[Avodah] yishmael v. the mitzri???

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 01:40:18PM -0500, David Riceman wrote:
: >I would deduce from the Pesikhta (40 "bachodesh hashevi'i")

: The section is quite long.  Could you give a more detailed reference 
: (and tell me which edition - -  I imagine Friedmann=Ish Shalom).

No, because the majority of what I write here is based off notes, and I
hadn't seen sources for years. Often I just trust the speaker, and it
went into my notes without ever even looking.

But this notion that the baal Teshuvah is a new person is in the Rambam
Teshuvah 2:4 (as already mentioned, this Rambam gets a lot of attention
in Brisker circles around the 10 yemei teshuvah). I'll now add it's also
in the Ran, when he explains RH 16a's discussion of the value of a BT
changing his namer. It eases the transformation.

R' Albo applies this idea to tefillah, in Ikarim 4:18. (Side-note:
I noticed the Ikkarim often follows his rebbe, the Ran; their aggadic
positions tend to line up very closely.) Tefillah doesn't remove the
decree, it changes the person from being the one on who the decree
was made.

: I don't see how to harmonize this with either zdonos na'asim lo 
: kishgagos or kizchuyos.  Either way he's got the same history.  It's not 
: like his past was erased and replaced with something different.

Does this mean the person has no memory of the past? Of course he does.
And a ger can be a new person, and yet still his memories of his
pre-geirus past inform (often by contrast, but not always) his avodas
Hashem.

The person who does teshuvah mei'ahavah is now doing something
constructive with those memories. Before it was aveirah goreres aveirah,
now it's the source of charatah, and motivates closeness to the Borei.
Their are naasos kezechuyos because at this point they accomplish the
same goal as a mitzvah. He is something new, even if there is continuity
with what the new person was made from.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Never must we think that the Jewish element
micha at aishdas.org        in us could exist without the human element
http://www.aishdas.org   or vice versa.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Never must we think that the Jewish element
micha at aishdas.org        in us could exist without the human element
http://www.aishdas.org   or vice versa.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch