English translation — עקב ב

Talk b<pg>59</pg>

A.

"For Hashem your G-d is the G-d of gods etc. Who does not lift up a face and does not take a bribe"<sup>1</sup>.

And we need to understand:

The difference between "lifting of face" and "bribe" is,

that lifting of face means

(in regard to action)

waiving of the punishment that comes by means of forgiveness of the sin to a person

(and not a change of the ruling to say about a sin that it is permitted and the like),

but not so the action of the "bribe" is to blind the eyes of the wise,

to rule opposite of the law.

And thus,

that "He does not show favoritism" contains a novelty,

for since the children of Israel are children to the Omnipresent,

it might be that from the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He,

(our Father in heaven)

upon His children He would show favoritism to them,

as explained in the Priestly Blessing²

"May the Lord lift His countenance upon you",

that the Holy One, blessed be He, shows favoritism to Israel³,

that He suppresses His anger⁴

and forgives their iniquities

[as explained in the commentaries⁵,

that this is the reasoning of Rashi who explained "He does not show favoritism — if you cast off His yoke",

that only when the children of Israel

(not merely sinning in general,

but)

cast off His yoke, heaven forbid,

then the Holy One, blessed be He, does not show favoritism to Israel]

;

But regarding "He shall not take a bribe" — it is perplexing — what is the assumption that the Holy One, blessed be He, would take a bribe, heaven forbid?

(In addition to this, taking a bribe is explicit in the Torah "and a bribe you shall not take"⁶,

"and you shall not take a bribe"⁷,

and our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said⁸

"what He does He tells Israel to do"),

how is it possible that "the Lord God is truth"⁹

would take a bribe, heaven forbid, to pervert true justice¹⁰

!

And even more perplexing: we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, indeed takes a bribe — "and a bribe from the lap of the wicked He takes"¹¹,

and it is explained in the Midrash¹²

"And what is the bribe that the Holy One, blessed be He, takes from the wicked in this world? Repentance and good deeds,

the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, as long as the gates of repentance are open, do repentance, for I take a bribe in this world¹³

but when I sit in judgment for the World to Come¹³

I do not take a bribe, as it is said¹⁴

He will not lift up the face of<pg>60</pg>

a ransom" — that is,

that the matter of repentance is in the category of taking a "bribe".

And behold, according to the aforementioned midrash, the novelty in our verse is understood, that "Hashem your God..

will not take a bribe" — for even though we find a matter of taking a bribe regarding the Holy One, blessed be He,

this is only in the matter of repentance,

but the Holy One, blessed be He, does not accept any other matter — even matters of Torah and mitzvos — as a "bribe",

and as the Rambam wrote&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;

(in his commentary on the Mishnah&lt;sup&gt;16&lt;/sup&gt;

"that there is before Him etc. and no taking of a bribe")

And this is his language: "He will not take a bribe of good deeds, like if a person does a thousand good deeds and one evil deed, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will not forgive that transgression because of his many good deeds, and He will deduct from his thousand good deeds one good deed or more, but He will punish him for that one evil deed and reward him for all those good deeds."

Thus it requires explanation

(in addition to the above, how is it possible that Hashem, the God of truth, will take a bribe)

— since taking a bribe is forbidden,

what is the unique matter in repentance because of which the prohibition is "permitted" and "the Holy One, blessed be He, takes

(a bribe)

from the wicked in this world, repentance and good deeds"?

2.

And behold, in Midrash Shmuel¹⁷

(in the aforementioned Mishnah)

he explained the difference between "bribe" of repentance and "bribe" of Torah and mitzvos in general

(as in Rambam there)

— "the matter of repentance is separate and the matter of the rest of the mitzvos is separate,

for the matter of repentance that atones for the reason is that when a person regrets the transgression..

with this repentance he washes away the plague of the stain of the transgression, but one who has thousands of myriads of mitzvos and few transgressions..

and did not confess over them, certainly those transgressions will stand in their place, and how can they be removed without removal?"

