September 25, 2022|כ"ט אלול ה' אלפים תשפ"ב The FFB vs. the Ba'al Teshuva: Who's Better? By Rabbi Jonathan Muskat

In the course of my drasha, I intend to welcome Rabbi Netanel Muskat as the rabbinic intern of the Young Israel of Oceanside, so watch for it. As many of you know, I am a high school Rebbe and recently I was wondering about the makeup of the Oceanside community. Is the Oceanside community made up of people who were essentially “goody two-shoes,” who did everything right in high school, or is the Oceanside community made up of people who clowned around and had fun and did what they wanted to do in high school and after high school they shaped up… hopefully.

I remember talking with some of my children who were the “good two-shoe” type in high school, and they remarked how they felt it was unfair that they did the right thing in high school and some of their classmates did whatever they wanted and these classmates got their act together in college or these kids flipped out in Israel. My children wondered why they couldn’t simply party in high school and do what they want and then flip out in Israel and get their act together after high school? It’s a good question, and it’s really the question of the FFB versus the ba’al teshuva and who’s better. Is it better to be an FFB, a frum from birth, a good kid throughout high school who follows the straight and narrow path and never strays, or is it better to be the kid who strays from the path but then returns to the path. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the fun that comes along with straying from the path and then return to the path? Of course, there’s an assumption in the question that you actually return to the path and it may be a risky maneuver to assume that you will do so. But let’s assume that we have two people – the straight and narrow child and the wayward child who returns. Is the purity of the FFB better than the struggle of the ba’al teshuva who returns?

Rabbi Yochanan and his student Rabbi Abahu debated this very question. The gemara in Brachot 34b states that Rabbi Yochanan asserted that tzaddikim gemurim, completely righteous people, are on a higher level than those who sinned but returned to Judaism, namely ba’alei teshuva. However, Rabbi Abahu, his student, states, “makom she’ba’alei teshuva omdin tzaddikim gemurim ainam omdin” – ba’alei teshuvah stand in a certain spiritual place than even righteous who have never sinned. Ba’alei teshuva beat the FFB’s! Just to be clear, I’m aware that FFB’s are not necessarily completely righteous, but the debate between Rabbi Yochanan and his student would seem to apply to the question of comparing the FFB to the ba’al teshuva. Comes the Rambam (Hilchot Teshuva 7:4), and he studies this debate and, lo and behold, he sides with the student over the Rebbe. He sides with Rabbi Abahu. He sides with the ba’al teshuva over the FFB! But why? The FFB, the completely righteous person, is purer than the ba’al teshuva. The FFB never sinned! Why shouldn’t he be accorded a higher level than the ba’al teshuva?

The Rambam tells us why. He writes that “ta’am ta’am ha’cheit,” the ba’al teshuva tasted the taste of sin, “u’pairash mimenu,” and he separated from it, “v’kavash yitzro,” and he conquered his evil inclination. In other words, baalei teshuvah expend more effort in doing the right thing and therefore their reward is greater than righteous people who do not expend as much effort. The Maharsha in Brachot writes something similar. He explains that the ba’al teshuva does not refer to someone who actually sinned; rather, it refers to a righteous person who was close to sinning and then overcame his evil inclination and didn’t sin. He is a ba’al teshuva in thought, but not in action, because he didn’t actually sin and this person is greater than someone who didn’t even have the temptation to sin because the first person conquered his temptation. Similarly, in his Sefer Michtav Me’Eliyahu, Rav Dessler writes that we do not receive merit based on the mitzvot that we perform, but on the right choices that we make. For some people, observing Shabbat is not a choice. It’s easy, so the reward is not as great as for someone else who perhaps did not grow up with the observance of Shabbat.

It seems to me that there is another advantage that the ba’al teshuva has over the FFB, the completely righteous person. The ba’al teshuva has experienced the power of teshuva and he appreciates its power and believes in it and the FFB does not appreciate the power of teshuva. But who cares? Why does the completely righteous person need to believe in the power teshuva if he’s completely righteous? The answer is that it’s not about him. It’s about the other person. It’s about how he looks at his friend, his spouse, his children, his grandchildren, his family and his friends. Someone who is a completely righteous person cannot understand how it is truly possible to return to God after straying from the path.

