repentance that leads to a life committed with doing what is good). This truth is repeated all over the
Scriptures:
1) «Depart from rah (evil), and do tov (good); and dwell l'olam (for evermore; life everlasting)»- Psalm
37:27
2) «Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn
to do good; seek mishpat (justice), relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the almanah
(widow). Come now, and let us reason together, saith Hashem (God); though your
sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool»- Isaiah 1:16-18
3) «If Ami (my people), which are called by Shmi (my name), shall humble themselves, and daven (pray),
and seek my face, and turn from their derakhim hara’im (wicked ways), then will I hear from Shomayim
(heavens), and will forgive their chattat (sins), and will heal their land»- 2 Chronicles 7:14
4) «Perhaps the house of Y’hudah will listen to all the disaster I intend to bring on them, and turn back, each
person from his evil way; then I will forgive their wickedness and sin»- Jeremiah 36:3.
5) «Likewise, if,
after I tell the wicked person, “You must die,” he turns from his sin and does what is lawful
and right, if the wicked person restores pledged property and returns what he stole, so that he lives by the
laws that give life and does not commit evil deeds; then he will live, he will not die.
None of the sins he
committed will be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he will surely live» -
Ezekiel 33:14-16
6) «Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot
(commandments); this is what being human is all about. For God will bring to judgment everything we do,
including every secret, whether good or bad»- Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.
And from whence do we know that repentance (and turning away from evil) is the way to have our sins
removed? We know it from the verse that reads:
«As far as the mizrach (east) is from the ma’arav (west), so far hath He removed peysha’einu (our
transgressions) from us»- Psalm 103:12. Where are the east and the west? And (more importantly), how far is
the one from the other? The answer is that “east” and “west” are no particular places,
but rather two opposite
directions, either of which we can choose to follow.
We could be heading East, but in the moment we stop, and do a 180 degree turn (in order to start traveling in
the opposite direction), we have bridged the gap (covering the distance) between East and West. And that’s
exactly how God removes (pardons) our sins: when we recognize we are heading in the wrong direction
(away from God, with our constant transgression of His commandments) and stop, in order to make a 180
degree turn, and start walking in the opposite direction.
We call this “sincere repentance”: to
have a contrite heart; to abandon evil, and to start doing good. This is
God’s true sacrifice; not that of a human Messiah, nor that of an animal beast, but the sacrifice of our selfish
ego (our "Yetzer ha-ra", or "evil inclination").
This is why the Scripture says: «For you don’t want sacrifices, or I would give them; you don’t take pleasure
in burnt offerings. My sacrifice to
God is a broken spirit; God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart»-
Psalm 51:16-17;
And: «Hashem is near unto them whose lev (heart) is broken; and saveth such whose ruach (spirit) is
contrite»-Psalm34:18;
And still in another place: «With what can I come before Adonai to bow down before God on high? Should I
come before him with burnt offerings? with calves in their first year? Would Adonai take delight in thousands
659
of rams with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Could I give my firstborn to pay for my crimes, the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul?” Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai (God)
demands of you - no more than to act justly (with your fellow human being), love grace (doing mercy) and
walk in purity (humility) with your God»- Micah 6:8.
Thus, mankind redemption does not come from any
human Mashiach, but rather from sincere repentance. In
fact, that spirit of repentance is in itself God’s true Mashiach, as the Scripture confirms: «And the Go’el
(Redeemer, Mashiach) shall come to Tziyon, and unto them that make teshuva (sincere repentance) and turn
from peysha (rebellion) in Ya’akov, saith Hashem»- Isaiah 59:20.
Notice that the verse doesn’t say that Mashiach will come unto those who believe in him, but rather unto
those who make Teshuva (repent). Why? Because the fact is that "Teshuva" is actually "Mashiach"! This is
confirmed by a Midrash (Sanh. 98a) that promises the Mashiach will come TODAY... “if we hear His voice,
and Harden not our hearts... (in other words, if we proceed to sincere repentance)”- Psalm 95:7-8.
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