Shabbos Teshuvah
[The page begins mid-Sicha.] … They asked Wisdom, etc. It replied, "חטאים תרדף רעה" ("Evil pursues sinners"). For according to reason and understanding, from the cause, which is the sin, the effect, which is the evil, follows as a matter of course. And it said "evil" without qualification, because the quality and quantity of the evil (the effect) depend on the quality and quantity of the cause, which is the sin.
They asked Prophecy, whose essence is connection with the Shechinah. Consequently, one who sins (even inadvertently) has severed this connection (for even those who sin inadvertently require atonement). Therefore it replied, "הנפש החוטאת היא תמות" ("The soul that sins, it shall die"), since through any sin whatsoever, its attachment to the Shechinah, the Source of life, has at any rate been severed. See Moreh Nevuchim, Part II, from chapter 34 onward, on the subject of prophecy.
They asked Torah. It replied, "יביא אשם ויתכפר לו" ("Let him bring a guilt-offering and he will be atoned"). For the Torah, which is the wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, is higher even than prophecy (which is why a prophet is not permitted to introduce anything new, etc.); therefore the blemish is felt in it more than in Wisdom and Prophecy. Consequently, even death, of itself, would not atone. It is only because it is a Torah of kindness, and the Holy One, blessed be He, extends a hand to receive those who return, and takes into account that "אין אדם חוטא אלא אם כן נכנסה בו רוח שטות" ("A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him"), so that he did an animal-like act, that the Torah has counsel for atonement. And the counsel is the emphasis that he committed the sin only by virtue of being like an animal. And among the offerings themselves, it specifies the guilt-offering in particular. It can be said that this is because it encompasses all kinds of sin, from a doubtful sin and an inadvertent one, up to a deliberate one. Other reasons for this can also be given.
They asked the Holy One, blessed be He, etc. For although the blemish is felt there most of all, on the other hand, "מי יאמר לו מה תעשה" ("Who can say to Him, What are You doing?"), and "ואם רבו פשעיך מה תעשה לו" ("If your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?"), etc. Rather, one must arouse in his own soul too a level such as this, one that is beyond reckoning, and that is to do teshuvah. For the essence of teshuvah is that one turns from one extreme to the other; in the words of the Rambam, "שיעיד עליו יודע תעלומות שלא ישוב לכסלה עוד" ("that He Who knows all hidden things will testify concerning him that he will not return to his folly again"). And thereby he also arouses Above, corresponding to his own state, a turning from one extreme to the other: instead of having been in a "בירא עמיקתא" ("deep pit"), with nothing lower (as mentioned, the blemish is felt there most of all), through teshuvah he rises to an "איגרא רמה" ("lofty roof"), with nothing higher [OCR unclear: the text breaks off at the end of the page, and the lines that follow are missing from the source].
… One of the differences between these two categories: in the lower teshuvah (teshuvah tata'ah) there must be confession (viduy), in order to uproot the sin (see Derech Mitzvosecha 35b). This is not so in the higher teshuvah (teshuvah ila'ah), for at this level no room is given to a blemish in the first place, etc.
From this it is understood that the teshuvah of Rosh Hashanah and of Shabbos Teshuvah, when confession is not said, belongs to the category of the higher teshuvah.
(This is not contradicted by the fact that confession is said on Yom Kippur, even though the teshuvah of Yom Kippur, the "Shabbos Shabbason," is the level of higher teshuvah. For sometimes it is difficult to uproot the sin automatically through the higher teshuvah. Therefore on Yom Kippur, the last of the Ten Days of Teshuvah, efforts are made to uproot the sins in every possible way. This is similar to the reason given for saying Avinu Malkeinu at Ne'ilah of Yom Kippur when it falls on Shabbos (Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, siman 623, se'if 9).)
And great is the superiority of Shabbos over Rosh Hashanah: on Rosh Hashanah, confession is made silently during the sounding of the shofar …
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Key Lesson
Wisdom, Prophecy and even Torah each measure a sin by its effects, but G‑d Himself is beyond all reckoning, so teshuvah, a complete turnabout from one extreme to the other, raises a person from the lowest pit to the highest heights. The higher teshuvah of Rosh Hashanah and Shabbos Teshuvah leaves no room for the blemish to begin with, while Yom Kippur adds every means of uprooting sin.