Teshuvah 4
Nov 10, 2026 · 58 min · 10 segments
Teshuvah-blockers! Chapter 4 is all about the 24 things which can get in the way of Teshuvah, despite its power
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Nov 10, 2026 · 58 min · 10 segments
Teshuvah-blockers! Chapter 4 is all about the 24 things which can get in the way of Teshuvah, despite its power
So it's really interesting because remember, we've seen how many times now Rambam tell us chuvah can work for anything.
There's nothing that chuvah can't work for.
Ten minutes before you die, you've been a horrible person your whole life.
You do chuvah the very last minute, it's fine.
All those categories of people who don't have a share in the world to come, nonetheless, if they do chuvah, they're fine.
So chuvah is an extremely powerful thing.
It's a kind of funny divine intervention.
Not the sort to save, but the sort to actually, the opposite, to condemn.
These in particular, these four, which mean that you are finding yourself blocked, are listed here in the first one.
And they'll be somewhat familiar.
The first one, the one who causes the public to commit crimes.
And it's because, right, it's included or we include in this category.
Someone who holds back, that's that same word, me'akev, here used in a different sense.
Someone who prevents the public from doing a mitzvah.
So there's two ways to understand this first category.
Either you get up and you encourage people to commit crimes, or you get up and you discourage people from doing a mitzvah.
Both are things where if you are causing other people to do the wrong thing, not doing something they should or doing something they shouldn't, then teshuva is blocked from you.
And of course, there's a lovely poetry here, this kind of symmetry.
You blocked other people from doing a mitzvah, and now you're blocked from doing teshuva.
He means this, by the way, and we'll see this explained many times as we have, that the person who causes others to commit crimes, we're talking about a leader, essentially.
Someone who sets a bad example and encourages other people to do the same.
We can imagine, I'm sure, many people for whom that might be a fitting description.
Shini, your label is Bet, Hamatei et Chaviro miderech tova lera'ah kagon meisit umadiach.
So it's really interesting because remember, we've seen how many times now Rambam tell us chuvah can work for anything.
There's nothing that chuvah can't work for.
Ten minutes before you die, you've been a horrible person your whole life.
You do chuvah the very last minute, it's fine.
All those categories of people who don't have a share in the world to come, nonetheless, if they do chuvah, they're fine.
So chuvah is an extremely powerful thing.
It's a kind of funny divine intervention.
Not the sort to save, but the sort to actually, the opposite, to condemn.
These in particular, these four, which mean that you are finding yourself blocked, are listed here in the first one.
And they'll be somewhat familiar.
The first one, the one who causes the public to commit crimes.
And it's because, right, it's included or we include in this category.
Someone who holds back, that's that same word, me'akev, here used in a different sense.
Someone who prevents the public from doing a mitzvah.
So there's two ways to understand this first category.
Either you get up and you encourage people to commit crimes, or you get up and you discourage people from doing a mitzvah.
Both are things where if you are causing other people to do the wrong thing, not doing something they should or doing something they shouldn't, then teshuva is blocked from you.
And of course, there's a lovely poetry here, this kind of symmetry.
You blocked other people from doing a mitzvah, and now you're blocked from doing teshuva.
He means this, by the way, and we'll see this explained many times as we have, that the person who causes others to commit crimes, we're talking about a leader, essentially.
Someone who sets a bad example and encourages other people to do the same.
We can imagine, I'm sure, many people for whom that might be a fitting description.
Shini, your label is Bet, Hamatei et Chaviro miderech tova lera'ah kagon meisit umadiach.
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