And the Gemara notes that this statement disagrees with the opinion of Rabbi Abbahu who holds that penitents are superior to the righteous. As Rabbi Abbahu said: In the place where penitents stand, even the full-fledged righteous do not stand, as it is stated: “Peace, peace upon him who is far and him who is near.” Peace and greeting is extended first to him who is far, the penitent, and only thereafter is peace extended to him who is near, the full-fledged righteous.
אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות שנאמר (הושע יד, ב) שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך כי כשלת בעונך הא עון מזיד הוא וקא קרי ליה מכשול איני והאמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות שנאמר (יחזקאל לג, יט) ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם (חיה) יחיה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה
Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, as the penitent’s intentional sins are counted for him as unwitting 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 turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby” (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 unwitting transgressions.
Just as God remembers the beings of ancient times, so does man remember and revisit the past which is preserved in his memory. . . What will happen when he [the sinner attempting to repent] looks back and recalls all those years of violating the Sabbath, of exploitation and thievery?
The intensity of sin and of the sense of guilt and shame that overwhelms man in its wake are such strong drives that they impel the penitent upward and outward in the direction of the Creator of the universe . . . It is the memory of sin that releases that power within the inner depths of the soul of the penitent to do greater things than ever before . . . In repentance of love, love rises with the flames of repentance and burns brightly in the flames fanned by sin; the bonds of love pull man up to great and exalted heights.
Hate is more emotional and more volatile than love. The destructive forces are stronger than the constructive forces. A thoroughly righteous man is not given to feelings of hatred or jealousy; he is distinguished by natural feelings of love and mercy and kindness. These feelings often lack force and spirit. But a man who has sinned and has repented may be able – if he proves worthy – to utilize the dynamism of the forces of evil which had enveloped him before and elevate them, and make them operate on behalf of the forces of good . . . By sinning, he discovered new spiritual forces within his soul, a reservoir of energy, of stubbornness and possessiveness whose existence he had not been aware of before he sinned.
מיתיבי ארבעה מתו בעטיו של נחש ואלו הן בנימין בן יעקב ועמרם אבי משה וישי אבי דוד וכלאב בן דוד
The Gemara raises an objection from what was taught in the following baraita: Four people died due to Adam’s sin with the serpent, in the wake of which death was decreed upon all of mankind, although they themselves were free of sin. And they are: Benjamin, son of Jacob; Amram, father of Moses; Yishai, father of David; and Kilab, son of David.
There seems to be a tragic flaw inherent in the nature of man from which no one can escape. The people and things that we love and cherish most are not fully appreciated as long as they are alive and present with us. We realize what they meant to us only after they are gone and their image has become faded and unreal. They seem to twinkle from afar as the stars in the night; we admire them but cannot touch them . . . Every person, during his lifetime, is confronted by the tragedy of longing for one was near just a short while ago and now is irrevocably gone. These longings are accompanied by severe pangs of guilt which plague one relentlessly and may even drive one mad. How intense is the desire to make contact with a loved one who has gone far!
There is an experiencing self, who lives in the present and knows the present, is capable of re-living the past, but basically it has only the present. It's the experiencing self that the doctor approaches -- you know, when the doctor asks, "Does it hurt now when I touch you here?" And then there is a remembering self, and the remembering self is the one that keeps score, and maintains the story of our life, and it's the one that the doctor approaches in asking the question, "How have you been feeling lately?" . . . Now, the remembering self is a storyteller . . . What defines a story? And that is true of the stories that memory delivers for us, and it's also true of the stories that we make up. What defines a story are changes, significant moments and endings. Endings are very, very important. Now, the experiencing self lives its life continuously. It has moments of experience, one after the other. And you can ask: What happens to these moments? And the answer is really straightforward: They are lost forever . . . time is actually the critical variable that distinguishes a remembering self from an experiencing self; time has very little impact on the story . . . Now, the remembering self does more than remember and tell stories. It is actually the one that makes decisions . . . And basically you can look at this, you know, as a tyranny of the remembering self, and you can think of the remembering self sort of dragging the experiencing self through experiences that the experiencing self doesn't need.
The problem of repentance in intertwined with an apprehension of the concept of time an how it relates to the human experience. Rabbi Jedaiah Ha-Pnini was the one who coined the phrase: "the past is nothing, the future is not yet, and the present [passes] like the blink of an eye." According to this conception, man's life is meaningless, he has no hold in time whatsoever. But the truth is that man does exist within two distinct dimensions of time: (1) in memory, and (2) in expectation for the future. . . Memory replies to the question: "Who am I?" I am he who remembers these feelings and those experiences, these moments of happiness and those moments of sorrow . . .
מידות הראיה: פחדנות (ד)
הפחדים הם פתיות גמורה, אין לאדם לפחוד כלל כי-אם להדהר, יותר שהוא פוחד הוא נופל, וכשהוא מתפחד, מעצם הפחד בא לו המכשול. ע"כ צריך הוא להתגבר בשכל לדעת שאין לו כלל ממה להתפחד. כל ציורי הפחד הנם רק צבעים פזורים מציור גדול שצריכים להשלימו, וכשממלאים אותו הם מצטרפים לכולו להמשיך בטחון גדול ועצום מאד. הממלא את כל הנפש עז וגבורה. והמזיקין עצמם וכל צללי בלהותיהם מתהפכים לכחות מסעדים ועוזרים, המשמחים ומרחיבים את הדעת, ומציאות הרע והקלקול שבהם כלה לגמרי, ומרץ-החיים שבהם מתהפך לכח מעודד באומץ קודש. "וששון ושמחה ישיגו," "וחדות ד' מעוזכם."
Abraham Isaac Kook: The Moral Principles
Fear is complete foolishness. A person must not be afraid, he only needs to be careful. The more he is afraid, the more he falls, and when he is frightened, the fright itself produces the stumbling. It is therefore important for him to strengthen himself in the understanding that there is no reason for him to be afraid. All the frightening images are only the fragmented colors of a great vision that needs to be completed, and when it is completed they all merge to engender confidence and great strength that fill the soul with firmness and courage. All the evil fantasies and their terrifying ghosts are transformed into supportive forces, which gladden and satisfy the mind. The evil and damaging element they embody is altogether nullified, the life-giving energy they embody is turned into a force for holiness. "They shall attain gladness and joy" (Isa. 35:10); "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10).