When the Torah forecasts our dismal fate if we find the statutes revolting & don't obey the commandments, the posuk states והתודו את עונם ואת עון אבתם then they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers. The pesukim then continue describing how Hashem will remember us and forgive our sins.
The אור החיים asks why do we have to also mention the sins of our fathers if we are acknowledging our sins?
He answers that, sometimes seeing that the generations before us sinning excessively without punishment causes us to be more callous in our own actions & refuse to listen to admonishment. So now, when we’re finally acknowledging that we have sinned, we have to recognize as well that we also know that what the generations before us did was wrong so that we could begin to repent.
Confession must recognize what the sin was, in order that the confession should be an advocate for the sinner. When one finally recognizes that he did something wrong & confesses, he halts the anger & enables himself to attain complete forgiveness.
There's a story brought in the ברכי נפשי that was told over by רב מנחם צבי ברלין that happened in ירושלים that shows us the power of confession. At a time of rampant poverty in ירושלים, most of the large families didn't have much meat, except for an occasional Shabbos. However, one family had a distant relative in America who would send them meat for every Shabbos & Yom Tov. One day they got a message that he was coming to ירושלים.
The lady of the house wanted to show some thanks to this man for the years that he was sending them meat for Shabbos & invited him to come join the family for a meal. The day that he was supposed to come arrived so the lady of the house was busy preparing to host their benefactor. She set out all the nicest dishes they had & prepared a feast worthy of their esteemed guest. Hours before he was due to arrive, the table was set with all the finery in preparation for their guest.
Since they had small children, the woman locked the door to the dining room to keep it undisturbed. However, one of the kids just had to see the setup which they almost never saw during those times in ירושלים. He waited until his mother left the house, then broke into the room just to see the ambiance that he had never seen before. After he walked around the table & satisfied his curiosity, he started walking out of the room when his tzitzis became entangled in the tablecloth.
As he walked out, he took the whole tablecloth with him bringing all the dishes crashing to the floor! He just stood there unable to move. His mother, who had just came home, heard the crash, ran into the room & saw what her son had done..... When the son saw her, he dashed out of the house with his mother in hot pursuit in & out of alleys, up & down the streets. Just as she was starting to gain on him, he suddenly stopped, turned around & said mommy, “I sinned, I feel terrible & I guarantee you that I will never do something like that again. Please forgive me!” This mother, who was about to give her son the beating of a lifetime, stopped, reconsidered, went over to him & gave him a hug & kiss.
Anyone, said הגרמ"צ ברלין,who saw this learned firsthand the power of recognizing & admitting one’s sin.
Let us take this to heart, realize when we do something wrong, admit it & fix it so that Hashem will be able to finally redeem us!
No comments:
Post a Comment