Questions tagged [repentance-teshuvah]
Questions pertaining to repentance for one's past sins and transgressions and the concept of teshuvah
187
questions
3
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1answer
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Punishment vs suffering
The Rambam says in Hilchos Teshuva chapter 1
עָבַר עַל כְּרֵתוֹת וּמִיתוֹת בֵּית דִּין וְעָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה, תְּשׁוּבָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים תּוֹלִין וְיִסּוּרִין הַבָּאִין עָלָיו גּוֹמְרִין לוֹ ...
2
votes
2answers
79 views
No atonement for adultery without punishment?
If I understand correctly, proper teshuva for sins between man and G-d removes punishment (Hilchot Teshuvah 2:9):
Neither repentance nor the Day of Atonement atone for any save for
sins ...
0
votes
1answer
28 views
Can a good decree on Rosh Hashanah be rescinded?
If someone was decreed for the good on Rosh Hashanah and afterwards sinned (possibly say with nivul peh) can the good decree be rescinded?
20
votes
12answers
11k views
How can I redeem a wasted youth?
I wasted my youth. I am 35 years old. I had a toxic relationship with my parents, especially my mother. My career never started, and I am still looking for a fresh start and finding it humiliating at ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
Is teshuva ever ineffective?
Rosh Hashana 17b quotes a Baraita
[...] If one repents in the meantime, between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, he is forgiven; if he does not repent in the meantime, then even if he later brings as ...
2
votes
0answers
56 views
Is adultery a sin between man and G-d or between man and man?
As we know, there are two types of sins: sins between man and man, and sins between man and G-d.
I used to think that adultery is a sin between man and man. However, reading Mishneh Torah, I ...
3
votes
1answer
52 views
Should repentance and Yom Kippur save someone from capital punishment?
In Yoma 86a we find the following Tannaic statement
If one commits a transgression that warrants karet or a sin punishable by death from the earthly court and then repents, repentance and Yom ...
4
votes
1answer
80 views
Does Teshuva protect from punishment or not?
The Rambam says in Hilchos Teshuva, chapter 6:
There are other sins for which justice determines that retribution be
exacted in the world to come with no damages coming to the
transgressor in ...
6
votes
0answers
37 views
Asking forgiveness from a deceased person who has no gravesite
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah 2:9 writes:
הַחוֹטֵא לַחֲבֵרוֹ וּמֵת חֲבֵרוֹ קֹדֶם שֶׁיְּבַקֵּשׁ מְחִילָה מֵבִיא עֲשָׂרָה בְּנֵי אָדָם וּמַעֲמִידָן עַל קִבְרוֹ וְיֹאמַר בִּפְנֵיהֶם חָטָאתִי לַה' ...
6
votes
1answer
109 views
Why is a person who refuses to forgive another considered a sinner?
The Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 2:9 writes about what to do when asking for forgiveness from a person who won't grant it:
אֲפִלּוּ לֹא הִקְנִיט אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ אֶלָּא בִּדְבָרִים צָרִיךְ לְפַיְּסוֹ ...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
Can a mute person do teshuva?
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah 1:1 tells us that saying vidui (confessing) is an integral part of the teshuva process:
כָּל מִצְוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה בֵּין עֲשֵׂה בֵּין לֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה אִם עָבַר אָדָם ...
5
votes
1answer
66 views
How to make oneself regret a sin?
As we know, regret is part of teshuvah. However, sometimes even though we understand logically that what we've done is wrong, we may not always sincerely regret it. In such case, two questions arise:
...
3
votes
0answers
73 views
Are you obligated to ask forgiveness from someone if they don't know you sinned against them?
According to the laws of repentance, is one obligated to ask forgiveness for interpersonal sins the victim is unaware of?
For instance, suppose someone cursed their fellow "behind their back", and in ...
3
votes
0answers
29 views
If one entices someone to sin (i.e mesit) are they liable to induce them to not commit the sin and/or follow the commands as part of repentance?
If someone was a mesit (i.e an enticer) and tried to influence someone to commit a sin, as part of that person's repentance, are they liable to track that person down and try and convince them not to ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Why did God not accept the people's repentance in the days of King Yoshiyahu?
After a disastrous 57 years (the reigns of Menashe and his son Amon), during which idolatry was rampant in Judah and Judaism was threatened with extinction, the good king Yoshiyahu comes on the scene ...
1
vote
1answer
51 views
Why Dor Hamidbar weren't given a chance to repent?
This probably echoes "why-G-d-didnt-give-adam-chance-to-repent".
