Does G-d have to forgive us?

Theres a Mesillat Yesharim  by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato starts off in the fourth chapter by saying - G-d created the world originally with Middat Hadin - the attribute of justice - Bereishit Bara Elokim - created the world with justice - the world of nature is the world of justice - there is no leeway with nature - for example sticking hand in fire will burn - thats Middat Hadin - however Middat Harachamim - the attribute of Mercy - is that which gives the world the possiblilty of exhisting - wioth Middat Hadin it could not exhist - Justice means if person commits a sin - then the full anger of G-d is unleashed upon the person - no possibility of changing it since its already happened and the person would be destroyed - i fhte world would be ran by Middat Hadin - the world would not surive - therefore G-d brings the word Midat Harachamim (mercy) to the world! whats the attribute of mercy? it involves three things according to the Ramchal in Mesillat Yesharim - that G-d doesnt immediatly punish the sinner - holds back the effects of the sin and gives it a buffer zone before the impact of the sin is felt - sothere possibility of survival and repentance et.c.. Number 2 - he doesnt unleashe entire anger on the person -he holds back - even doesnt let out complete anger. Third -he allows the possibility of repentance.

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This is alluded to in the verce 'v'hu rachum yechaper avon vlo yaschit' - he atones for sin and doesnt destroy - not arousing his anger - Those ideas which are number 1 - G-d allows repentance. Number 2- he allows a buffer zone -  not immediatly punishing - Number 3 - Not arosing total anger are in that pasul - 'V'hu Rachum' - The quality of mercy unstrained is somthing which we see Hashem runs the world  with a quality of mercy combined with Din - The Ramchal says its only through the quality of mercy that Teshuva is possible. When you think about it how could the uprooting desire to do evil is the equivalent of uprooting the actual act, how could it uproot the past - i.e. someone who muders - the murder is still there. How have you changed that? the crime is still there! The idea that repnetance uproots the idea of what was done in the past that concept is certainly an aspect of G-ds kindness and an aspect of the Mercy 'Vchu Rachoom' Without the attribute of mercy/chesed - Teshuva would not be possible - since how can you rip out action of the past just by the regret!! It cant be - Only was is if G-d is merciful.

This is echohed in the many writings of the many Rishonim and Zchronim that attribute of Teshiva is based on G-ds attitude of Chesed and kindnes and pit upon us. That is clear from the Mesillat Yesharim.

Rav Elchana Wasserman asked the Chafetz Chaim the following - the Gemara in Kiddushin in page 40b says the following - 'A person who is totally reightous his entire life and he rebelled and the end of his life, he has lost all his merit!' The Gemara says - quoting a Pasul in Yechezkel 33 - 'The rightousness of this rightous person wont save him on the day of his iniquity, and even an evil person the whole of his life - even if he repented at the end of his life - his evil is no longer metioned - The Gemara quotes a similar pasul in Yechezkel. The Gemara doesnt understand it, how can someone who did mitzvot all his life at the very end of his life does one sin, he should lose everything? At least let him be half - half - it doesnt seem to be fair!!

The Gemara says the following - its answr is ' Raish Lakish says - its not refering to a reightous person who is merely does a sin at the end of his life - its referring to a tzaddik who at the end of the life regrets all the good he did. Rashi says ' he regrets all the good he did' thats who we are talking about - about at the end of his life he regrets all the mitzvot he did - he loses all the mitzvot. Thats what the verse in Yechezkel - says ' the reighousness of this person wont save him - since when he regrets all the good - hell lose all the reward for doing it - Now Rav Elchanas question should be how dont we understand it - We learned in Mesilat Yesharim that Teshiuva is G-ds kindness, by regretting what happened - you lose the punishment - why is that an act of kindness - if you regret your mitzvot do you lose the reward? why should it be when you regret your sins you lose the punishment - is it fair if G-d said if you regret your aveirot you will still get punished? it would be unjust - when a person regrets his mitzvot is that Middat Din or Middat Chessed? It is Din!! The fact that he loses all his merit is Middat Hadin - why shouldnt it be the same when you do aveirot - you should lose the punishment? wheres the kindness in Teshuva??So its even on both sides! Its unfair not to forgive us when doing Teshuva!! Justice requires that G-d forgives us and if he doesnt forgive us for the teshuva when repenting our sins - he shouldnt erase our merit for regretting our mitzvot. Thats his question. 

Theres 4 answers to the question - the Chafetz Chaim, Rav Elchanans;

The Chafetz Chaim answered him the following; he said we know there is 2 types of Teshuva - one Teshuva is out of love - regret having done bad because of loving G-d, and regret whats it done to our relationship and to maintain relationship with G-d I regret having done that. That is Repentance out of love.

Theres another type of Teshuva which is called Teshuva out of fear - I se the bad consequences of what i did and i dont like it and regret it - therefore i regret having done what i did because of consequences.

Chofetz Chaim said the following - we know theres a difference between Teshuva out of Love and out of fear - in teshuva out of love the Talmud says that - the Gemara Yoma 86 - that when you do Teshiva out of love for G-d, the sins arent just earsed they are turned into Zechuyot (Merits) that is for sure kindness! When the guys regrets good things he did - does it turn to sins or does he just lose the reward? He only loses the reward - Justice would say when you do Teshuva you are just forgiven but theres no punishment - Does justice say the sins you did become merits?? of course not!! its not justice - thats going way beyond - that is G-ds mercy and kindness that he looks at the sins we did as merit, whereas a person who regretted the good things he did - G0d doesnt look at them as sins but its neautral - its erased the reward.

The chofetz Chaim adds Teshiva out of fear - the fact that G-d accepts repentance out of fear of punishment is pure and total kindness! How is this Teshuva?? e.g doing somthing bad to someone and now im having problems - saying to him i regret doing it due to problems its caused me, am i really sorry? it not called saying sorry!! Chafetz Chaim says what greater love can there be than accepting that as 'sorry.' Thats not even Teshuva - but G-d accepts that! Hashems kindness and his mercy extends forgiveness even in a case when only repenting because im scared  of punishment - Chafetz Chaim points out 2 ideas - 1) in Teshuva out of love - not only are the punishments erased but those actions that are sins are now merits! Whereas when having regretted having done mitzvot - the reward is erased - but its not as if every mitzvah he did is considered to be a sin - so that is the chessed of Hashem! Rav Elchana Wasserman didnt like them - he doesnt accept them! and Rav Chaim Volozhn says in Pirkei Avot on the Mishna that says your home should be an assembly place ofr the sages - then it says - you should cling to the dust of your feet - however R'Chaim Volozhn saysMitchabek comes from the word - wrestle/ struggle - so Pirkei Avot is really saying one has to struggle with the words of the sages with humility also and if you dont understand what the teacher says - your are not allowed to accept it! That is not what Torah is about.If Chofetz Chaim didnt say somehtin he like and had a question about it - he did not accept it! Rav Elchana Wasserman doesnt like the Chofetz Chaims answer because he says that if you look at the words of the Mesillat Yesharim - he means to say that the very fact you can uproot the action through your present Teshuva is Chessed! Chofetz Chaim says the erasing of punishment is like justice, but the only kindness is that those sins because merit - But Rav Wasserman says doesnt statements of Rachal and sages seem to indicate that the very essence of Teshiva is somthing of kindness and hence doesnt accept the answer.

Rav Elchanas answer is different - based on Ramchal in Derech Hashem - in the Chapter 4 of first section the Rachal says that every mitzvah has 2 components - 1) every single commandment is designed to contribute to your spiritual and moral connection to inculcate in you a certain character trait - to listen too Hashem - closer to perfection - to reveal more G-dliness - every sin that says'dont do this' is to protect you from the negative character traits - from things contrary to perfection e.t.c...

In addition theres another component - if it would just have been for those reasons we would feel we would have to do the mitzvot and avoid sin just for that itself - even if we werent commanded - if we knew the reasons of mitzvot we wouldnt transgress and wed do the mitzvot, like Avraham and Sara - they fulfilled the Torah even before it was commanded, why??? G-d didnt command them. The answer is is that they understood the impact of sin on the soul - of certain mitzvot on soul to lead to perfection - so everyone of the mitzvot according to the Ramchal is creating lkight or pushing away the darkness -its contributing to the perfection of the human being - however we also know G-d commanded us to do them - so not only to understaing of them - theres the moral authority to comman us to the mitzvot and we have to do it whether or not we understand the reasons.

So theres 2 components to the mitzvah, the impact of the mitzvah - the eleveation my soul receives from having done it and in addition theres the fact that im fulfilling the will of G-d who commanded me to do so, i am a loyal and obedient servant - in a sin theres 2 components - the negative impact on my soul - there is the fact that im rebelling against the command of Hashem - The Rambam says that all mitzvot have reasons is very clear - in every one of them there is a reason, a value and a perfection involved aside from the fact theres a reward since G-d commanded me to do it. Thats the 2 components and are mentioned also by the Imrai Bina - who was a famouse Rabbi of Jerusalem - Rav Meir Aurbach - he writes an answer to the following question - 'is it possible for a person to share their reward for a mitzvah? e.g supporting someone learning Torah - can i get that reward - the Rama in Shulchan Aruch says you can! It is called the Yisachar - Zevulan relationship but Rav Chai Gaon was asked about this - he answered what do you mean - is it a commoditiy? how can you trade with it! so he very strongly says theres not such thing! Imrei Bina says how could such a thing be? is he not aware of the Midrashim on Yissachar and Zevulan??

