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How do you do תְּשׁוּבָה (teshuvah, repentance)?

The Rambam (Spain and Egypt, 850 years ago) gives how-to instructions:

משנה תורה, הלכות תשובה ב׳:ב׳

וּמַה הִיא הַתְּשׁוּבָה? הוּא

(1) שֶׁיַּעֲזֹב הַחוֹטֵא חֶטְאוֹ, וִיסִירוֹ מִמַּחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ,

(2) וְיִגְמֹר בְּלִבּוֹ שֶׁלֹּא יַעֲשֵׂהוּ עוֹד...

(ג) וְכֵן יִתְנַחֵם עַל שֶׁעָבַר...

(ד) וְצָרִיךְ לְהִתְוַדּוֹת בִּשְׂפָתָיו וְלוֹמַר עִנְיָנוֹת אֵלּוּ שֶׁגָּמַר בְּלִבּוֹ.

Mishneh Torah, Repentance 2:2

What is teshuvah?

(1) A person must stop their wrong behavior and remove it from their thoughts.

(2) They must decide in their heart never to do it again…

(3) They must regret what they did in the past…

(4) They must confess aloud and say these things that they decided in their heart.

According to the Rambam, teshuvah is a very specific process with four parts. First, you stop doing the wrong thing in the present, then you decide to never do it again in the future, then you regret your past mistake, and then say it all out loud through וִדּוּי (vidui, confession).

Why might each step in this process be important? Which step do you think is the hardest, and why?
According to the Rambam, what is the main point of teshuvah? What does this teach us about Yom Kippur?
Try it out! Is there a behavior you could change? Map out how you could apply each of the Rambam’s four steps to make that change.

But is teshuvah only about fixing mistakes? Here’s a completely different description of teshuvah, from many centuries after the Rambam. It comes from R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Eastern Europe, 250 years), who was also known as the Ba’al ha-Tanya (author of the Tanya).

לקוטי תורה, דרושים לשבת שובה ג׳:ח׳

כִּי הִנֵּה תְּשׁוּבָה אֵינָהּ מֵעֲבֵרוֹת שֶׁבְּיָדוֹ דַּוְקָא. אֶלָּא תְּשׁוּבָה הִיא לְהָשִׁיב נַפְשׁוֹ שֶׁיָּרְדָה מַטָּה מַטָּה, וְנִתְלַבְּשָׁה בִּדְבָרִים גַּשְׁמִיִּים, אֶל מְקוֹרָהּ וְשָׁרְשָׁהּ לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ...

וְלָכֵן נִתְקְנוּ עֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים גַּם לַצַּדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים... וְהוּא בְּחִינַת תְּשׁוּבָה עִלָּאָה מֵעֻמְקָא דְּלִבָּא... כָּךְ יָשִׂים אֶל לִבּוֹ אַהֲבַת ה' מִקֶּרֶב אִישׁ וְלֵב עָמֹק.

Likkutei Torah, Shabbat Shuvah 3:8

Teshuvah is not only about sins. Rather, teshuvah is returning the soul—which went way down and became covered in physical things—back to attach to God, where it came from...

Therefore the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur were established even for completely righteous people... This is a higher kind of teshuvah that comes from the depths of the heart… In this way, you should put love of God in your heart from the greatest depths of your self and your heart.

According to the Ba’al ha-Tanya, teshuvah is not really about sins or mistakes. It’s about something bigger: attaching our souls to God and loving God in our hearts. Every person—even those who didn’t do anything wrong—can always try to come a little closer to God in their hearts.

What does it mean for the soul to be “covered”? What kinds of thoughts or actions might help you feel more attached to God?
Why might the Ba’al ha-Tanya suggest that love of God is a “higher” kind of teshuvah than focusing on sins or mistakes? What can this teach us about Yom Kippur?
Can the Rambam and Ba’al ha-Tanya both be right? How? What’s something important they each add to our understanding of teshuvah?
According to the Ba’al ha-Tanya, why do even totally righteous people need Yom Kippur?

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Hadar Institute

Tell Me More About It! בואו נדבר על זה

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