Teshuvah from fear leading to love

בגמ' גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשין שגגות דכ' שובה ישראל כו' כי כשלת כו' נעשין זכיות כו' לא קשיא הא מיראה הא מאהבה כו' ע"ש.

In the Gemara: "Great is teshuvah, for it turns intentional sins into unintentional ones, as it is written 'Return, Yisrael... for you have stumbled' (Hoshea 14:2)"; and "they become merits"; "this is no contradiction — one is teshuvah out of fear, the other out of love" — see there (Yoma 86b).

The Gemara presents two levels of teshuvah: when it stems from yirah (fear), willful sins are downgraded to inadvertent ones; when it stems from ahavah (love), the sins themselves are transformed into merits.

וקשה למה לא ביקש הנביא מבני ישראל לשוב מאהבה שהוא יותר טוב.

And it is difficult: why did the navi not ask Bnei Yisrael to do teshuvah out of love, which is the higher level?

The Sefas Emes asks: since teshuvah from love is greater, why did Hoshea call only for the lower form of return?

אכן וודאי מקודם צריכין לשוב מיראה כי היתכן שהחוטא ישוב מאהבה.

But surely one must first return out of fear, for how is it possible that a sinner should return out of love?

A person mired in sin cannot leap straight to teshuvah from love; the necessary first step is teshuvah from yirah.

מהיכן בא לו אהבת הבורא רק ע"י התשובה מיראה השי"ת נותן לו בחי' אהבה במתנה כמ"ש אוהבם נדבה.

From where would love of the Creator come to him? Only through teshuvah out of fear does Hashem grant him the level of love as a gift, as it is said: "I will love them freely" (Hoshea 14:5).

Ahavah is not something a sinner can generate on his own; once he has done teshuvah from yirah, Hashem bestows the gift of love upon him from Above.

והאמת כי תשובה מיראה היא בימות החול ועי"ז זוכה לשוב מאהבה בש"ק.

And the truth is that teshuvah out of fear belongs to the weekdays, and through it one merits to return out of love on Shabbos Kodesh.

The Sefas Emes maps the two levels onto the week: the labor of yirah is the avodah of the weekdays, which earns the elevated ahavah that descends on Shabbos.

ואיתא במד' אשר אור הגנוז שראה הקב"ה שאין כדאי להשתמש בו בעוה"ז וגנזו אעפ"כ נתעכב האור עוד כל יום השבת ע"ש.

And it is brought in the Midrash that the hidden light (ohr ha'ganuz), which the Holy One saw was not fitting to be used in this world and so He hid it away — nevertheless that light lingered for the whole of the day of Shabbos — see there.

The primordial light of Creation was concealed from olam ha'zeh, yet on Shabbos a residue of it remains and shines.

שזה כח השבת שיוכל גם עוה"ז לקבל הארה שלמעלה.

For this is the power of Shabbos — that even this world is able to receive an illumination from Above.

Shabbos is the channel through which the higher light, normally hidden, can be received even here below.

כמ"ש שהוא מעין עוה"ב אף כי עוה"ב היפוך מעוה"ז.

As it is said, that it is a taste of olam ha'ba (the World to Come), even though olam ha'ba is the opposite of olam ha'zeh.

Although the next world is the very opposite of this one, Shabbos uniquely lets a foretaste of olam ha'ba enter into olam ha'zeh.

והוא באמת ע"י נשמה יתירה השורה בשבת.

And this is truly through the neshamah yeseirah (extra soul) that rests upon a person on Shabbos.

The vehicle for receiving this higher light is the additional soul granted on Shabbos.

שגם היא מעולם הגנוז כי בה לא הי' החטא.

For it too comes from the hidden world, since in it there was no sin.

The neshamah yeseirah originates in that same concealed realm of the ohr ha'ganuz, untouched by cheit — and so it is fit to receive the hidden light.

לכן יכולין בשבת לקבל מאור הגנוז.

Therefore on Shabbos one is able to receive from the hidden light.

Because the extra soul is itself sinless and of that higher world, it enables a person to draw from the ohr ha'ganuz on Shabbos.

והוא כפי מה שמתקנים בחול כך יכולין לקבל הארת הנשמה יתירה בש"ק כנ"ל:

And it is according to what one rectifies during the weekdays — so is one able to receive the illumination of the neshamah yeseirah on Shabbos Kodesh, as above.

The measure of light received on Shabbos corresponds exactly to the tikkun (rectification) one accomplished through the avodah of yirah during the week.

Summary: Teshuvah must begin with yirah during the weekdays, and that labor earns the gift of teshuvah from ahavah on Shabbos — for Shabbos brings the neshamah yeseirah and the hidden light of Creation, both untouched by sin, allowing even this world to receive an illumination from Above in measure with one's weekday tikkun.