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TURN YE NOT UNTO IDOLS NOR MAKE TO YOURSELVES MOLTEN GODS. R. Hiya adduced in this connection the verse: “Turn not unto the stubbornness of this people” (Deut. 9, 27). ‘How’, he said, ‘could Moses address such a request to the Almighty who observes all things and passes all deeds in judgement?
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The answer is as follows. If a man performs a religious action, that action ascends and stands before the Almighty and says: I am from So-and-so who has performed me; and God then sets it before Him that He may look upon it all the day and treat the doer well for its sake. Similarly, if a man transgresses a precept of the Law, that action ascends and stands before the Almighty and says: I am from So-and-so who has performed me; and God sets that action where the sight of it will remind him to destroy that man.
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But if the man repents, then He removes that sin to where He will not observe it. Hence Moses said to God: “Turn not to the wickedness of this people, nor to their wickedness nor to their sin”.’