Weekly Tanya video\lecture: The Epistle on Repentance

Chapter 1, Class 5

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The Baraita with which this chapter opened is now resumed:

If one committed a sin [punishable by] excision or execution, repentance and Yom Kippur are tentative so that the individual is not punished, and sufferings scour

עָבַר עַל כְּרֵיתוֹת וּמִיתוֹת בֵּית־דִּין – תְּשׁוּבָה וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים תּוֹלִין, וְיִסּוּרִין מְמָרְקִין

(16i.e., they complete the atonement. [The verb] memarkin denotes the final stage, namely, scouring and rinsing, in order to “polish” the soul,

(פֵּירוּשׁ, גּוֹמְרִין הַכַּפָּרָה, וְהוּא מִלְּשׁוֹן מְרִיקָה וּשְׁטִיפָה לְצַחְצֵחַ הַנֶּפֶשׁ,

for kaparah(“atonement”) is the term for the preceding stage of cleaning, removing the uncleanness of the sin),

כִּי, כַּפָּרָה הִיא לְשׁוֹן קִינּוּחַ, שֶׁמְּקַנֵּחַ לִכְלוּךְ הַחֵטְא),

Sins punishable by excision or execution are not cleaned away through repentance and Yom Kippur alone: the soul must also be scoured and rinsed through suffering, heaven forfend.

as it is written, “With a rod shall I remember their sin and with afflictions their iniquity.”17

שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: "וּפָקַדְתִּי בְשֵׁבֶט פִּשְׁעָם וּבִנְגָעִים עֲוֹנָם".

Thus far, the Baraitawith which this chapter opened.

עַד כָּאן לְשׁוֹן הַבָּרַיְיתָא:

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FOOTNOTES

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16. Parentheses are in the original text.

17.Psalms 89:33.