But according to this it is not understood on the other side — since through repentance the transgression is washed away and nullified,

why is it called

(atonement of transgressions through it)

repentance by the name "bribe," whose meaning is giving a benefit in order to tilt the judgment — behold there is here no

(transgression — cause of the)

judgment?

At first glance, one must say based on what our sages, of blessed memory, said¹⁸,

that through repentance out of love — "intentional sins become for him like merits",

namely, that not only does repentance out of love nullify the sin completely

(to the extent that "the sin is uprooted from its beginning"¹⁹),

but rather it transforms the sin into a merit²⁰

— and this matter

(that the sin will be transformed into merit)

has no place according to the law of the Torah²¹,

[And one could say,

that this is one of the explanations in the words of our sages, of blessed memory²²

"<pg>61</pg>

They asked the Torah: a sinner, what is his punishment? He said: let him bring a guilt-offering and it will atone for him. They asked the Holy One, blessed be He: a sinner, what is his punishment? He said: let him do repentance and it will atone for him.

That the innovation in the answer of the Holy One, blessed be He, "and it will atone for him" is,

that

(through repentance out of love)

"intentional sins become for him like merits"&lt;sup&gt;23&lt;/sup&gt;,

and this has no place according to the Torah

(in and of itself),

therefore,

the "Torah"

(from its own perspective)

cannot give this advice,

and only the Holy One, blessed be He, innovated that "let him do repentance and it will atone for him"&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;],

And therefore repentance is called by the name "bribe",

for through the doing of repentance

(out of love)

the Holy One, blessed be He, changes the

(laws of)

Torah

(— beyond the line of the law),

and makes the intentional sins as merits.

But it is forced to explain thus the intent of the midrash,

because:

a)

"Intentional sins become for him like merits" is done only through a most elevated repentance,

repentance from love

(Rabbah²⁵),

And in the midrash it implies that it applies to all types of repentance.

b)

The novelty that "intentional sins become for him like merits" does not pertain to atonement of the sin

(because for this erasure and uprooting of the sin suffices)

— and from the plainness of the language of the midrash

("He takes etc. until the gates of repentance are open, they repented")

it implies,

that it speaks about this matter that in repentance — which brings atonement of the sin.

c.

And therefore it seems to me the opposite,

that the "bribe" that is in repentance is in this, that there is no need for "superior repentance"²⁶

in its completeness for complete atonement for the sin,

rather every act of repentance effects "atonement²⁷

and forgiveness of the iniquity,

that he is completely forgiven for what he transgressed the command of the King when he did complete repentance²⁸

and they do not mention to him a thing or half a thing on the Day of Judgment to punish him for this, G-d forbid, in the World to Come²⁹

and he is completely exempt from the judgment in the World to Come²⁹

".

That is: erasing and uprooting the sin completely

(until no trace of it remains at all)

is only through repentance from love³⁰,

and therefore there is room from the line of judgment to say,

that as long as one has not reached this state,

his sin is not erased,

it is impossible for his sin to be atoned for him completely³¹

; and this is the novelty regarding the "bribe" of repentance,

that since a person fulfills the commandment of repentance according to the laws of the Torah,

namely that he resolves in his heart to abandon the sin and not do it again³²,

with confession and request for forgiveness³³

— his sin is forgiven completely.

And nevertheless, this taking of a "bribe" is not contrary to the Torah's command "and a bribe you shall not take" — because this that the atonement of repentance is in the category of "bribe",

is only regarding human beings³⁴,

for a judge has no<pg>62</pg>

But what his eyes see³⁵,

and since there is not here "superior repentance" in completeness,

therefore the atonement is "bribe"

(and this is the meaning of the verse "and a bribe from the bosom of the wicked he will take")

; but from the side of the Holy One, blessed be He,

who sees the heart,

and recognizes the truth of the matter that in every doing of repentance

(according to Torah)

there is a change of person

(as will be explained below at length),

behold, in the power of repentance to effect that his sin be forgiven him completely

(and therefore in truth this is not in the category of bribe).

