Why Do People Repent? — BT Yoma 86a — #127

R. Chama b. Chanina said: Great is repentance because it brings healing to the world, as it is said, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely (Hosea 14:5). 

 R. Chama b. Chanina pointed out a contradiction: It is written, Return, you backsliding children (Jeremiah 3:22)—that is, you who were backsliding (i.e., rebelling) in the beginning. But [then] it is written, I will heal your backsliding (Jeremiah 3:22). There is no difficulty: Here, [the reference is to where they repent] out of love; there [to where they repent] out of fear. 

Rav Yehudah pointed out this contradiction: It is written, Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding (Jeremiah 3:22), but it is also written, For I am a lord to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family  (Jeremiah 3:14). There is no difficulty: Here, [the reference is to where they repent] out of love or fear; there [the reference is to where they repent] through suffering.
R. Levi said: Great is repentance because it reaches the heavenly throne, as it is said, Return, Israel, to Adonai your God (Hosea 14:2).

INTRODUCTION

The building blocks of our lives are our relationships (with ourselves, with God, with other people) and all relationships are tested by life. We would hope that all apologies are sincere, heartfelt, and healing. Teshuvah (repentance), the path to reconciliation and healing, is therefore crucial. But who hasn’t heard, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” which isn’t an apology at all? And who hasn’t blurted out, “I’m sorry” without fully meaning it? The passage above opens a longer conversation in tractate Yom on repentance, a most appropriate discussion for the talmudic tractate concerning the laws and rites of Yom Kippur.

COMMENTARY

R. Chama b. Chanina opens the discussion of teshvuah by pointing to the potential of repentance, and hence how high the stakes are: repentance brings healing not only to individuals in the context of interpersonal relationships, but is the source of healing for the the world when the breach is between God and humanity. With a claim this lofty, it is unsurprising that someone should ask, “But doesn’t it matter why the offending party repented?” and “Does teshuvah have the power to repair every breach?” Two efforts to dissecting the relationship between motivation, sincerity, and outcome of repentance follow. Both follow a common rabbinic formula: Two scriptural verses are presented that seem, at first glance, to contradict one another. A resolution is offered that solves the contradiction by slicing and dicing the verses, assigning each verse to a different situation. Hence the truth of each verse is preserved, and a distinction is made between applications in a manner that invites a more nuanced view of the subject itself.

In the first “slice and dice,” R. Chama b. Chanina contrasts the first half of Jeremiah 3:22 with the second half of the same verse. Return you backsliding children suggests to R. Chama that Israel’s rebelliousness is a foolish act of childish insubordination—over as quickly as it began. However, as R. Chama understands the latter half of the verse (I will heal your backsliding) the Israelites require God’s healing because they remain, even after teshuvah, tainted by their sin. Does repentance wipe the slate clean, or is the offender forever marked by the sin? R. Chama resolves the contraction by assigning the first half of the verse to repentance undertaken out of love. It is genuine and heartfelt and thereby fully clears the sinner’s account with God. He assigns the latter half of the verse to repentance undertaken out of fear (for a delightful treatment of repentance coerced by fear: Tom Chapin’s “Mikey Won’t). This implies that repentance evoked by fear is likely to be defensive—more intended to avoid punishment than forge reconciliation.

Rav Yehudah offers a second “slice and dice.” For him, Jeremiah 3:22 in its totality implies that repentance effectively brings healing at all times, for all people. He contrasts this with another verse from Jeremiah (3:14) that suggests God picks and chooses whose repentance to accept, implying that repentance is not always effective and healing. Rav Yehudah resolves the seeming contradiction by assigning 3:22 to repentance undertaken either out of love or fear—regardless of what inspires a person to repent, sincere repentance brings healing. He assigns 3:14 to the experience of suffering, which, often understood as punishment from heaven in Rav Yehudah’s world, would naturally be expected to inspire repentance. But suffering does not always inspire repentance. The picking and choosing of 3:14 is that of suffering individuals who decide whether or not their suffering motivates repentance. 

R. Levi quotes Hosea 14:2, a verse that cuts through the analysis, argument, and slicing and dicing by asserting that all repentance, regardless of how human beings are inclined to judge one another’s sincerity, reaches the throne in heaven; that is, it is fully accepted by God. 

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS

1. What is the difference between saying, “I’m sorry” and doing teshuvah?
2. Does it matter whether love, fear, suffering, or something else motivates a person to repent? If so, why? Is R. Chama’s distinction between teshuvah from love or fear an observation or a judgment? Is Rav Yehudah’s comment about sufferers who do not repent an observation or a judgment?
3. The discussion in tractate Yoma ends with a statement by R. Meir (below) that goes even farther than that of R. Levi, claiming that God forgives the world for the sake of the repentance of an individual. Can an individual apologize on behalf of a group? Can an individual repent on behalf of a group? Why do you think he makes this claim?

R. Meir says: Great is repentance, for on account of an individual who repents, the sins of all the world are forgiven, as it is said,  I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger is turned away from him (Hosea 14:5). It is not stated “from them” but rather “from him.” (86b)