תשובה מיראה, תשובה מאהבה Teshuva from Fear, Teshuva from Love

Reish Lakish said: Great is Teshuva, as the penitent’s intentional sins are counted for him as unintentional transgressions, as it is stated: “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity” (Hosea 14:2). The Gemara analyzes this: Doesn’t “iniquity” mean an intentional sin? Yet the prophet calls it stumbling, implying that one who repents is considered as though he only stumbled accidentally in his transgression. The Gemara asks: Is that so? Didn’t Reish Lakish himself say: Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits, as it is stated: “And when the wicked person returns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness, on them he shall live” (Ezekiel 33:19), and all his deeds, even his transgressions, will become praiseworthy? The Gemara reconciles: This is not difficult: Here, when one repents out of love, his sins become like merits; there, when one repents out of fear, his sins are counted as unintentional transgressions.

Intentional sins are counted for him as unintentional transgressions or as merits.

This is the possibility of repairing the past even though the actions have already taken place. Through being able to do Teshuva till the root of the soul in the mind which is till the heavenly throne from where the repair of action flows.

And this is the difference between returning from Love and returning from Fear:

As it is known, love is the root of the positive commandment of מצוות קום ועשה, (love is the drive to get up and do something, to be proactive) and fear is the root of the commandments that tell us to sit and not to do (the prohibitions). That is why it is stated in the verse relating to repentance from love: “And when the wicked person returns from his wickedness and does justice and righteousness. Because this is a proactive verse, we derive that the repentance has come from love. Fear is stopping the heart and mind from doing something bad and therefore fear is just repairing the transgression so that it is not considered intentional.

However the Lover's wish is to fill the Beloved wishes, whether he is commanded or not and this is the trait of Abraham who filled the commandments even though they were not given yet. And that is why the Prophet Yishayahu calls the people of Israel “Zera Avraham Ohavi” (The seed of Avraham my Beloved). Avraham’s Love enabled him to explore what is God's will and what is not until he understood the whole Torah.

But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
Seed of Abraham My Beloved— You whom I drew from the ends of the earth
And called from its far corners,
To whom I said: You are My servant;
I chose you, I have not rejected you—

For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of ה' by doing what is just and right, in order that ה' may bring about for Abraham what has been promised him.”

Our main request is for this change, that all our needs be in devotion and clinging to the source of life (the life of lives), so not be separated from the source of life and renewal.