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Broadly Defined, Teshuvah Is More Than Just Repentance From Broadly defined, teshuvah is more than just repentance from sin; it is a spiritual reawakening, a desire to strengthen the connection between oneself and the sacred...All forms of teshuvah, however diverse and complex, have a common core: the belief that human beings have it in their power to effect inward change. -Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz Numbers 5:5-7 God spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelites: When a person commits any wrong toward their fellow, thus breaking faith with God, and that person realizes their guilt, they shall confess the wrong that they have done. They shall make restitution in the principal amount and add one-fifth to it, giving it to the one whom they have wronged. Leviticus 16:20-22 When he has finished purging the Shrine, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, the live goat shall be brought forward. Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated man. Thus the goat shall carry ​ ​ on it all their iniquities to an inaccessible region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness. Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God, your sins have made God turn God’s face away and refuse to hear you. Mishnah Yoma 8:9 (200 BCE-200 CE) ​ One who says: I shall sin and repent, sin and repent, they do not afford the sinner the opportunity to repent. [If one says]: I shall sin and Yom HaKippurim will atone for me, Yom HaKippurim does not affect atonement. For transgressions between a person and God, Yom HaKippurim effects atonement, but for transgressions between a person and their fellow, Yom HaKippurim does not affect atonement, until they have pacified their fellow. This was expounded by Rabbi Elazar b. Azariah: “From all your sins before God you shall be clean” (Leviticus 16:30). Mishnah Avot 4:11 Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said: the one who performs one commandment acquires for themself one advocate, and the one who commits one transgression acquires for themself one accuser. Repentance and good deeds are a shield against punishment. Rabbi Yochanan Hasandlar said: every assembly which is for the sake of heaven, will in the end endure; and every assembly which is not for the sake of heaven, will not endure in the end. Mishnah Avot 4:17 More precious is one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world to come. Mishnah Bava Metzia 4:10 Just as the laws of fraud apply to buying and selling, so too do they apply to the spoken word. One may not say, “How much is this object?, if they do not wish to buy it. If one had repented, another should not say to them, “Remember your earlier deeds”. If one descended from converts, another should not say to them, “Remember the deeds of your ancestors”. For it is said (Exodus 22:21), “And a stranger you shall not wrong or oppress.” Yerushalmi, Makkot 2.6 (375-425 CE) ​ They asked Wisdom: “What is the punishment of the sinner?” Wisdom replied: “‘Misfortune pursues the sinner…”(Prov 13:1) They asked Prophecy, “What is the punishment of the sinner?” Prophecy replied: “The person who sins shall die.” (Ezek 18:4) They asked Torah, “What is the punishment of the sinner?” Torah replied, “Let them bring a guilt offering and it will be forgiven, as it is said: “that it may be acceptable on their behalf, in expiation for them.’ (Leviticus 1:4) They asked the Holy One Blessed be God: “What is the punishment of the sinner?” HKBH replied, “Let them repent and their sin will be atoned, as it is written: ‘Good and upright is the Lord: therefore God shows sinners the way.” (Ps 25:8) Bavli, Berakhot 34b (450-550CE) ​ ​ ​ R. Abbahu teaches: The place where those who do teshuva stand, the perfectly righteous are unable to stand. As it is stated: “Peace, peace upon the one who is far and the one who is near.” Peace and greeting is extended first to the one who is far, the penitent, and only thereafter is peace extended to the one who is near, the full-fledged righteous. Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 16b ​ And Rabbi Isaac said [further]: Four things cancel the decree against a person, and they are: charity, crying out [in prayer], changing one's name, and changing one's conduct. Charity (tzedakah), as it is written, "and righteousness (tzedaka) saves from death," (Proverbs 10:2). Crying out, as it is written, "they cried out to God in their suffering, and God took them from their distress," (Psalms 107:28). Change of name, as it is written, "as for your wife Sarai, do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name" and continues, "I will bless her and further I will give you a son from her" (Genesis 17:15-16). Change of conduct, as it is written, "And God saw their conduct [as they turned from their evil ways]," and continues, "and God renounced the punishment that had been pronounced upon them and did not carry it out" (Jonah 3:10). Bavli, Shabbat 153a We learned there in a mishna that Rabbi Eliezer says: Repent one day before your death. Rabbi Eliezer’s students asked him: But does a person know the day on which they will die? He said to them: All the more so this is a good piece of advice, and one should repent today lest they die tomorrow; and by following this advice one will spend his entire life in a state of repentance. Taanit 16a It is not sackcloth and fasting that cause atonement for our sins. Rather, repentance and good deeds will cause our atonement. This is as we find with regard to the people of Nineveh, that it is not stated about them: And God saw their sackcloth and their fasting. Rather, the verse states: “And God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their evil way” (Jonah 3:10). Duties of the Heart 44:1 - Bachya Ibn Pekude - (11/c) The question may be asked, "Is it possible to make atonement by repentance for every kind of sin?" I would reply that iniquities are of two kinds: (1) Sins that affect the relations between people and God alone, such as denial of God, evil thoughts, and those hidden sins that are included in the prohibitions of the duties of the heart and mind; and (2) Sins between a person and their fellows, such as those in which the sinner has done violence to them either in their persons, or their property, or their name and reputation. The sins against God only are not so difficult regarding atonement as those in which the sin against God has consisted in a sin against our fellows. For the repentance consists in returning from the evil ways whether in thought or deed. But in the case of sins against our fellows, there are many circumstances that make repentance difficult. Restitution is a necessary preliminary to repentance, and the injured person may not be able to be found, or may be a long way off; or the oppressor may have lost the wealth that they obtained from the oppressed, and so be unable to restore it; and it may be that the injured one is unwilling to forgive the one who has injured them, for some bodily injury, or for some slander spoken about them; or it may be that the sinner is unable to recognize those entitled to restitution, as, for instance, when they have oppressed or defrauded the people of a town or district... Another cause of difficulty is that the habit of evil conduct often becomes a second nature which it is not easy to change...There are also sins whose consequences, physical and moral, immediate and remote, no human power can avert or undo... Mishneh Torah, Repentance 1:1 - Maimonides (12/C) ​ All of the commandments in the Torah: whether they be the positive commandments, or the negative commandments; if a person transgressed any of them, whether they did so intentionally, whether they did so unintentionally, when they repent and return from their sin - they are obligated to confess before God, as it says (Numbers 5:6-7): “When a man or a women does any of the sins of man...and he shall confess his sin that he committed…” - this refers to a verbal confession. And confession, that is a positive commandment. How do they confess? They say, "Please God, I have sinned, I have erred, I have transgressed, I have done such-and-such [specific sins], I am regretful, and ashamed for my actions, and I will never again return to my old ways." This is the essence of the confession, and anyone who wants to lengthen [their confession], this is praiseworthy... So too for those who are liable for capital punishment or lashes: their death or lashing does not atone for them until they repent [do teshuvah] and confess verbally [do vidui]. And also someone who has injured their fellow or damaged their property, even though they have repaid what they owe the other, they have not atoned until they confess and turn away from similar actions forever, as it says (Numbers 5:6): “From any of the sins of man.” 1:3 In this day and age we have only repentance, for we don't have the Temple and Altar.
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