Does Hashem fully forgive after teshuvah?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau answers yes, completely. The Rambam says very clearly that the second you confess, regret, and decide not to do it again, “you're a new person. There's no probation, there's no parole, it's forgiven.”
Teshuvah, he teaches, means believing Hashem when He says you are forgiven. If you confessed, regretted, and chose differently, the account is closed. You are human, you fell, you returned. Now move forward.
The obstacle is not on Hashem's side. It is that a person “can't register” that what he did “got fixed.” “You don't believe it was erased.” The work, then, is to stop being shocked that you are human and to surrender to the power of teshuvah.
Watch Rabbi Landau's teaching · Also taught in: teaching 2
Related concepts: Believing you are forgiven · Giving up is not peace
In A Soul at Peace: The Hidden Arrogance in Regret
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Once you confess, regret, and resolve not to repeat, you are forgiven completely.
Fear, vulnerability, or tension
A person may not believe the wrong was truly erased.
Deepest human truth
Teshuvah means believing Hashem when He says you are forgiven. You are a new person.
More questions from this teaching
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