I'm trying to empathize Dor Hamidbar and try to imagine how would they feel, doomed by G-d Himself to die pointlessly in the ...
2
votes
0answers
30 views
Breaking one’s word to God
When someone wishes to repent it’s standard practice to ask HaShem for forgiveness while assuring Him that you won’t repeat the sin. But what if that person slips up & repeats the sin, is it ...
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votes
1answer
70 views
Why must a convicted Jew be executed immediately?
Here are some speculations why I would think Judaism would never execute [rightfully] convicted Jews right away:
We don't like killing people (even those who deserve it) and try everything within our ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
Is Rabeinu Yonah at all encouraging wasting any food?
Rabeinu Yonah discusses one of the ways of repentance as leaving a little food over after the meal.
אך בעת מאכלו ועודנו תאב לאכול יניח ממנו לכבוד הבורא מתאוותיו, ואל יאכל כפי תאוותו. ודרך זה ...
8
votes
2answers
172 views
Elisha ben Abuya and Repentance
Talmud Bavli in Chagigah 15a says:
ת"ר מעשה באחר שהיה רוכב על הסוס בשבת והיה רבי מאיר מהלך אחריו ללמוד
תורה מפיו אמר לו מאיר חזור לאחריך שכבר שיערתי בעקבי סוסי עד כאן תחום
שבת א"ל אף אתה חזור ...
7
votes
1answer
102 views
Why didn't Adam ask for forgiveness?
From the short negotiation between Adam and G-d it is clear that Adam is not asking for forgiveness.
So why didn't he ask for forgiveness?
0
votes
0answers
39 views
Why G-d didn't give Adam time/chance to repent?
If I understand the Midrash and the verses correctly, G-d judged Adam straight away after he sinned and expelled them from Eden (see Avos dR"N 1,8):
...תשיעית הכניסו לגן עדן.
עשירית צוהו.
אחד ...
3
votes
5answers
163 views
Is it forbidden to help idolaters become righteous Noahides?
I heard from a Rabbi who cited Rambam that it is forbidden to help idolaters do teshuvah.
Does that mean it is forbidden to persuade them that they follow fake religions and that Judaism is the only ...
7
votes
3answers
95 views
Golden Calf. Moshe asks for forgiveness for the people. But they have not repented?
The people sinned with the Golden Calf. Three thousand people who worshipped it were slain by the Leviim Shmos 32 (28).
Then Moshe says to the remainder Shmos 32 (30)
The next day Moses said to ...
0
votes
1answer
55 views
Was Reuben's repentance accepted? If not, why not?
The midrash (Bereshit Rabba 84:19) indicates that Reuben did teshuva (repentance) for sleeping with his father's concubine Bilhah (Bereshit 35:22). However in both Yaakov's blessing (ibid 49:3-4) and ...
2
votes
2answers
171 views
Teshuva for adultery for a Non-Jew?
What is the proper teshuva for a non-Jew who had intimate relations with a married woman (non-Jew as well)?
3
votes
2answers
87 views
Did Rambam say that God closes the gate of Teshuvah?
R' Yossi Mizrachi mentions in a YouTube video that the Rambam (Maimonides) writes in Hilchos Teshuvah:
The biggest punishment to a Jew is God closing the gate of teshuvah (repentance) in his face.
...
2
votes
0answers
64 views
What is the Jewish belief about atonement for suicide?
Is it possible that the sin of suicide is not forgiveable because the person is no longer living and cannot perform teshuvah? Can the soul repent once it has left this world?
(I did see a question ...
0
votes
2answers
84 views
Teshuva and spilling cold water on one's body
To repent can you pour cold water on yourself in the shower. With a pot or something while having teshuva in mind for the sin? Does it do anything? Like I’ve heard people do it before Yom Kippur. Can ...
3
votes
2answers
101 views
Can a sin be completely cleaned?
If a person does a sin, is it possible to completely clean it in the spiritual and physical worlds as it never happened and fix all the damages it caused?
What are the sources that prove that? Are ...
2
votes
3answers
84 views
Illness in certain part of body
I remember hearing that if someone has a sickness, disease, or ailment in a specific part of the body, they should do specific cheshbon nefesh regarding that area of their body. For instance, if a ...
3
votes
3answers
130 views
Sleeping and listening to something that's a Mitzvah
Is there anything that someone can listen to that is as if he is doing mitzvot or good things or even teshuva while he is trying to sleep or asleep?
I’ve heard subconsciously you still realize ...
2
votes
0answers
156 views
Teshuva for intercourse with non Jew [duplicate]
This question is different than the one people think is a duplicate because the other one doesn’t necessarily answer the questions I’m asking.
