Rambam and Teshuva

In preparation for Yom Kippur and doing Teshuva I have translated chapter 2 of Rambam's Hilchot Teshuva and compiled a source book of commentaries and sources on and about it. If I say so myself there is some excellent stuff in there (it changed my understanding of teshuva).

You can download it for free from torahlab (there are 2 pdfs).

One of the most interesting sources I found was this Mabit who makes Yom Kippur much easier to deal with (at least in terms of doing teshuva).

Beis Elokim Shaar Hateshuva chapter 12
After we have explained the concept of repentance, which is regret and abandoning the sin, we must clarify that this is not like other mitzvos. Someone who only does part of a mitzvah doesn’t have the reward for that mitzvah, for example someone who only puts tzitzis on three corners of his garment doesn’t have three quarters of a mitzvah, since all four are required, and so it is as if he didn’t do anything at all. However with repentance, even though the mitzvah would not be complete without the components of regret for the past and resolve for the future, nevertheless, regret on its own, without the resolve for the future helps to a certain extent. Similarly, abandoning the sin without regret for the past also does something. We find with Achav that he humbled himself before G-d when he tore his clothes, fasted and wore sackcloth, which appears to be regret over the past. However he didn’t abandon the sin. Even so it helped him, as the verse states “Because he humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil during his days…” (Melochim 1 21: 29). We also find with the people of Nineveh that they abandoned their sins and resolved for the future, but they didn’t regret the past. The instruction of the king of Nineveh was “every man shall turn back from his evil say and from the robbery that is in his hands” (Yona 3: 8). It seems that only the robbery that was in their hands still was returned, but that which had been spent already, which is difficult to return,theydidn’treturn.RabbiYochanan goes even further and says ‘the money that was in their hands they returned, but the money that was in boxes, safes or towers they didn’t return’. (Yerushalmi Taanis chapter 2).

Funding the Enemy - another reason for teshuva!

Yet another reason to mourn. We destroyed the Beis Hamikdosh, and since we still await its rebuilding, according to the Yerushalmi it is as if we are responsible for its destruction. However today's news tell us that our tax money, apart from funding the histadrut strike (how can a country function when there is a strike literally every summer?), is also being used to pay the salaries of those who even the government considers to be terrorists.

From YNet

Israel pays Haniyeh's salary

Funds transferred by Jewish state to Palestinian Authority used by Prime Minister Fayyad to pay wages of government workers, including dismissed Hamas ministers

Ronny Shaked
Published: 07.24.07, 09:04 / Israel Money

When Israel decided to unfreeze $600 million it owed the Palestinian Authority, it did not intend for the money to be used to fill the bank account of former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.


After receiving the funds from Israel and additional aid from the United States and European countries, the Palestinian Finance Ministry decided to pay the monthly salaries of government members, including dismissed Hamas ministers and the group's representatives in the Legislative Council.


Each of these officials received on Monday NIS 12,000 (about $2,836) from Palestinian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Salam Fayyad's treasury. One of the people to receive this sum was former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of Hamas' most radical members.

I realised just before the fast how it is possible for Israel's leaders to consistently make such bad decisions: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/rabbisedley/2270494586979570167/#22418

Even in the midst of all the tragedy we must realise how closely G-d is with us, removing free choice and sensibility from our politicians so that we, the people, take responsibility for our actions. Blaming the government and the histadrut and anyone else, only deflects the blame from ourselves.

I know that it is now 'summer holidays' for many people. But it is also the beginning of the seven weeks leading up to Rosh Hashana. Now is the chance to work on ourselves and prepare for the day of judgement. We can see with our own eyes where we have got to so far!

Guns 'n' Portfolios

There are several pieces of Talmud that talk about people turning their lives around, earning olam haba in an instant, or other inspiring teshuva messages. This story caught my eye because it is kind of the same message, but instead of 'an instant' it was 'a exploded pancreas' and instead of 'olam haba' is is 'olam hazeh'. But still.

I don't know if any of you still remember Guns 'n' Roses (I feel so old writing those words), and if you have never heard of them - I'm not recommending that you start now. It is hard for me to listen to their offensive language, even if their music is still fantastic.

Anyway, their bass player has transformed himself from a tattooed long haired drug addict, to a tattooed, long haired investment advisor. There is something very charming about the thought of Mr and Mrs Duff sitting and playing monopoly with the two little Duffettes.

This article is from the New Zealand news site 'stuff'

With his ragged mane and heavily tattooed wiry frame, former Guns N' Roses bass player Duff McKagan looks every bit the rock star.

