Atonement Vs Attainment

(ד) כִּֽי־עִמְּךָ֥ הַסְּלִיחָ֑ה לְ֝מַ֗עַן תִּוָּרֵֽא׃

(4) Yours is the power to forgive so that You may be held in awe.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch,
Tehillim Yahel Ohr ad loc.

“In order that You be feared” as a reason for forgiveness appears to be counterintuitive—logic dictates that when there is a spirit of forgiveness and abundant mercy, people are not as afraid to sin?

בראשית רבה י״ב:ט״ו

(טו) יי אֱלֹקִים, לְמֶלֶךְ שֶׁהָיוּ לוֹ כּוֹסוֹת רֵיקִים, אָמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אִם אֲנִי נוֹתֵן לְתוֹכָן חַמִּין, הֵם מִתְבַּקְּעִין. צוֹנֵן, הֵם מַקְרִיסִין, וּמֶה עָשָׂה הַמֶּלֶךְ עֵרַב חֲמִין בְּצוֹנֵן וְנָתַן בָּהֶם וְעָמָדוּ. כָּךְ אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אִם בּוֹרֵא אֲנִי אֶת הָעוֹלָם בְּמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים, הֲוֵי חֶטְיָיה סַגִּיאִין. בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין, הָאֵיךְ הָעוֹלָם יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד. אֶלָּא הֲרֵי אֲנִי בּוֹרֵא אוֹתוֹ בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין וּבְמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים, וְהַלְּוַאי יַעֲמֹד.

Bereshit Rabbah 12:15

[The verse states “on the day that the Lord G-d made earth and heaven.”] The words “the Lord G-d” can be explained with the following analogy: A king had empty cups. He said, “if I pour hot water in the cups, they will crack; if I pour cold water into them, they will contract.” What did the king do? He mixed the cold and hot water and poured it into the cups, and they held.

In similar fashion, G-d said, “If I create the world with the attribute of mercy alone, there will be a plethora of sinners; if I create it only with the attribute of
judgment—how will the world survive? Rather, I will create it with both attributes, and it shall survive.”

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi,
cited in Yahel Ohr ibid.
My grandfather the Rebbe gave a parable to explain the matter from a person who owed his creditor a very large sum of money. If the creditor makes an agreement to accept only half and is willing to receive it incrementally over an extended period of
time, then the borrower will make every effort to repay the debt to the best of his ability. But if the creditor is stubborn and insists on the full payment, the borrower will simply give up and will not pay anything at all. The same is true with regards to teshuvah.

אבן עזרא על תהילים ק״ל:ד׳:א׳

(א) כי - הטעם כאשר תסלח לעוני - ישמעו חטאים וישובו גם הם ויניחו חטאם, ואם לא תסלח - לא ייראוך ויעשו חפצם ככל אות נפשם.

Ibn Ezra on Psalms 130:4:1

“For [forgiveness is with You].” [David frames forgiveness] as a reason [for fearing G-d]: When people will hear that You have forgiven my sins, they, too, will repent and abandon their sinful ways. But if you will not forgive, they will not fear You and they will do as their heart desires.

ברכות ה׳ ב:י״ז-כ׳

רב הונא תקיפו ליה ארבע מאה דני דחמרא על לגביה רב יהודה אחוה דרב סלא חסידא ורבנן ואמרי לה רב אדא בר אהבה ורבנן ואמרו ליה לעיין מר במיליה אמר להו ומי חשידנא בעינייכו אמרו ליה מי חשיד קודשא בריך הוא דעביד דינא בלא דינא אמר להו אי איכא מאן דשמיע עלי מלתא לימא אמרו ליה הכי שמיע לן דלא יהיב מר שבישא לאריסיה אמר להו מי קא שביק לי מידי מיניה הא קא גניב ליה כוליה אמרו ליה היינו דאמרי אינשי בתר גנבא גנוב וטעמא טעים אמר להו קבילנא עלי דיהיבנא ליה

איכא דאמרי הדר חלא והוה חמרא ואיכא דאמרי אייקר חלא ואיזדבן בדמי דחמרא:

Berakhot 5b:17-20

The Gemara relates another story regarding acknowledgement of the justice of divine punishment: Four hundred barrels of Rav Huna’s wine fermented and turned into vinegar, causing him great financial loss.
Rav Yehuda, the brother of Rav Sala the Pious, along with the Sages, and some say Rav Adda bar Ahava, along with the Sages, entered to visit him, and said: The Master should examine his actions, as perhaps he committed a transgression for which he is being punished.
Rav Huna said to them: Am I suspect in your eyes? Have I committed a transgression on account of which you advise me to examine my behavior?
They said to him: Is the Holy One, Blessed be He, suspect that He exacts punishment without justice? Your loss was certainly just, and you must examine your conduct to find out why. The Sages were aware of a flaw in Rav Huna’s conduct, to which they alluded (Tosafot).

Rav Huna said to them: If someone has heard something improper that I have done, let him say so. They said to him: We have heard that the Master does not give a share of his grapevines to his tenant farmers. A tenant farmer is entitled to a portion of the crop grown on his landlord’s property, as well as a share of the vines planted during a given year. Rav Huna said to them: Does this tenant farmer leave me anything from the produce that he grows on my property? He steals it all. Consequently, in denying him his share of the grapevines I am simply recouping that which was stolen from me by this tenant farmer.