If someone has intercourse with a non Jew even if he ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
Must a person do Teshuvah on sins done by previous Gilgulim?
I see that the Chayei Adam in Shabbos and Yom Tov Klal 143, in his explanation for Vidui and ideas for sins to include on the list, has an interesting note for the sins beginning with Beis (...
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votes
2answers
75 views
Hashem as the judge vs His omniscience
How can Hashem's role as the Supreme Judge on the High Holidays be reconciled with His omniscience:
On one hand, we picture Him as He weighs the Mitzvot and the sins and awaits for our Teshuvah for ...
4
votes
1answer
73 views
Weekdays atoning for Weekdays during the year
I have heard from a few speakers that during the week before Rosh Hashana (some versions say that it is the week of Aseres Yemei Teshuvah), each day of the week that one does Teshuvah and acts ...
2
votes
1answer
41 views
Is one allowed to ask forgiveness for a misdeed he committed towards another before he/ she was bar/ bat mitzvah?
Is one before bar/ bat mitzvah obligated (or allowed) to ask forgiveness for misdeeds, as they are not entirely accountable for them (source needed: that one’s averot are upon the father until the age ...
6
votes
1answer
114 views
Where do we first see Elul as a time for repentance?
Today, the month of Elul is seen as being an introduction to the period of the High Holy Days (Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur).
For instance, Tur Orach Chaim 581:
התקינו חז"ל שיהו תוקעין בר"ח אלול ...
2
votes
1answer
475 views
What are the consequences of homosexuality?
We all know that homosexual intercourse is forbidden in Judaism (directly from Torah).
But that it also has consequences in the spiritual world as everything in the physical realm has its ...
3
votes
1answer
52 views
Does someone who does teshuvah get answered only after he prays or even before?
The Rambam in hilchos teshuvah (7:7) states:
כמה מעולה מעלת התשובה אמש היה זה מובדל מה' אלהי ישראל... צועק ואינו נענה שנאמר [גם] כי תרבו תפלה [אינני שומע ...
והיום הוא מודבק בשכינה... צועק ונענה מיד ...
8
votes
5answers
3k views
Someone in authority apologizes?
I am looking for examples where someone in authority apologizes to someone lower than him. I am specifically looking for examples where we know that the authority figure is someone to emulate (eg. the ...
13
votes
1answer
137 views
Hakanah; Teshuva Process
I'm reading the Artscroll biography Reb Elyah. It mentions that he completed a six year Teshuva process known as Hakanah, which includes almost constant fasting and other acts out of love for Hashem, ...
0
votes
4answers
238 views
Can a believer in Jesus do teshuvah [closed]
I believe in Jesus and also believe in the way the Jewish faith see God so I am asking how can I do teshuvah while not losing my faith? Is it the same steps since I’m a gentile?
4
votes
2answers
192 views
Teshuva for gentiles
What is teshuva for non Jews? Im Christian and have broken some laws of Noah, so does praying for forgiveness as a Christian and not doing the sin constitute teshuva for me? Or is just feeling regret ...
4
votes
1answer
133 views
The Rambam's “Complete Repentence” + halachical logistics
In Chapter 2 of the Mishnah Torah on Repentance, the Rambam presents an achingly romantic view of "Complete Repentance" (doubly romantic as it involves love between both a man and a woman and a man ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Adam and Chava's lack of repentance
I searched but did not find this exact question. Were Adam and Chava's expulsion also in part due to their lack of repentance or was it specifically because of their disobedience?
2
votes
1answer
73 views
If I'm unconscious about it should I still apologise?
Someone else points out to me that I have hurt another person by something I've done or said, but any of the following apply, then how should I deal with it? How should I react?
1) I'm unaware of it ...
2
votes
1answer
219 views
Source wanted: Talmudic story about the power of teshuvah
The story is about a man who lived his life sinning and rebelling against God. I remember his sins being sexual in nature. Then the last minute before his death he did Teshuvah and God forgave him ...
2
votes
0answers
74 views
Is one exempt from asking forgiveness for a sin against another if the result of that apology could lead to greater consequences for the community?
To get to the specifics:
A Jew sinned against someone but that person may not actually be aware of it. (Lets use the example that you stole from his shop and he never noticed)
In the scenario I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
308 views
When can repentance be considered complete?
When can repentance be considered complete?
When you feel bad and resolve not to do it again. (No.)
The above, plus make restitution. (Maybe.)
All the above, plus ask and receive forgiveness. (Maybe....