But Shulchan Aruch says you can! The Imrai Bina tries to resolve the argument - believes there no argument - he said when you do a mitzvah there is 2 aspects to the reward for the mitzvah - 'Tzchar Gimuli' and 'Tzchar Tivvie' using Examples!! Imrai Bina says with every mitzvha we do there is Tzchar Gimulie- we get rewarded because we are obediant servants of Hashem, in addition when you do a mitzvah you are now healthier  and soul is elevated! So Imrei Bina says now the reward that youyr able to share is Tzchar Gimuli - the obediance reward! So if i support someone supporting Torah, i am just as obediant as he - i deserve and equal share in the Tzchar Gimulie - in obdeiance reward - iof am helping you in the mitzvah, i am just as obediant as you - The Torah says 'cursed is he that doesnt help the Torah stand' The Ramban in one of the 4 perushim he quotes a Yerushalmi - 'a person who  studied/ taugt Torah and guarded the Mitzvot but is able to help someone else but doesnt is included in the terrible curse' so you are obligated to help the other person and when its done - whether psychologically, enthusiastically, financially it doesnt matter, I am obediant to Hashem and deserve reward. But the Guy who is doing the Mitzvha- can i have his Tikun and its perfection? i dont think so.. so The Imrei Bina says that Rav Chai Gaon is talking about the Natural reward ;Tzchar Tiivi' the natural reward - The Shulchan Aruch that says you can share is talking about Tzchar Gimulie - Obediance Reward.

The Imrai Bina says his respnsa in Orach Chaim 13.

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Rav Elchana Wasserman says an answer - when a person regrets a mitzvah - he is no longer an obediant servant of G-d, in fact they rebelled against the obediance and lose the Tzchar Gimulei - they lose the obediance reward - but the impact the mitzvah had on the soul is still there. When a person regrets the sin - Middat Hadin says you are no longer a rebel - a loyal servant of the king!

Uses another Mashal.

If the person regrets the sin - justice says they shouldnt get punished on being a rebel but the sin will have an effect on the soul - justice cant get rid of it - but the attribue of kindness does - is erasing the rebel punishment - we also release the impact of the sin - the cporrucption of the evil is erased. The uprooting of uprooting to rebel - is uprooting the sin that happened - the Imrai Bina alludes to the idea in the middle of the teshiuva - that G-ds kindness is that not only he erases the punishment - for being a rebel - he also erases the natural consequence of the sin - thats pure chessed!

Repeats what he said

In the Sefer Haiikrim alludes to this as well in the Sefer Haiikrim - Rav Yosef Albo alludes to this (Fourth Maimer 25th Chapter) - He lived hundreds of years before Rav Wasserman - hios answer is a little different - he says when a person regrets the sin - they should now be neutral - no sins, no merits - would a neautral person deserve to be favored by G-d? would he be honored by Hashem? He is neautral! The kid in the class that does well has the accolades, but what about the enutral kid? So Rav Yosef Albo says Middat Hadin requires the following - when regrest the sins - its as if he didnt do the sin - however to be beloved? to bring him close? that is somthing that the kindness of G-d does! He says - There is no reason just because of regretting what was done would make him special - he should be back to Zero! Now he should work up to 50th part of kedusha! It is because of the Middat Chessed of Hashem that G-d loves the person that did Teshuva!

Rav Yosef Albo has beautiful answer that Middat Hadin tells me the punishment is only erased, when regretting sin - but G-ds kindness is that he loves the person who did that. In addition - theres another component - when the person starts to repent - makes an opening to G-d - G-d helps them! When person regretts mitzvot G-d doesnt help them - He leaves them!! G-d allows you to walk the way you want - But Middat chessed and Rachmanut helps person make teshuva and encourages them!

Sefer Haiikrim has 2 aspects to G-d's kindness in Teshuva - 1) G-d loves the person and favors him even though he did aveirot in the past, now Hashem loves him more - as the Rambam says in Hilchot Teshuva - yesterday he was hated - Today he is beloved - brough close - is a gem of G-ds eye. 2) Not only will G-d allow him to regrett but will help the person! The fact we can grow from the negative things in the past is a miracle and that is G-ds middat chessed - Thats Rav Yosef Albos answer.

Final beautiful answer is by Rav Hootner, in the Pachad Yitzchak in Rosh Hashana - in Maimar 9 in Pachad Yitzchak - his answer is great - he says in Devarim we see a few times Hashem equtes good with life and evil with death - 'I've placed life and death before you - Blesings and curse - You shall choose life - ' Hashem describes good as life and evil as death! Rav Hootner says Life requires Parnassa - sustance - to live you need sustence - a living organism need fuel to live - what is the life of the mitzvah to the soul 'my belief in the value of the good - that is the sustanance the soul derives from the mitzvah. A person who no longer believes in the value of the mitzvah - he no longer has life - spo person who regreetted to do the mitzvah went from life to death which is the nutral process of Din - he stopped believing in the good he has done - that is a normal natural progression - take away the source of life - of coase death continues - but the evil person lived in the sphear of death such a person was living on the side of death - 'an evil person when alive is as if dead' so teshuva is going from death to life! that is Techiat Hameitim which is Chessed.

When regretts mitzvot hes stopped eating and going to death! when person living in evil - now going from death to life is Techiat Hameitim - transition from death to life can only happen when there is a total uprooting of death thats why we need a lot of chessed - there no nature that can turn death to life - its middat Chessed - thoses are the 4 answers to Rav Elchana

We understand what chessed is and that at Rosh Hashana and yom kippur the 10 days of repentance we are engaged in techiat Maitim!