Concealed and Hidden

(28) Concealed acts concern our God יהוה; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching.

הנסתרת ליהוה אלהינו THE SECRET THINGS BELONG UNTO THE ETERNAL OUR GOD — And if you say, “But what can we do? You threaten the many (the whole community) with punishment because of the sinful thoughts of one individual, as it is said, (v. 17): “Lest there should be among you a man, [or a woman or a family … whose heart turns away this day from the Etneral …]”, and afterwards it states, (v. 21) “And they will see the plagues of that land”. But surely no one can know the secret thoughts of another person! Now, I reply: I do not threaten to punish you because of secret thoughts for these belong to the Eternal our God whowill exact punishment from that individual; but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children that we may put away the evil from our midst; and if we do not execute judgment upon them, the whole community will be punished.

There are dots on the words לנו ולבננו to suggest that even for the revealed sins (those committed openly), Gpd did not punish the community until they had crossed the Jordan — from the moment when they took upon themselves the oath on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and had thus become responsible for one another (Sanhedrin 43b; cf. Sotah 37b).

(1) [Who has reached] complete Teshuvah? A person who confronts the same situation in which he (or she) sinned when that person has the potential to commit [the sin again], and, nevertheless, abstains and does not commit it because of Teshuvah alone and not because of fear or a lack of strength.

(2) What constitutes Teshuvah? That a sinner should abandon the sins and remove them from his (or her) thoughts, resolving in their heart, never to commit them again as [Isaiah 55:7] states "May the wicked abandon his ways...." Similarly, that person must regret the past as [Jeremiah 31:18] states: "After I returned, I regretted." [The confessor must reach the level where] the One who knows the hidden will testify concerning that individual that this person will never return to this sin again as [Hoshea 14:4] states: "We will no longer say to the work of our hands: `You are our gods.'" This person must verbally confess and state these matters which they resolved in their heart.

(3) והנגלות, "but the sins committed publicly, etc," dealing with deliberate sins committed in full view of the public must be dealt with by the judiciary by both you and your children, as otherwise such phenomena cannot be eradicated from your midst. This law becomes effective from the moment the Jewish people will cross the river Jordan. From that moment on their acceptance of the covenant with God meant that each individual Jew shared in the responsibility for the conduct of each fellow Jew. From that moment on we also became responsible.

(9) Teshuvah and Yom Kippur only atone for sins between an individual and God; for example, a person who ate a forbidden food or engaged in forbidden sexual relations, and the like. However, sins between one person and another; for example, someone who injures a colleague, curses a colleague, steals from him, or the like will never be forgiven until he gives his (or her) colleague what is owed and makes appeasement. [It must be emphasized that] even if a person restores the money that is owed [the person he wronged], the wrongdoer must appease that person and ask that he (or she) forgive. Even if a person only upset a colleague by saying [certain] things, that individual must appease the person and approach that person [repeatedly] until the wronged person forgives . If his colleague does not desire to forgive, the wrongdoer should bring a group of three friends and approach the person wronged with them and request [forgiveness]. If [the wronged party] is not appeased, the wrongdoer should repeat the process a second and third time. If the person [still] does not want [to forgive], the wrongdoer may let the person harmed alone and need not pursue [the matter further]. On the contrary, the person who refuses to grant forgiveness is the one considered as the sinner. [The above does not apply] if [the wronged party] was one's teacher. [In that instance,] a person should continue seeking forgiveness, even a thousand times, until the person wronged forgives him.

(1) Know, a person must judge everyone favorably (Avot 1:6). Even someone who is completely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some modicum of good; that in that little bit he is not wicked. And by finding in him a modicum of good and judging him favorably, one genuinely elevates him to the scale of merit and can bring him to repent.

(2) This is the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there” (Psalms 37:10). That is, Scripture warns to judge everyone favorably. Even if you see that he is completely wicked, you must search and seek the little bit of good in him, wherein he is not wicked ...

2. Likewise, each person must find [some good point] within themselves. It is known that a person must take care to be happy always and to keep very far away from depression {as has been explained in our works a number of times}.

(2) It may be that when a person begins doing deep self-reflection, that they see that they possess no good whatsoever and are filled with sin, and that as a result the Evil One wants to push them into depression and sadness, God forbid. Even so, it is forbidden to fall on account of this. Rather, the repentant person must search until they find in themself some little bit of good. For how is it possible that throughout one's life he or she never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And even if when the person begins examining this good thing they could sees that it, too, is filled with flaws and contains no purity—i.e., they see that the mitzvah or holy deed that he merited doing is itself comprised of impure motives, external thoughts and numerous faults—nevertheless, how is it possible that this mitzvah or holy deed contains not even a little bit of good? For in any case, despite this there must have been some good point in the mitzvah or good deed that he did ...

(4) That is, just as has been explained above, that we must judge others favorably, even the wicked, and find in them some good point, and by doing so move them from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, in the aspect of “in yet a little bit… you will reflect…”—the same applies with regard to oneself.