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1The first 20 lines of the Hebrew text are not found in our translation.R. Isaac and R. Judah were walking together on the road leading from Usha to Lud. Said R. Judah: ‘Let us discourse on the Torah whilst walking.’ R. Judah then cited the verse: “And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit… the owner of the pit shall make it good”, etc. (Ex. 21, 33-34). ‘If that man’, he said, ‘has to make good, how much more so he who brings the whole world into disfavour by his sins. And I do, indeed, find it strange, that having brought the world into disfavour a man can make restitution by penitence, as Scripture says: WHEN A MAN OR WOMAN SHALL COMMIT ANY SIN… THEN THEY SHALL CONFESS THEIR… AND HE SHALL MAKE RESTITUTION, ETC.
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The truth, however, is that through man’s penitence the Almighty Himself, as it were, rectifies on high the wrong committed, and thus the world is put right again.’
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R. Isaac then cited the verse: “In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return…. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God”, etc. (Deut. 4, 30-31). ‘We learn from here’, he said, ‘that penitence is of most effect before Rigour lights upon the world. For once it does so it strongly entrenches itself, and who can remove it? Indeed, it will not depart until restitution is made, followed by penitence; and then only is the world again put right. Now the phrase “in the end of days” points to the Community of Israel who is in exile and shares Israel’s distress.’
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For this reason, the Holy One, blessed be He, although he has sent Rigour into the world, desires that Israel should repent so that He may do good to them in this world and in the world to come. For nothing can withstand the power of repentance.
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Proper repentance is only effected by a surrender of one’s soul, so that she is taken away in a state of repentance.
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One sinner in the world brings about the destruction of many. Woe to the sinner, woe to his neighbour! We see this in the case of Jonah. Through his refusing to carry the message of his Master, how many people would have been destroyed on his account in the sea! So they all turned on him and carried out on him the sentence of sea-drowning, whereby they were all saved. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, had mercy on him and so brought about the deliverance of multitudes of people. This happened after Jonah returned to his Master out of the midst of his affliction, as we read: “I called out of my affliction unto the Lord, and he answered me” (Jonah 2, 3).’
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The faithful shepherd: This command is the mitzvah of teshuvah. And this is Binah. And due to our sins the Temple was destroyed, and the only thing left for us is the verbal confession, and this is Malchut. And what is Binah? Ben-Y-ah [son of Y-ah]. And this son is the vav obviously. And every person who returns in teshuvah is as if they returned the hey of the vav, and that person is Ben-Y-ah, and they completed in this Y-H-V-H, and this is Teshuvah - tashuv H [return the hey] obviously to the vav.
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And this hey is obviously the verbal confession, and the secret of the word, "take with you words and return to Ad-nai, say to Him etc we will pay the bulls of our lips" (Hoshea 14:3). That obviously because the person who sins that person distances the hey from the vav, and separates YHV from H. And because of that the temple was destroyed and Israel was distanced from there, and was exiled among the peoples. And because of that whoever does teshuvah causes the Hey to return to the Vav, and redemption is dependent in this. And in this way all is dependent in teshuvah. As the olden ones said: "all the calculated ends have passed and the matter is only dependent on teshuvah [and good deeds] etc" (Sanhedrin 97b:14) - and this is the completion of the Name.
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And regarding this [it is written]: "And I will do due to My name" (Ezekiel 20:14) and also "Because of Me, because of Me I will do" (Isaiah 48:11). And if they do not return I will set on them a king whose decrees will be harsher than Pharaoh's, and they will return against their will. And this is what is written "return to Ad-nai your God" - truly up to YHV"H.
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And this repentance [teshuvah] is called life, because from it are the sources of life (Proverbs 4:23), which are Israel's souls. And that is the breath that exits and enters the mouth of people without strain and without effort, the [letter] hey of in their being created (Genesis 2:4). And about it is it stated, but upon all that comes out of the mouth of the Lord does man live (Deuteronomy 8:3). And it is over the heads of people. About it is it stated, and he gazes at the depiction of the Lord (Numbers 12:8); Man walks about as an image [understood here as, in God's image] (Pslams 39:7).
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And since it is over the heads of people, it is forbidden for people to move four cubits with their head uncovered. For if it would withdraw from above the head of a person, life would immediately withdraw from him.