Page 144 - Chayei Adam LAYOUT sivan 5782

Chayei Adam - K’lal 143 - Laws of Aseres Yemei Teshuva & Erev Yom Kippur

confession for his sins. There are people who are misled and give the stolen
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funds to tzedaka and the poor, which is a complete mistake, as the posuk says
(Mishlei 11:21) “From hand to hand the evil will not be cleansed”. Even though
Chazal (Beitza 29a) say that if one stole and he doesn’t know he stole from, he
should fund public needs, this is because he doesn’t know who he stole from, but
if he knows, it doesn’t help until he returns it to the owner or if he died, to his
descendants. A person must confess with his mouth and his heart and be greatly
submissive, with tears and a broken heart. Then, it is like [he offers] a korban as
the posuk (Tehilim 51:19) says “a broken and crushed heart”. He should commit to
never returning to do this again. Since vidui is like a korban, and Chazal says that
offering a korban without doing teshuva is termed “a sacrifice of the wicked
[which is] an abomination”. Therefore, one must repent and commit that he will
never return to such behavior, and he should cry and become embittered over
having angered Hashem, and for tarnishing his neshama which Hashem gave to
him for his own good. How could he dirty it with terrible acts? He should be
depressed and embarrassed to face Hashem when he recalls the dirty acts he has
done from his youth, through to his old age. He should ask himself, “what have I
done? Why did I denigrate Hashem’s words, and forget that He created me from
nothing and gave me so much good, and I went and damaged myself, repaying
Him with bad for all the good I received! Woe to me!” Through his bitter tears
his heart will surely break to the point that he will fully commit to never return to
do those evil acts again. This is true teshuva; that he becomes so embittered over
his sin that Hashem Himself can testify that he will never return to such behavior
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again. If he merits to become so embittered, he can be sure that he achieved
atonement. How lucky is a person who reaches this level of vidui. Many people
think that when they do teshuva on Yom Kippur, they get kaparah and rely on this
to sin all year long as if they are free to do so. They fast the entire week of aseres

םדו רשב
12. It is worth mentioning another a mistake. Either there is an obligation of
common mistake that people make when they hashavas aveidah - to seek out the owner (if it
find a sum of money; many people assume has identifying features such as a certain sum
that they should just give it to tzedaka. This is in a wallet, etc.) - or it is the finder’s to keep.

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