Teshuvah from fear versus love

איתא בגמ' זדונות נעשין זכיות כו' כאן מיראה כאן מאהבה.

It is brought in the Gemara that intentional sins (zedonos) become merits (zechuyos)... here it speaks of teshuvah from fear (yirah), and there of teshuvah from love (ahavah).

Chazal (Yoma 86b) teach that teshuvah from yirah turns deliberate sins into mere unintentional ones, while teshuvah from ahavah actually transforms them into merits. The Sefas Emes opens with this distinction between the two kinds of teshuvah.

ויש להבין כיון ששניהם שבו למקומם ושורשם מה הפרש בסיבה שבאה התשובה על ידה.

And we must understand: since both have returned to their place and their root, what difference does the cause through which the teshuvah came make?

If both the one who returns from fear and the one who returns from love end up reconnected to Hashem, why should the inner motive change the spiritual result so dramatically?

אך האמת כי בלי אהבה אי אפשר לשוב.

But the truth is that without love it is impossible to return at all.

No teshuvah can happen without some measure of ahavah; even the one who serves out of yirah is drawn by an underlying love for Hashem.

רק דכתיב אוהבם נדבה ופרש"י ז"ל שאף שאין ראוין אתנדב לאהוב אותם.

Only, as it is written, "I will love them freely" (Hoshea 14:5), and Rashi explains: even though they are not worthy, I will volunteer Myself to love them.

Hashem's love here is a nedavah, a free-willed gift, extended even where the person has not earned it.

והוא דבר פלא איך שייך נדבה לאהבה.

And this is a wondrous thing — how can the idea of a free-willed gift (nedavah) apply to love?

Love seems to be a response to something lovable, so how can it be "donated" freely, with no cause to draw it forth?

איברא שגם על זה יש משפט ומדה במדה.

In truth, even regarding this there is a justice and a measure-for-measure (midah k'neged midah).

Even Hashem's seemingly unearned love follows a hidden order of midah k'neged midah, matching something the person himself initiates.

מי שמקרב עצמו אף שאינו יודע איך.

One who draws himself near, even though he does not know how —

A person feels pulled toward Hashem without knowing the path or having the merit to justify it.

רק מגעגע לשוב להשי"ת ומתנדב עצמו אף שאינו יודע איך להתקרב.

only he yearns to return to Hashem and freely offers himself (misnadev), even though he does not know how to come close —

His teshuvah is itself a nedavah: a pure longing to return, given freely without knowing the way.

כמו כן השי"ת מתנדב לאהוב אותו.

so too Hashem freely offers (misnadev) to love him.

Midah k'neged midah: because the person volunteered himself in longing, Hashem responds with a freely given love.

ונמצא השב מיראה השי"ת מקרבו ומתנדב לו אהבה בלבו.

It emerges that for the one who returns from fear, Hashem draws him near and freely places love into his heart.

The baal teshuvah from yirah does not generate love on his own; Hashem gifts that ahavah to him in return for his yearning.

אבל מי ששב מאהבתו הוא גדול יותר.

But one who returns from his own love is greater still.

When the love originates within the person himself, his teshuvah reaches a higher level than love that had to be granted to him.

גם עשי"ת ושבת תשובה הוא ב' תשובות הנ"ל.

Likewise the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Shabbos Shuvah correspond to these two kinds of teshuvah mentioned above.

The calendar itself reflects the two modes: the weekday Aseres Yemei Teshuvah and the Shabbos within them embody yirah and ahavah respectively.

בש"ק מאהבה.

On the holy Shabbos, from love.

Shabbos Shuvah carries the higher teshuvah that flows from ahavah.

ובחול מיראה:

And on the weekdays, from fear.

The weekdays of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah carry the teshuvah of yirah, the necessary foundation that the Shabbos then elevates into love.

Summary: There are two kinds of teshuvah — from fear, which only lessens sin, and from love, which transforms sin into merit. Since real teshuvah is impossible without love, the Sefas Emes explains that even the baal teshuvah from yirah is given love by Hashem as a free gift (nedavah), measure-for-measure for his own free-willed yearning to return; yet the one whose teshuvah springs from his own ahavah stands higher. The weekdays of the Ten Days reflect yirah, while Shabbos Shuvah reflects the loftier teshuvah of ahavah.