But the 43-year-old musician doubles as a savvy investor, overseeing a diverse portfolio ranging from property and stocks to vintage guitars.

While he draws the line at donning a suit and tie, McKagan also runs the business affairs for his new band, Velvet Revolver, which just released its second album, Libertad.

"I do everything I can do so this band doesn't get ripped off," said McKagan, who subscribes to the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, and constantly checks his BlackBerry for the latest financial headlines.

"We're the last ones to get paid. We work pretty hard for the money we make."

With the recorded-music business in a tailspin, due largely to Internet piracy, bands have to be financially creative, McKagan said in a recent interview.

Velvet Revolver's first release, Contraband, debuted at No. 1 in the United States and sold 3 million copies worldwide. That is equivalent to 10 million copies in the late '80s, when Guns N' Roses burst on the scene, he estimated.

That's a lot of lost revenue, but the situation is not hopeless. Licensing deals for commercials, movies, ringtones and videogames can help make up the shortfall.

BACK TO SCHOOL

McKagan got involved in business after leaving Guns N' Roses in 1994. He was frustrated by the behavior of singer Axl Rose, and then his pancreas exploded following years of alcohol and drug abuse.

Freshly rehabilitated, the high-school dropout studied finance at Seattle University, enrolling under his real name, Michael McKagan.

He occasionally had to sign autographs for some alert kids, but his cover remained largely intact. He is 15 credits shy of graduating.

Unlike his classmates, McKagan already had plenty of real-world experience. Guns N' Roses' 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction, is one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 20 million copies.

The 28-month world tour for the two Use Your Illusion albums released in 1991 played for seven million fans.

McKagan, who co-wrote such tunes as Paradise City and Civil War, stashed his money in low-risk Treasury bills.

"We didn't know what money was," he recalled. "I didn't know how to invest in stocks or anything back then. So I just didn't."

These days, his strategy is diversification.

"I have mutual funds. I have a lot of individual stocks. I'm across the board, really well diversified. And then real estate has been a thing for me."

But rather than "flipping" properties for quick profits, McKagan holds on. He has interests in Los Angeles, Seattle, Hawaii - "wherever I see fit."

He says he was also an early investor in Google Inc, whose stock has quintupled in three years. But he avoided speculative tech stocks, and certainly did not "freak out and sell everything after the dot-com crash" of 2000-02.

Closer to his heart is the "massive" market for musical instruments. He noted that a 1959 Les Paul Sunburst guitar in good condition is worth $400,000.

He declined to detail his holdings or estimate his net worth. But he's not shy about sharing his expertise with his wife, Susan, and their two preteen daughters.

"We all played Monopoly last night. Great. Nothing better than that that, the four of us sitting around playing Monopoly."

The Emporor has no Clothes

Sorry to continue with Winograd, but this is priceless. Amir Peretz, the defence minister, who was harshly criticised by Winograd, thinks they were complimenting him. He sent out an e-mail showing how good he is.

* "It must be granted in the defense minister's favor that if he had had enough time, he would have acquired the necessary qualifications" (clause 159)

Nobody argues that given enough time an infinite number of monkeys could write the entire works of Shakespeare (Actually people do argue, but that is a different matter). So because he knows nothing, was totally unsuitable for the post, and had no experience, we should be grateful that eventually he would have learned???

* "The minister asked fundamental questions, displayed fast understanding, judgment and straight thinking" (clause 143)

How fundamental? What is a war? Do we have an army? Where is Lebanon? These are all very good fundamental questions, but it is not so good for the man in charge of the entire operation to be asking fundamental questions.

* "The defense minister sometimes showed insights which more experienced persons than him did not discover, and he significantly contributed to discussion and decisions on the targets of the offensives" (clause 146).

Sometimes showed insights. Needs no comment. Contributed to discussions and decisions - with no military background, or knowledge (though given time and enough fundamental questions he would have figured out that he was playing 'war' not monopoly!)

Wake up and smell the coffee boys! The writing is on the wall!

This is what the verse means "The heart of kings is in the hand of G-d". Our leaders lose their free choice at a certain point. They direct the nation in the way that G-d wants it to go.
So really it is our fault, not his. Peretz is the golem who G-d put in place to teach us to do teshuva.

So I say to myself - 'wake up and smell the coffee'. If the emporor has no clothes it is because I (and everyone else) have failed to see the truth, refused to recognise that G-d runs the show, and instead gone along with the pretence that it is a very beautiful suit that he wears.

Chatanu, Pashanu, Avinu.