I read an article this week in the Forward by someone who wrote about his experience as a student attending an all-boy yeshiva high school in Brooklyn known as Brooklyn Talmudic Academy, or BTA. I think some of you have heard of it and some of you have attended this institution. He writes that his class of 1968 had 99 young men and they were divided in the three sections, with the students of his section dubbing themselves “Super Garbage.” And he goes on to describe how he and his “Super Garbage” friends acted towards their well-meaning Rebbeim and teachers, giving them a hard time and even driving some of them to tears. He writes that he graduated from BTA, he went to Brooklyn College, attended law school and was hired by a prominent international law firm. He did well for himself and he had a lot of high-profile clients including those connected with the State of Israel. In the summer of 1988, he attended a breakfast meeting at the Park Regency Hotel and in attendance were Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Rabbi Emanuel Rackman. He later had a private meeting with these individuals and who was there at the meeting? None other than Rabbi Max Schreier, one of his former high school Rebbeim, who was a prominent rabbinic figure in his own right. When Rabbi Schreier saw him, he looked at him and turned to Rabin, Peres and Rabbi Rackman and asked them, “What are people like you doing with a guy like this?”

As a high school Rebbe, I have seen so many teenagers and many of them were impressive when I taught them, many of them were less than impressive, and many of them were even less than less than impressive. Sometimes I wondered, “What’s going to be with him or her?” Sometimes I see a former student later on in life and I am so pleasantly surprised, because they didn’t turn how I expected. And maybe the ba’al teshuva appreciates something that the FFB, the tzaddik gamur, doesn’t fully appreciate. He truly understands that people can change, and he truly has faith in people, and he believes that maybe, even if someone may not have been the most motivated student in high school, he can still turn his life around and become a rabbinic intern… And with that, I would like to welcome Rabbi Netanel Muskat as the rabbinic intern of the Young Israel of Oceanside, and no, he really wasn’t that bad in high school…. and I have always been very proud of him. But that’s the power of the ba’al teshuva. The experience of teshuva doesn’t just give me faith in myself, but it gives me faith in other people.

The Ramban in this week’s parsha writes that when Moshe tells the Bnei Yisrael, “ki hamitzvah hazot asher anochi metzavcha hayom” – that the mitzvah that I command you today, “lo nifleit he mimcha v’lo rechokah he” – is not too wondrous for you or too much beyond your reach, he is referring to teshuva. Teshuva is not some wonder that, says Seforno, requires a prophet too teach us, nor is it so difficult that we need to travel long distances to find a scholar who will explain it to us. “Ki karov eilecha hadavar m’od” – this mitzva is very close to us. It is attainable. We must believe in our capabilities and the ba’al teshuva who has gone through the process believes in the power of teshuva, not just for himself but for others, as well.

Make no mistake about it. We are all influencers. We are influencers for our children, our grandchildren, our spouse, our relatives and our friends. Sometimes you may be the only person who has the power to help guide someone else to do the right thing and your success depends on whether you believe in the power of teshuva, not just for you, but for a child, a grandchild, a spouse, a family member or a friend.

Rashi tells us in the beginning of the parsha that after the Bnei Yisrael heard all the rebuke from last week’s parsha, “horiku pneihem,” their faces melted “v’amru mi yuchal la’amod ba’elu” – and they said who can stand up to this challenge of mitzvah observance. Moshe turns to them and tells each one of them who is standing there – “rasheichem shivteichem zikneichem v’shotreichem” – the leaders, the heads of tribes, the elders, “tapchem n’sheichem v’gercha asher b’kerev machanecha” – the children, the wives, the stranger, “mai’chotev aitzecha ad sho’ev maimecha” – from the woodchopper to the water drawer. He turns to every category and subcategory of Jews that are standing in front of him and he effectively tells them, “I have faith in you.”

As we approach Rosh Hashana and the aseret ymei teshuva starting tomorrow evening, I want to bless you all that HaKadosh Baruch Hu should grant you the strength to believe in the power of teshuva, to have faith not just in yourself, but may God grant you the strength to be like Moshe Rabbenu and believe in the power of change for your friends and family. May God give you the strength to be patient and not just write someone off in your life because you are frustrated at him or her for how he or she is behaving now, for what he or she may have done in the past, as difficult as it may be for him or her to return. Let us all be inspired in this respect to be like Moshe. Let us all be inspired to be a ba’al teshuva.