They said to him: That is the meaning of the folk saying: One who steals from a thief has a taste of theft. Despite the fact that the property was stolen to begin with, one nevertheless engages in theft. Although he did not violate a prohibition per se, it is still a form of theft, and one who is held to a higher standard than others will be punished for it.

He said to them: I accept upon myself to give my tenant farmer his portion in the future.
Thereupon, as a result of Rav Huna’s repentance, God restored his loss.

Some say his vinegar turned back into wine, and some say that the price of vinegar rose and it was sold at the price of wine.

יומא פ״ו ב:ג׳

אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות שנאמר (הושע יד, ב) שובה ישראל עד יי אלקיך כי כשלת בעונך הא עון מזיד הוא וקא קרי ליה מכשול איני והאמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות שנאמר (יחזקאל לג, יט) ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם (חיה) יחיה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה

Yoma 86b:3

Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, as the penitent’s intentional sins are counted for him as unwitting transgressions, as it is stated: “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity” (Hosea 14:2).

The Gemara analyzes this: Doesn’t “iniquity” mean an intentional sin? Yet the prophet calls it stumbling, implying that one who repents is considered as though he only stumbled accidentally in his transgression.

The Gemara asks: Is that so? Didn’t Reish Lakish himself say: Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits, as it is stated: “And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby” (Ezekiel 33:19), and all his deeds, even his transgressions, will become praiseworthy?

The Gemara reconciles: This is not difficult: Here, when one repents out of love, his sins become like merits; there, when one repents out of fear, his sins are counted as unwitting transgressions.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Halevi Eidel’s (Maharsha, 1555–1632).

[Rabbi, author, and Talmudist. Rabbi Eidel’s established a yeshivah in Posen, Poland, which was supported by his mother-in-law, Eidel (hence his surname is “Eidel’s”). He is primarily known for his Chidushei Halachot, a commentary on the Talmud in which he resolves difficulties in the texts of the Talmud, Rashi, and Tosafot, and which is a basic work for those who seek an in-depth understanding of the Talmud; and for his Chidushei Agadot, his innovative commentary on the homiletic passages of the Talmud.]

[When the Talmud states that the sins are rendered as mistakes,] we can understand it in a literal sense: when a person repents, it is considered as though the sin was committed unintentionally from the very beginning. However, when the Talmud states that the sins are rendered as merits, it is perplexing—it turns out that the sinner gains?

One can answer that when a person repents out of love—as the Talmud concludes is the case—he most certainly increases his positive actions more than what is technically required to counterbalance the previous sin. Those good deeds that he adds are the “merits” referred to here.

תניא, חלק ראשון, ספר של בינונים ז׳:א׳

...עד שיעשה תשובה גדולה כל כך שזדונות נעשה לו כזכויות ממש, שהיא תשובה מאהבה מעומקא דליבא באהבה רבה וחשיקה ונפש שוקקה לדבקה בו יתברך, וצמאה נפשו ליי כארץ עיפה וציה, להיות כי עד הנה היתה נפשו בארץ ציה וצלמות, היא הסטרא אחרא, ורחוקה מאור פני יי בתכלית. ולזאת צמאה נפשו ביתר עוז מצמאון נפשות הצדיקים, כמאמרם ז"ל: "במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים" כו'. ועל תשובה מאהבה רבה זו אמרו שזדונות נעשו לו כזכויות, הואיל ועל ידי זה בא לאהבה רבה זו.

Tanya, Part I; Likkutei Amarim 7:1

One way the evil can be eradicated is when the sinner repents to such an extent that his premeditated sins become transmuted into veritable merits, which is achieved through “repentance out of love,” that comes from the depths of the heart, with great love and fervor, from a soul passionately desiring to cleave to the blessed G-d, and thirsting for G-d like a parched desert soil.

Until now, his soul was found in a barren wilderness, and in the shadow of death and evil, infinitely removed from the light of the G-dliness; now, his soul thirsts for G-d even more than the souls of the righteous, as our Sages say, “In the place where penitents stand, not even the perfectly righteous can stand.”

Concerning the repentance out of such great love, the Talmud states, “The penitent’s premeditated sins become, in his case, like virtues,” for the sin is credited with this [newfound] great love.

Jerusalem Talmud Berachot 9:3
A person who makes himself a sukkah recites the blessing “...Who commanded us to make a sukkah.” A person who makes himself a lulav for himself recites the blessing “...Who commanded us to make a lulav.”

Lekutei Sichos Volume 17 Page 189
[39 Volumes by the Lubavitcher Rebbe]
The simple explanation why such actions warrant a blessing is as follows: If the Torah commanded us to perform certain mitzvot, and these mitzvot cannot be fulfilled without certain preparatory steps, it follows that those actions are also part of
the mitzvah itself (or, that they gain an importance equivalent to the mitzvah).

Ibid

A similar idea can be applied to sins in the context of teshuvah. Being that the lofty level of love that is achieved through teshuvah can only be accessed after a person sins, the sins themselves are elevated and are rendered as merits, in a similar fashion to “machshirei mitzvah—requisite steps for a mitzvah.”

Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (1834–1909).
[Leading halachist and kabbalist, successful orator, poet, author of more than 50 works; Succeeded his father as chief rabbi of Baghdad in 1859. Best known as author of his halachic work, Ben Ish Chai, by which title he is also known. Also popular is his commentary on the homiletical section of the Talmud, called Ben Yehoyadah.]
One can suggest the following symbolism: According to the opinion which maintains that the vinegar rose in value, this alludes to the power of teshuvah—that the very blemish turned into the cure.

Mendy Marlow