197. Abandoning One's Sins

Teshuvah 2:2

Teshuvah is when a person abandons his sins and removes them from his thoughts. He makes a commitment in his heart not to repeat them as per Isaiah 55:7, “May the wicked person abandon his ways....” One must also regret his former deeds as per Jeremiah 31:18, “After I repented, I regretted.” The penitent strives to be such that God knows that he will not backslide into his old ways, as per Hosea 14:4, “We will no longer say to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’” The penitent must perform oral confession and express the things that he resolved internally.

Teshuvah 2:3

If a person recites the verbal confession without resolving to abandon his sins, then he is like a person who immerses in a mikvah while holding impure vermin in his hand. A person cannot be purified until he discards the thing that causes contamination. We see that both confession and abandoning sin are necessary from Proverbs 28:13, “One who confesses and renounces will receive mercy.” One must mention the particular sin he is repenting, as Moshe did on behalf of the people when he said, “I beseech You, the nation has committed a grave sin by making a golden idol” (Exodus 32:31).