The Dialectic of Teshuvah
What exactly is repentance? It is that a person should abandon the sin and remove it from his thought. He should resolve not to again commit it as it says, “The wicked should abandon his path…” Also, he should regret his past behavior as it says, “For after I repented I had remorse…” And He who knows the inner thoughts of man should testify in his behalf that he will not ever return to this sin as it says, “Nor shall we say any more to the work of our hands ‘our god’…". And he is required to verbally confess and pronounce these ideas that he has resolved. (Maimonides Mishne Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2.)
1. Objective outcomes of repentance
Maimonides devotes ten chapters of his code of Torah law to a discussion of the laws of teshuvah – repentance. In the second chapter he describes teshuvah. His definition includes three fundamental components. First, the repentant individual must commit to abandon the sinful behavior. This abandonment must be both in action and in thought. His commitment must be to not repeat the sin and also to no longer contemplate it. Second, he must view his past sinful behavior with remorse. Third, he must commit to words the resolve that he has developed in his heart. This requires that he verbally acknowledge his sin and state his remorse and commitment to abandon the behavior.
The impression that emerges from this description of teshuvah is that it is achieved through attainment of specific outcomes. In other words, teshuvah is achieved when a person is prepared to acknowledge the fault of the past with remorse and is willing to commit to abandon the sinful behavior.
It also seems from this description that the path by which a person comes to these outcomes is not relevant to teshuvah. In other words, the causes of a person’s remorse and his motives for abandoning the sinful behavior do not seem to be relevant.
2. Is all teshuvah equal?
This raises an interesting and important question. Consider a person who has been engaged in sinful behavior. Perhaps, he has only sporadically and minimally contributed to charity. However, this person regularly takes inventory of his personal behaviors and eventually considers his attitudes toward tzedakah – charity. After carefully evaluating his values and his treatment of the mitzvah of tzedakah, he feels embarrassed over his past behavior. He recognizes that he was acting out of greed. He decides that he must change. Henceforth, he will contribute regularly and he will give according to his blessings and means.
Let us compare this person to another individual who has struggled with the mitzvah of tzedakah. He experienced a transformation similar to the first individual. He was reluctant to participate in the mitzvah of tzedakah but he eventually felt remorse and committed to being more generous. However, his transformation involved traveling a very different path than the first individual. The second individual became aware of the reputation that he had earned in the community. His peers regarded him as selfish and unempathic. They observed him with wonder and were astounded by his capacity to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Eventually, he recognized that his peers shunned him. Their harsh treatment gave him cause to consider the reason for the rejection he was receiving. Suddenly he realized that he could only earn the approval of his peers by changing his behavior. He was seized with remorse over his past stinginess and he committed to be more generous in the future.
Both of these individuals ultimately achieved the outcomes that Maimonides identifies as essential to teshuvah. Are they therefore to be regarded as equals or is one individual’s teshuvah superior to the other’s?
What is complete teshuvah? This is one who encounters an opportunity to repeat a transgression, he has the capacity to do it and he does not because of repentance and not in response to fear, or lack of strength. For example, he transgressed through intimacy with a woman. After a period of time he is alone with her, he still loves her, he is still physically capable, he is in the physical environment in which he transgressed, and he abstains and does not transgress, this is regarded as fully repentant. This is what Shlomo said, “And remember your Creator in your youth…” If one only repents in his old age and when it is not possible for him to do that which he did in the past, then even though it is not perfect repentance, it is effective for him and he is regarded as repentant. Even if he transgressed his entire life and repented on the day of his death and dies in his repentance, all of his sins are forgiven, as it says"...before the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain", which refers to the day of one's death. It is implied that if one remembers his Creator and repents before he dies, he is forgiven. (Maimonides Mishne Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 2:1)
3. Three levels of repentance
Maimonides describes the perfect repentance. He explains that perfect repentance is achieved when one commits a transgression. He repents and is then confronted with circumstances that are essentially equivalent to those in which he formally sinned. In Maimonides’ example, a person sinned through prohibited intimacy with a woman. After repenting, he is confronted with a new opportunity to repeat the transgression. The circumstances of the opportunity are fundamentally the same as those in which he previously committed the transgression. However, this time he resists because of his repentance. Maimonides declares that this is the perfect repentance!
