[Avodah] Can a Rasha do Teshuva?

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 12:23:29PM +0000, Akiva Miller wrote:
: Rambam, Hilchos Teshuva 3:3 -- "... on Rosh Hashana: One who is found
: to be a tzadik is sealed for life. And one who is found to be a rasha is
: sealed for death. And the beinoni is left hanging until Yom Kippur: If
: he did teshuva he is sealed for life, and if not he is sealed for death."
...
: Is teshuva ineffective for the rasha? A simple reading of this Rambam
: would seem to indicate that the rasha was already sealed for death on Rosh
: Hashana, and it is only the beinoni who needs to bother with teshuva. Is
: it impossible for the rasha's future to be improved by teshuva?

I thank RAM for asking these questions, because it started me thinking.
What does the chevrah think of the following chiddush?

A step back to REED's notion of a nequdas habechirah. My definition:

REED defines free will in a way that it only includes consciously made
decisions. On any axis, there is only a small range of situations
in which the side saying "yes" and the side saying "no" are similar
enough in strength that the issue becomes a conscious, free willed,
decision. This front where the yeitzer hatov and yeitzer hara battle is
called the nequdas habechirah (NhB), the decision point. Items beyond the
NhB are simply decided preconsciously -- before the person is consciously
aware of his options, he already knows what he's going to do. For most
people, robbing a back is simply not on the menu of choices. Sadly
for many people, being honest on their tax forms when it may cost them
significant money is also not on the menu. Etc...

For each person on each issue, the nequdas habechira is mobile. With each
good decision, the NhB moves over to make the next similar decision that
much easier. The yeitzer hatov becomes more powerful with exercise.

Now, back to the issue at hand...

This means that there are people for whom the necessary teshuvah for what
they have done is simply beyond their NhQ. Before they even reach the
point of choosing to do teshuvah, they already preconsciously decided not
to. The option couldn't be taken seriously. And while the NhQ does move,
there is a limit to how far the person can get in just 10 days.

Such a person is a rasha in the sense of someone who not only /does/
evil, but internalized the evil, they themselves /have/ that evil.

I therefore want to flip your first question on its head: It's not that
a rasha's teshuvah would be ineffective; it's that a rasha is someone
for whom it's impossible.

: Let's set that quesion aside for a moment, and ask a different
: question: What of a beinoni who is *exactly* in the middle and did not
: do teshuva. Would his fate really be sealed for death? ...

The flipside of our NhB based definition of rasha is that a tzadiq is
someone in the enviable opposite position. Of course he regrets what
he did and wouldn't do it again! He internalized that tzidqus; not only
does he DO tzedeq, he IS a tzadiq.

Which would leave the remaining ground for the beinoni -- someone whose
teshuvah is within the range of his possible choices during the 10 yemei
teshuvah. They could merit either life or ch"v death within the decisions
that could reach their bechirah chafshi during those 10 days.


Continuing this stream of thought to an issue RAM didn't raise... I am
bothered by this notion of one's fate being written and sealed during
the 10 Yemei Teshuvah and yet we do teshuvah and daven during the course
of the year with the expecation that teshuvah then isn't only a mitzvah,
but can change how Hashem treats us.

Another step back: Itzumo shel yom mechaperes. What does that mean? The
rasha isn't getting kaparah despite Yom Kippur, even with a se'ir
hamishtaleiach -- his fate was already sealed. And the guy who grabs a
cheese burger for his lunch that day? YK works for him too?

(The whole notion that the day itself can atone despite the spiritual
state of the person in question also rubs my prejudice against
metaphysical mechanics the wrong way.)

I raised this question in 2007
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol23/v23n174.shtml#12>.

Li nir'eh the idea is that itzumo shel yom is mechaper someone who
internalizes itzumo shel yom. Not in and of itself.

Warning: Realize that anything I say beyond this point will be conclusions
based on accepting a pair of chiddushim! (1) That a rasha can't do
teshuvah means that a rasha is by definition someone whose NhQ can't reach
deciding to do a sufficient level of teshuvah to save themselves. (2)
That itzumo shel yom is about a person accepting the etzem of YK.

Yom Kippur, for someone who takes it seriously, makes the battlefront
more mobile in favor of tov. Knowing what's on the line makes it easier
to choose teshuvah. And thus itzumo shel yom mechaperes because itzumo
shel yom enables becoming a better person who deserves a better fate.

And r"l lehefech... Someone who is not only unaware, but suppresses the
opportunity to feel the awe -- ki hu nora ve'ayom! -- is greasing the
slide downward. Actively failing to take advantage of the feel of the
day is an aveirah goreres aveirah.

Yes, change is possible during the rest of the year. But "dirshu H'
behimatz'o" has the ability to create a whole different scale of personal
change.

GCT and :-)@@ii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's never too late
micha at aishdas.org        to become the person
http://www.aishdas.org   you might have been.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                      - George Elliot