Jewish Values Online - Beginning in the month of Elul we begin the process to think about our sins that we need to ask forgiveness. If we are granted forgiveness by Hashem on Rosh Hashana, is it only the “punishment” for the sin that is removed or is it also the sin itself that is removed from our past?

What Does Atonement Do?

Question:

During the month of Elul we begin the process to think about our sins that we need to ask forgiveness. If we are granted forgiveness by Hashem on Rosh Hashana, is it only the “punishment” for the sin that is removed or is it also the sin itself that is removed from our past?

Answer:

The question as formulated makes several assumptions:

{C}1. {C}Sin deadens the soul and defiles the soul.

{C}2. {C}Punishment is independent of the wrongful act, which distances the offender from the Deity.

{C}3. {C}Sin has cosmic, nystical consequences

These assumptions are to my mind not self-evident in the Judaism of the Written and Oral Torah, also known as “Orthodox Judaism.” Rather, since God is infinite, any and every sin committed by a moral human is a mortal sin because a finite being, a human, cannot pay back for an infinite wrong committed against God. This mindset reflects Lutheran theology but not the mindset of Judaism.

In Judaism, Psalms 145:9 posits that God is good to all and His [by linguistic convention masculine] mercy extends to all creatures. Such a God does not create a creature to be evil and then judge that creature to be evil for acting as programmed. We neither need nor tolerate the notion that a man/god is needed to pay an infinite debt to a God, who make such a demand, would be a monster and not a master of mercy. See John 3:16, which for Judaism is untenable.

Israel has a covenant/contract or Torah which obliges both God and Israel. Sins are mistakes, missing the targeted goal, on the part of finite, frail humanity. Sinners are not wicked by character and stand in judgment. See Psalms 1:5.

A sin creates a debt, or hov, and a guilty person is hayyav, owing a debt to God. Once this debt is paid, the obligation to God, has been met:

{C}1) {C}mYoma 8:9 argues that with repentance, one is purified before the Lord, the sin/debt/obligation is in more.

{C}2) {C}Deuteronomy 25:3 teaches that one may not be whipped/punished more than is authorized by law, lest the brother be diminished in our presence. One the debt or punishment is completed, the payer of the debt is innocent, i.e., a brother, an unblemished moral equal. See bMegillah 7b and bMakkot 23a.

Therefore, Torah does not recognize a sin that defiles as do the Dead Sea Scrolls and the early Church. Sin creates a debt to God, the payment of which is the condition of reconciliation.

Answered by: Rabbi Alan Yuter

The point of the process of tshuvah or repentance is to change the way we behave in the future. This is, of course, grounded in our past. However, the goal is to act differently the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation. Maimonides, in his Laws of Tshuvah, writes that a complete repentance occurs when one finds oneself in the same exact situation in which one has sinned in the past, and one is perfectly able to sin and yet, one does not sin. This turning away from the sin and turning toward God, toward the path of righteousness is what tshuvah is all about.

In order to understand what changes as a result of the tshuvah we have to understand what sin is. This is a long and complicated topic since sinning itself is dependent on a range of theological prerequisites. Instead, as a direction or orientation, a kavanah for this period I would say the following. The worst part of sinning is that it causes one to feel distant from God. One therefore must do tshuvah which is remembering that no matter what you are a child of God. That is what you need to return to.

This, of course, is all in the case of your relationship with God. If you have wronged another person, you have to engage them in a process which will make them whole again, and make your relationship with them whole, before you can stand before and in relationship with God.

Answered by: Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen

Every person sins; it is a given of our imperfect Human condition that we will at times fall short of the mark. Our deeds bring hurt and injury to others. The other given of the Human condition is that we are endowed with free will and can choose to change; we can act to repair the damage we do. Our tradition teaches that the first step of teshuva, repentance, is atonement, or asking forgiveness.

Our Sages taught that only God can seal the process of Teshuvah (repentance). God can grant forgiveness unilaterally for those sins which are limited to our relationship with God. For those sins which involve other human beings, we must first seek and receive forgiveness from them before God will seal that act of repentance. It is hard work.

I find multiple answers to your core question: is there something that remains after God grants forgiveness? The answer depends in large part on what your image of sin is.

Rabbi Samuel Sandmel wrote (We Jews and Jesus, pg 45) that Jews understand sin to be an act or action, and atonement is the acknowledgement of, regret over, and dedication to avoid that act in the future. Forgiveness, as I understand him, implies a repair of the past, but not its erasure.

Sandmel focuses on the future – how will we act from now on. He echoes the thought of Maimonides who teaches that the core of repentance is the sincere resolve not to repeat the act. He writes: "What constitutes complete repentance? He who is confronted by the identical situation wherein he previously sinned and it lies within his power to commit the sin again, but he nevertheless does not succumb because he wishes to repent, and not because he is too fearful or weak [to repeat the sin].” [Mishnah Torah, Laws of Repentance] Here too there is no discussion of whether anything remains “on the record”; the concern is that the act is not repeated.

On the other hand, Rabbi Akiva taught: “Rejoice, Israel! Before whom are you purified? Who purifies you? It is none other than God, as it is said, (Ezekiel 36:25) I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you shall be clean.” (Mishnah Yoma 8:9) Similarly, Isaiah 1:18 teaches: “Come now, and let us reason together, Saith the Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow.” Here forgiveness equals erasure.

Herman Wouk, in his book, This is My God, agrees that forgiveness erases all record of the sin, but he raises a new concern. He records a conversation he heard between his grandfather and another man over the efficacy of a deathbed confession. His grandfather affirmed the teaching that God is always willing to offer forgiveness in response to sincere repentance. The other man objected, asking what is the value of a life well lived if you can repent for all of your misdeeds at the last second and be forgiven? Wouk's grandfather later explained to his grandson, who thought the objections logical, that “canceling the past does not turn it into a record of achievement. It leaves it blank, a waste of spilled years. A man had better return, he said, while time remains to write a life worth scanning. And since no man knows his death day, the time to get a grip on his life is the first hour when the impulse strikes him.”

Some of our sages believe forgiveness removes the record of our sin while others believe it only repairs the damage of our sin. All agree that the most important outcome is an individual's resolve to live the best life one can.

Answered by: Rabbi Louis Rieser