The two teshuvos of fear and love

שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקיך.

"Return, Yisrael, until Hashem your God." (Hoshea 14:2)

The Sefas Emes reads the word "until" (עד) precisely: teshuvah is not merely turning away from sin but coming all the way "until Hashem" — a continual drawing closer that has no fixed endpoint.

פי' כי לעולם יש תשובה אף מי שהוא צדיק עד ה' אלקיך פי' עד להיות מרכבה אליו ית' ממש.

The meaning is that there is always teshuvah, even for one who is a tzaddik — "until Hashem your God," meaning until he becomes an actual merkavah (chariot) to Hashem.

Teshuvah is not only for sinners. Even a tzaddik must keep returning, until his entire being becomes a merkavah — a vessel that carries and reveals the Divine, with nothing of his own self in the way.

וכפי תיקון החטא בתשובה צריכין אח"כ לשוב בתשובה מחדש.

And to the extent that the sin has been rectified through teshuvah, one must afterward return again in a new teshuvah.

Each rung of closeness reached through teshuvah opens a higher rung, so the avodah of returning renews itself endlessly.

וכן לעולם.

And so it is forever.

This cycle of return upon return never reaches a final stopping point.

וכתיב השיבנו ה' אליך ונשובה.

And it is written: "Bring us back, Hashem, to You, and we shall return." (Eichah 5:21)

The Sefas Emes notes a difficulty: if Hashem has already brought us back to Him, what does "and we shall return" still add?

אם כבר יתקרב האדם וישוב לה'. מהו ונשובה.

If a person has already drawn close and returned to Hashem — what is the meaning of "and we shall return"?

Once one has come back to Hashem, a further "returning" seems redundant. This is the question the maamar comes to resolve.

אכן הוא הדבר אשר דברנו.

Indeed, this is the very matter of which we spoke.

The answer lies in the point made above: the deepest teshuvah comes precisely after one has already drawn close.

כי באמת עיקר התשובה אחר תיקון החטא והתקרבותו לה' אז צריך לשוב.

For in truth the essence of teshuvah comes after the sin has been rectified and one has drawn close to Hashem — only then does one truly need to return.

The first teshuvah merely repairs the breach. The real teshuvah begins afterward, as a higher return born of the closeness itself.

והם ב' התשובות מיראה ומאהבה.

And these are the two teshuvos — teshuvah out of yirah (fear) and teshuvah out of ahavah (love).

The two stages of returning correspond to the two classic modes of teshuvah: one driven by awe and one driven by love.

כי מקודם צריכין לשוב מיראת החטא לבקש רחמים להתקרב אל הבורא ית'.

For first one must return out of fear of sin, to beg for mercy in order to draw close to the Creator.

The initial return is propelled by yiras Shomayim and the dread of sin; it is a plea for rachamim to be allowed near.

ואח"כ כשזוכין להתקרב צריכין לשוב ע"י בושה מגודל חסד ה' שמקרב החוטא.

And afterward, when one merits to draw close, one must return through shame at the greatness of Hashem's chesed that draws even the sinner near.

This second, higher return is born of love and humility — overwhelmed by the chesed that welcomes back even one who sinned, the person returns again out of sheer abashment before that kindness.

וע"ז נאמר ונשובה כו'.

And concerning this it says, "and we shall return," etc.

This is the "and we shall return" that the pasuk adds after "bring us back" — the second teshuvah of love that follows being drawn close.

וב' התשובות הם בימי המעשה ובש"ק.

And the two teshuvos correspond to the weekdays and to Shabbos Kodesh.

The lower teshuvah of fear belongs to the toil of the weekdays, while the higher teshuvah of love belongs to the menuchah of Shabbos.

וכבר כתבנו מזה במ"א:

And we have already written of this elsewhere.

The Sefas Emes notes that he has expanded on this theme in another place.

Summary: True teshuvah is not a one-time repair of sin but an endless ascent. There are two returns — the first out of yirah, repairing the breach and pleading to draw near, and the second out of ahavah, a higher return born of shame before Hashem's chesed once one has already come close. These parallel the avodah of the weekdays and the menuchah of Shabbos, and even a tzaddik keeps returning until his whole being becomes a merkavah to Hashem.