Maimonides continues to explain that if the person who initially succumbed to his passions is confronted with a new opportunity to transgress but the circumstances are fundamentally altered from the initial episode, and as a consequence of his repentance the person resists, then the repentance is regarded as effective. However, it is not as perfect as the repentance of the person who resisted under circumstances that are equivalent to those of the transgression.
Finally, Maimonides explains that even if a person repeatedly sins throughout his life and only repents in his last moments, his repentance is accepted and his sins are forgiven. However, it seems that Maimonides regards this last instance of repentance as far inferior to the two versions that he previously described.
If repentance is achieved solely through securing outcomes – remorse and an effective commitment to not repeat the sin – then Maimonides’ description of three levels of repentance is difficult to explain. All three of the individuals have experienced remorse and all have effectively avoided repeating their sin. Yet, Maimonides does assert that these three individuals are not equal and that their repentance should be assessed on a declining scale. Perfect repentance is achieved when the repentant individual demonstrates his resolve in fundamentally the same circumstances that formally were his downfall. The penultimate level of repentance is achieved when a person resists repeating the sin, albeit, he is not confronted with the circumstances that led to his prior failure. The lowest level of repentance is that of the person confronted with his impending death and only at this moment achieves the resolve required to repent his past sins.
4. Teshuvah: Conquest of perception over desire
Rabbaynu Menachem Me’eri describes nine levels of teshuvah. In his delineation, the highest level is identical to the highest level described by Maimonides. Me’eri idenitifies two characteristics that distinguish this highest level of repentance. First, the teshuvah occurs in response to the sinner’s internal initiative. He is not compelled to repent because of any external factor – for example, fear of punishment or the distain of his peers. Second, the teshuvah expresses the triumph of objective perception over desire or lust. The individual who earlier was overpowered by desire and unable to resist its pressure now recognizes that desire is an illusion. He appreciates the value of virtue and its superiority over pursuit of short-lived immediate pleasure. He may achieve this understanding through reforming his self-perception and appreciating that we are essentially spiritual creations sojourning in the material world. He may come to his understanding of virtue and sin through appreciating the wisdom of the Torah and its mitzvot and recognizing that they are the truest and most effective path to contentment in this world. Regardless of the specific realization, the person’s perception of truth is so effective that it penetrates the haze generated by desire and lust. It pushes aside the cloud of confusion and, now, the reformed, repentant sinner sees truth.[1]
Now, the distinction between Maimonides’ three levels of repentance can be more clearly understood. The highest level is achieved when penetrating perception subdues and overpowers desire. The reformed sinner finds himself in the same situation that before led to his downfall. Now, he is not overpowered or misled by desire. Instead, perception penetrates the confusion generated by desire and he recognizes that the better choice is to reject sin or to restrain himself from acting on his desires.
The second level of repentance does not confront the reformed sinner with the same challenge. He is not confronted with the circumstances that previously ensnared him. True, even in this new challenge he must resist desire and see truth through the cloud of passion. However, the cloud is not as thick as in the past and the longings of his instincts are not as intense as in the past.
In the final level, the former sinner finds himself confronted with his own mortality. He recognizes that the lusts and desires that he longed to fulfill throughout his life have no meaning any longer. He cannot take with him the passing pleasures of the material world and neither will his material accomplishments save him from the gaping abyss that now awaits him. He cannot avoid the conclusion that he has acted foolishly and squandered the gift of life. His remorse is unbearable and his perception completely penetrating. However, he has not actually triumphed in the struggle with instinct and desire. Instead, these opponents have been vanquished by the reality of impending death. His encounter with his mortality has destroyed all illusions.
5. The teshuvah dialectic
This analysis suggests that Maimonides ascribes two components to teshuvah. One component of teshuvah is objective. It is characterized by outcomes – remorse over the past sin and commitment to not repeat the behavior. Were this the only component of teshuvah, then all repentant individuals would be equals. The motives or circumstances of a person’s repentance would be irrelevant.
However, repentance has a second component. This component is an internal dialectic. It is characterized by the conquest of perception over desire. The presence of this component in the teshuvah of the individual is subject to variation. This component achieves its greatest expression in the repentant individual whose perception is so absolute that even the circumstances of his earlier downfall can now be resisted. Those whose perception is less absolute or who achieve clarity of perception only when confronted with the reality of mortality are repentant. However, the dialectic component exists to a lesser or minimal extent in their teshuvah.
[1]Rabbaynu Menachem Me’eri, Chibur HaTeshuvah, Mayshiv Nefesh, chapter 2.