In this episode, we learn positive mitzvah #33, which is to repent and to confess one's sins.
- When a man or a woman commits a sin, when they want to repent or do what's called teshuva, they should verbally confess their sin. The confession doesn't have to be in public, but it can be in private, between the person and God alone.
- In the podcast, we discussed a sample text of confession, as formulated by our Sages
- There are four components of teshuva gemura, or complete repentance:
- verbal confession of the sin
- stopping to do the sin (present)
- regretting having done the sin (past)
- accepting not to commit the sin again (future)
- If one doesn't perform all four of these components, even though it is not complete repentance, it still works as a lower level of repentance
- This confession is incorporated in our daily prayers, in the Yom Kippur prayers, in our prayers before going to sleep at night, and is even something that should be recited before passing away (if one is aware)
- By verbally confessing and admitting to one's sin, one is able to identify the actions that need to be improved on. "An identified problem is a problem half-solved."
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