to me why the translator/editor associated this verse (or any word therein) to Rabbi Yonah's commentary; I have associated the word "said" because the commentary deals with speech]. The fourth category [of those who speak lashon hara is] avak lashon hara [Lit., "dust of lashon hara," i.e. just a tinge of lashon hara. See paragraphs 137-139 for similar use of the word avak. Avak Lashon Hara is ostensibly innocent speech that can lead to lashon hara or damage to another.] Our Sages said (Bava Basra 165a), "The majority of people succumb to theft, a minority to illicit relations, and everyone to avak lashon hara." They explained that avak lashon hara entails a persons saying something that causes others to speak lashon hara. [Thus,] they said (Arachin 16a), "One should never say positive things about another person, for the positive things [said] about him lead to disparaging things [being said] about him." We must explain this passage: It is known that speaking praise of the sages and the tzaddikim is a beautiful trait, as the pasuk said (Mishlei 25:27), "Searching out their honor is honorable" [See paragraph 149]. They also said that a fool does not speak the praises of the world [So, what do Chazal mean when they say, "One should never say positive things when referring to another person"?] But the meaning of the matter is this: One should say positive things about another person only one-on-one [this verse], i.e., a man speaking to his friend, and not in public where many people are congregated--until it becomes clear to him that in this place there is no one who possesses hate or jealousy for the person he will speak about positively [i.e., for it will lead that person to say disparaging words against the man he hates or is jealous of. Consequently, the one who said positive things will be guilty of avak lashon hara]. However, if he wants to praise a person who has already been publicly accepted and acknowledged as an upright person and within whom no evil or guilt can be found, he can then praise him even in the presence of one who hates him or is jealous of him. For he will not be able to disparage him; and [even] if he does, everyone will know that he has spoken false [words]. His tongue will [only] become a pitfall for himself.

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EXOD1062 Our Sages said (Pesachim 3a), "A person should never utter something unseemly, for the Torah went out of its way [to add] eight letters rather than utter something unseemly, as the pasuk says (Bereishis 7:8), '… and of the animals that are not pure.'" [i.e., instead of writing tamei ["impure"] which is five Hebrew letters, the Torah adds eight letters and writes asher aynah t'horah ["that are not pure"] to avoid using the unseemly word tamei "impure" (Rashi)]. At that time, an impure pure animal [i.e., a non-kosher animal] could be eaten [Rabbeinu Yonah explains in his chidushim on Sanhedrin 59b that although it was forbidden to slaughter and eat animal flesh at this time, if the animal died on its own it could be eaten. (Cf. Rashi, Bereishis 9:3)] but could not be brought as a sacrifice. Therefore, it is considered an unseemly form of speech, deprecating those things that serve as food for man. [Rabbeinu Yonah has resolved the following problem: if the word tamei is unseemly, why does it appear many times in the Torah? His answer is that the word is only unseemly when describing animals fit for human consumption. The word tamei relating to non-kosher animals appears in the Torah only after the prohibition on their consumption at Sinai (Matnas Chelko)]. It follows that a person is obligated to be careful not to utter something unseemly, even if his departure from unseemly language forces him to be wordy and to elaborate more in his discussions. This becomes a kind of safeguard against obscene talk, which is of the more grave transgressions, and also is a safeguard against speaking lashon hara and finding fault with people. As ours Sages, z"l, said (Bava Basra 123a) in respect to keeping far from unseemly speech: "The Torah did not deprecate even an impure animal." Our Sages further said (Pesachim 3b) that in the presence of Rabbi Yochanna ben Zakai one of the Kohanim said, "I received for my portion of the lechem hapanim [i.e., the twelve showbread that were eaten by the Kohanim every Shabbos [this verse; Vayikra 24:5-9] an amount equal to the tale of a lizard." When he examined his genealogy they discovered a taint [in his lineage] [i.e., he was a chalal (Rashi; see Vayikra 21:15), and therefore unfit to be a Kohen. This shows the power of speech to reveal the inner soul (Zeh Hasha'ar). A real Kohen would never speak about the holy lechem hapanim in such a manner].