4.

And one must preface the words of the Rambam in the Laws of Repentance³⁶,

and this is his language: From the ways of repentance is that the penitent cries out always before the L-rd etc. and does charity etc. and distances himself greatly from the thing in which he sinned and changes his name, meaning I am another and I am not that person who did those deeds, and changes all his deeds for the good and for the straight path, and goes into exile from his place, for exile atones for transgression because it causes him to be submissive and to be humble and lowly of spirit.

And behold, a)

In the commentaries&lt;sup&gt;37&lt;/sup&gt;

they noted that the source of the matters enumerated in the Rambam here is in Tractate Rosh Hashanah&lt;sup&gt;38&lt;/sup&gt;

— "Four things tear up the decree of a person..

charity, crying, change of name, change of deed..

and some say even change of place."

And superficially, there is no source in this for what the Rambam wrote — "and he distances himself greatly from the thing in which he sinned"&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;.

b)

What is "and he changes all his deeds for good and for a straight path",

for if he did not change all his deeds for good

(and he still has deeds that are not good)

— his repentance is not completed

[and in the Rambam here he speaks about the conduct and "ways of repentance" of "the penitent"

(already)&lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;]?

And therefore it seems,

that the source of the Rambam is

(also)

in Bereishis Rabbah⁴¹,

and its wording: "Three things nullify evil decrees..

prayer and charity and repentance..

R. Huna..

said even change of name and good deed..

and some say even change of place".

Behold, two things were detailed here

(a)

repentance,

(b)

"and good deed".

And this is also the intent of the Rambam,

that first he counts "he distances himself greatly from the thing with which he sinned",

this is the matter of repentance connected with this sin⁴²,

and afterwards

(after the matter of "change of name")

he adds "and changes all his deeds for good etc." — "<pg>63</pg>

A good deed"

(And afterwards "and it rolls from its place etc.'" — "change of place").

And based on this, one can say,

that what the Rambam said "and changes all his deeds for the good",

is

(also)

a detail in "change of name"^*42

— that "change of name" its meaning is

(as the Rambam said,

as above⁴³)

that "I am another and I am not that man who did those deeds",

And it is impossible to say that he is a person "other" and not "that man who did those deeds" until he "changes all his deeds for the good and for a straight path".

And additionally it can be said: In order that a person become a different "other" person,

it is not sufficient that he change his evil deeds,

but rather it must be noticeable in all his matters that "he is not the same person",

and therefore he must change also his good deeds and ways,

which he does with additional adornment etc.,

"he changes all his deeds for good and for a straight path"⁴⁴.

5.

Explanation of the matters:

Regarding the matter of atonement for sin and forgiveness of punishment — there are two ways:

a)

From the aspect of the change in the object of the sin⁴⁵

— that through repentance as appropriate,

the sin is erased and uprooted,

and consequently

(is atoned and forgiven and)

the punishment is nullified.

b)

From the aspect of the change of the person⁴⁵

— that through teshuvah the existence of the sinner is nullified,

he becomes an entirely new existence,

and since the person is not "that same man who did those deeds",

it is impossible to punish him for "those deeds".

And one can say a practical difference — regarding matters that are in the category of "a perverted thing cannot be rectified"⁴⁶

because the result of his sinful act exists

("his iniquity is revealed and remembered"⁴⁷)

:

That repentance is not effective in such a situation,

i.e., repentance whose nature is a change of deed

(by means of regret for the deed)

— because since the sin is "revealed and remembered" repentance has no ability to change it,

to effect atonement for it⁴⁸

; but when one does a greater repentance,

until the repentance is in the manner of "change of name",

that he is not "the same person who did those deeds",

then the situation is irrelevant

(the result of the deed)

of the sin⁴⁹,

because this deed is not his.

