210. Things That Impede Teshuvah

Teshuvah 4:3

There are five sins for which it is impossible for a person to repent completely. These are sins between a person and his fellow about which it is impossible to know whom one wronged in order to make things right ask for forgiveness. These are: (1) cursing the masses without cursing a specific person whom he can ask for forgiveness; (2) receiving stolen property, since he doesn’t know from whom it was stolen. Not only is he unable to rectify things with the rightful owner, he encourages the thief in continuing his crimes; (3) finding a lost object and not announcing it in order to return it to its owner. Later, when he wants to repent, he will be unable to determine to whom the item belongs; (4) eating an animal that belongs to the poor, orphans, or widows. These are people in desperate straits who are not well-known. They may travel from city to city with the result that no one can identify them in order to correct things; (5) taking a bribe to judge a case unjustly. One does not know the extent of the injustice in order to repay the injured party because the entire judgment was skewed. He also encourages the one who bribed him to continue in his bad ways.

Teshuvah 4:4

There are five sins for which it is unlikely that a person will repent. Most people treat these things lightly with the result that a person sins without even realizing it. These are: (1) eating from a meal that is not sufficient for its owners. This is considered like stealing but a person justifies that he had the owners’ permission; (2) making use of a poor person’s collateral, like his axe or his plow. A person justifies that the item’s value is not affected and therefore it’s okay; (3) looking at women who are forbidden to him. A person justifies that he didn’t do anything, not realizing the severity of looking, which inspires a person to actions as per Numbers 15:39, “Do not follow after your heart and your eyes”; (4) taking pride in another person’s shame. He justifies that he did not sin because the other person isn’t there. Therefore, he did nothing to humiliate the other person. Rather, he just contrasted his own wisdom against the other person’s foolishness with the result that he looks good and the other guy, bad; (5) suspecting worthy people of misdeeds. Again, a person justifies that all he did was raise the question of whether or not this person committed the misdeed. People don’t realize that it is also a sin to think of worthy people as sinners.