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LEV14 Currently, , when we have no sacrifices (due to our sins and the sins of our ancestors), if one sins with musings of the heart or violates a positive commandment, he should recite the sections [of the Torah] that discuss the laws of the burnt-offering, found at the beginning of the [Torah] portions of Vayikra and Tzav es Aharon (I.e., Vayikra 1:1-9 and 6:1-6) -- for reading the parts of the Torah that discuss the offering will take the place of [actually] bringing the offering. [This is so] whether he reads [the pesukim] from the Torah or [studies their laws] from the Oral Law (I.e., from the Talmud (Zeh Hasha'ar). The literal translation is: "whether he reads from a written text or recite them by heart."), as our Sages, z"l, said (Menachos 110a), "Whoever is engaged in the study of the section of the burnt-offering – – it is as if he has [actually] sacrificed a burnt-offering; in the study of the section of the sin-offering – – as if he has sacrificed a sin-offering; in the study of the section of the guilt-offering – – as if he has sacrificed a guilt–offering."

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LEV19 One who renders a halachic decision in his Torah teacher's presence is punishable with misah [bidei Shamayim] ["death at the hands of Heaven" -- AJL]. Our Sages, z"l, said (Eruvin 63a) that the reason Nadav and Avihu died when offering up an unauthorized fire (See Vayikra 10:1-2) was not for the sin of the offering, since their intent was to perform a mitzvah; for they said, "The Torah states (Vayikra 1:7), 'The sons of Aharon the Kohen shall place fire on the mizbe'ach' -- although the fire descends from heaven, it is a mitzvah for man to bring it." (I.e., in this they interpreted the verse incorrectly, but their intentions were pure and this would not have normally been punished. This concurs with the opinion of Ra'avad, brought by Rashba and others, that Nadav and Avihu offered incense on the inner, golden mizbe'ach in an incorrect way. Their punishment, however, resulted from their rendering a halachic decision in the presence of Moshe Rabbeinu.

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LEV23 (Continued from [[GEN296]] Genesis 2:18 alone GATES 422-3). The word vahafitisa ["that you grind"] is the same as vahafitosa, in the verb form of hasibosa (Rabbeinu Yonah understand the root of vahafitisa (והפתית) to be פתת (see this verse). Since the second and third letter of the root are identical (ת), the active verb form would usually be vahafitosa (והפתות), just like savav (סבב) becomes hasibosa (הסבות; see Yechezkel 7:22). The meaning is: with your lips you grind up his face -- as a result of his extreme embarrassment (Rabbeinu Yonah in his commentary to Mishlei explains that this is similar to (Yeshayahu 3:15), "You grind up the faces of the poor" (by belittling them -- Rashi) -- by exposing his hidden sin. Subsequent to this [Shlomo] said, "Do not say,' As he has done to me I will do to him'"--if he has exposed your sin, do not take revenge or bear a grudge, by doing to him what he has done to you. This is a highly regarded moral rule and a fundamental principle in fearing Hashem. If the sinner has no fear before God, such as one who divests himself of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and is not heedful of [even] one sin that is publicly acknowledged to be a sin, it is permissible to shame and denigrate him. This is what our Sages said (Bava Metzia 59a): "'You shall not abuse your fellowman" (Vayikra 25:17) -- do not verbally abuse one who is your fellowman in Torah and mitzvos; but one who shows no concern for God's word, it is permissible to shame him over his activities, to publicize his abominations, and to ridicule him. They also say (Yoma 86b) , "Charlatans should be exposed in public, ("evildoers who pretend that they are righteous" (Rashi) to prevent the desecration of Hashem's name. But if one by chance occurrence succumbs to sin, when most of his days his way is to guard himself from sin, then he may not expose his sin, as we have explained. (Continued at [[NUM223]] Numbers 17:3 sinned GATES 425).

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