And in this way one can resolve the question of the Maharsha⁵⁰

on the wording of the piyyut⁵¹

"Repentance and prayer and charity remove the evil of the decree" — "that the poet mentioned only these three"⁵²,

And why did he not mention "change of name and change of place"⁵³?

<pg>64</pg>

And according to the above, one can say: the things that nullify a decree

(and also the punishment for sin&lt;sup&gt;54&lt;/sup&gt;)

are divided into two types&lt;sup&gt;55&lt;/sup&gt;

:

The three matters of "teshuvah and tefillah and tzedakah" bring atonement

(and nullification of the decree)

through nullification of the object of the sin,

and as the language of the Rambam that "he distances himself greatly from the thing in which he sinned",

and this is that even after he has resolved in his heart not to do it again,

he adds to distance himself "greatly from the thing in which he sinned",

and as much as he adds in this — his teshuvah is more excellent and nullifies more the impression of the sin,

[But this alone is not sufficient,

and in order to cancel the punishment completely, also prayer is needed⁵⁶

and charity.

And it can be said that this is in the manner that at the time when the Holy Temple existed, also a sacrifice was needed for atonement,

which is like "an advocate who enters"⁵⁷

to the king to appease him]

;

But not so "change of name" is a completely different matter: the penitent becomes an entirely new reality, until he becomes like a different person⁵⁸,

and consequently there is no one here to punish,

as above⁵⁹.

And this is also the reason that there must also be a "change of deed" — and "he changes all his deeds for good" — because only then does no trace remain of his previous existence

(which is recognizable in his previous deeds)

and he becomes an entirely new existence,

that is, a different person.

6.

According to all the above, we can also explain the reason that the atonement through repentance is not a matter of "bribe" to a detriment

(even if it is not a "superior repentance" that erases and uproots the sin entirely)

— and with the preface of what we explained elsewhere⁶⁰,

that this that repentance turns a person into a new existence,

also affects practical halachah — for through repentance a person is turned from a wicked person

(who is disqualified for testimony etc.)

into a fit person⁶¹

("one who does the deed of Your people"⁶²),

to the extent that through a thought of repentance in the heart he is called a "complete righteous person"⁶³.

And it was explained in this,

that although this change

(— that the person is turned from wicked to righteous)

is done through the fulfillment of "the commandment of repentance from the Torah

(that)

it is the abandonment of sin alone"⁶⁴

[And even that a thought of repentance in the heart suffices

(as above)

without verbal confession,

and as explained in the later authorities⁶⁵

that even if his repentance does not avail him that his sin be atoned,

nevertheless he becomes a complete righteous person through "the abandonment of sin alone"],

whereas "change of name" to annul a decree from a person etc. must be in a manner that "he changes his deeds<pg>65</pg>

all of them for good etc.'"

(as above)

— nevertheless,

also this is a "new reality",

and moreover — the point

(and foundation)

of the change is done through the fulfillment of the commandment of repentance,

"the abandonment of sin alone",

and all the details of the matters of repentance that come afterward,

their purpose is only to cause that the point of "change" spread throughout all the matters of the person,

until "he changes his deeds all of them for good".

[And like a newborn child simply,

that the renewal of his existence is done in one moment,

and then it is nothing but a single point⁶⁶

; and afterwards this point spreads and is formed — at first in the general form

(male or female)

during forty days⁶⁷,

and afterwards in the particular form in all its limbs and sinews

(down to hairs and nails)

— during nine months,

And so it is regarding the matter of repentance,

that the point of the "new existence" through repentance is through "forsaking the sin alone..

that he resolve in his heart with a whole heart not to return again to folly"⁶⁴

— and therefore the halachic ruling is that through forsaking the sin alone he changes from wicked to righteous as above;

And the details of the matter of teshuvah

(beginning from confession and request for forgiveness,

until addition in the quality of teshuvah,

that it be "superior teshuvah" etc.)

— their matter,

that the point of renewal

(that is done through the essence of teshuvah)

will spread and penetrate into all details of his existence,

until "he changes all his deeds for good" — that in all details of his matters it is recognizable that he is a different person].

