The Right Way To Right a Wrong

All of the Misvot in the Torah: whether they be the positive commandments, or the negative commandments; if a person transgressed any of them, whether he did so willingly, whether he did so unintentionally, when he makes Teshuba and returns from sinning- he is obligated to confess before Hashem. Like it says in the Pasuk: (Look at Source 5 & 6), the confession we are dealing with is a verbal confession. Confession is a positive commandment.

(3) What is teshuvah? It is when a person abandons the sin that he sinned and removes it from his thoughts and commits in his heart that he will not do it again, as it says, The wicked should abandon his path etc. (Isaiah 55:7). And also that he regrets sinning, as it says, After I returned I regretted (Jeremiah 31:18). And the One Who Knows Hidden Things testifies about him that he will never return to this sin, as it says, And we will no longer call the work of our hands “god” etc. (Hosea 14:4). And he must confess verbally and say these things that he has committed in his heart.

(4) Anyone who confesses verbally and does not commit in his heart to abandon [sin], this is like a person who immerses [in a purity pool] while holding an unclean creature in his hand, so that the bath is not effective until he sends away the unclean creature, and so it says, One who admits and abandons is given mercy (Proverbs 28:13). And he must specify the sin, as it says, This nation has sinned a great sin and made a golden god for themselves (Exodus 32:31).

(2) There are three kinds of repentance:,(1) One who repents because he does not have an opportunity (or the means) to repeat the transgression. But when he does find the opportunity, his evil inclination overpowers his understanding and he does not refrain from it. After he finishes the deed, he realizes the shamefulness of his act and regrets what he did. This person repented with his mouth but not with his heart, with his lips but not with his deeds, and he is guilty and deserving of the punishment of the Creator. Of such a person, it is written: "Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely,... And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name, and say, 'We are saved'...? Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a cave of thieves in your eyes?..." (Yirmiya 7:9). ,(2) One who repents in his heart and in act, and his understanding stands up to his evil inclination, and he trains himself to discipline his inward being, and fight its lusts until he defeats it and restrains it from what is hateful to the Creator. But, his inner being always desires to draw him to the opposite of the service of G-d, and longs to do transgressions. He exerts himself to restrain it. Sometimes he defeats it, sometimes it defeats him. This person is not complete in the way of repentance. It will not secure an atonement, until he renounces the sins completely, as written: "Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing" (Yeshaya 27:9). ,(3) A man who has fulfilled all the conditions of repentance (as will be explained later), which means, has strengthened his intellect over his lusts, and habituated himself in making a personal accounting (see gate#8), fears his Creator, is in awe of Him, contemplates the greatness of his sin and error, recognizes the infinite greatness of the One who he rebelled against and He whose word he transgressed, places his sins always before his eyes, regrets them and prays for forgiveness on them all the days of his life, until his final end comes - this person is worthy, to the Creator, of being spared.