7.

And based on this it is understood that teshuvah is a "bribe",

and even though it is written "you shall not take a bribe":

The line of the law gives,

that the act of repentance according to halacha — leaving the sin with confession and request for forgiveness — without there being a "superior repentance",

and all the more so not in a manner of "he changes all his deeds for the good",

is not sufficient that his iniquity be forgiven him completely — both from the side of the object of the iniquity,

that its trace still remains

(and is not uprooted completely entirely),

and from the side of the person,

that his existence has not changed

(openly)

until it is possible to say that he is not "that same person who did those deeds" — and therefore the forgiveness of the iniquity is a "bribe"

(regarding human beings)

;

But in truth of the matter

(and towards the Holy One, blessed be He)

it is not a "bribe" — because since through "leaving the sin" the point of renewal is made,

that in this point everything is included

[like the point of a new embryo,

in which are included all the details of the limbs etc.']

— it is therefore understood,

that

("in potential" at least)

he is a new existence.

And therefore,

although regarding the object of the sin,

it is impossible to forgive his sin entirely until he does such a great repentance that it uproots his sin from its beginning&lt;sup&gt;68&lt;/sup&gt;

— behold, from the aspect of the "change of person" effected by repentance,

since the point of renewal in the person has already been done through the doing of repentance,

behold

(it is revealed before Heaven that)

he is an entirely new existence&lt;sup&gt;68&lt;/sup&gt;

(and he is only lacking time until the point spreads throughout all matters of the person&lt;sup&gt;69&lt;/sup&gt;),

and therefore "he is entirely forgiven for what he transgressed the king's commandments etc. and is entirely absolved&lt;pg&gt;66&lt;/pg&gt;

by law in the World to Come" — because the existence of the sinner has been nullified and there is no one to punish,

as above.

8.

Based on this, we can further explain a precision in the language of the aforementioned midrash

(section 1)

— "And what is the bribe..

Repentance and good deeds",

for seemingly "good deeds" — what are they doing here — for on the contrary,

the Holy One, blessed be He, does not accept a bribe of "good deeds"

(as above from the Rambam)

only of repentance?

[And to add,

that in Midrash Shocher Tov⁷⁰

the version is "Repentance and good deeds and prayer"

(or "Repentance and prayer and charity"⁷¹),

and concludes "until the gates of prayer are open, do prayer⁷²

and repentance"].

In Midrash Shmuel⁷³

Interpretation: "That which he mentioned good deeds with repentance, the intention is to inform us that after repentance he will not return and repeat the transgression..

And if you say, behold this one immerses and a reptile is in his hand..

And even according to the version of Shoher Tov, the intention of what is said "prayer" is not about the commandment of prayer..

Rather, the intention is about the matter of prayer and repentance..

True repentance is⁷⁴

that he pray to his God etc. and ask from Him, blessed be He, pardon and forgiveness and atonement etc.".

But at first glance this is not a sufficient answer — because what is the practical difference in the Midrash here

(regarding the matter that repentance is "bribery")

to emphasize that repentance without good deeds

(and prayer)

is not proper repentance?

After all, this matter belongs in the laws of repentance or in Midrashim that come to explain the essence of the matter of repentance.

And based on the above, one can say,

that this relates to the matter of the "bribe" in repentance.

For based on what was explained above, it is understood,

that this, that repentance does not have the power

(in its simple sense)

to effect complete forgiveness — even though one has changed from wicked to righteous — is because this change has not yet penetrated into all the particular matters of the person;

And this is what the Midrash says,

that when a person's repentance brings about that the person also performs good deeds

(and likewise engages in prayer),

in a manner that the point of repentance in the heart has begun to penetrate into the person's actions⁷⁵

— this is a "bribe" that is accepted as if a complete "change of person" has been made

(that "he changes all his deeds for the good")

and "he is completely forgiven".

(From the talk of 15 Av 5742)