Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment of confession of sin: We are commanded to confess before God our sins that we have sinned, at such time that we feel remorse for them. And this is the content of confession: to say at the time of repentance, “Please, God, I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have rebelled [in] such and such,” meaning to say that he mention the sin that he did explicitly with his mouth. He should [then] seek atonement for it and extend his words in this matter according to his fluency. And they, may their memory be blessed, said that even sins that require the bringing of a sin-offering still demand confession with the offering, and about this it states (Numbers 5:6), “Speak to the children of Israel [saying], a man or woman who commits from any of the sins of man and rebels against the Lord, that soul is guilty and they shall confess the sins that they did.” [The Sages] said in the Mekhilta (Sifrei Zuta on Numbers 5:6), “Since it says ‘confess the sin’ (Leviticus 5:5) it means that the sin must be extant, that is that the sin-offering is alive and not slaughtered.” This means that the animal to be offered must still be alive. They also said there, “We see that one must confess if he renders impure the Temple and its holy things. From where do you know to include all other commandments?” That is that this verse in Parashat Vayikra only [discusses] one who renders impure the Temple and its holy things; from where do you know to include all other commandments? “As it is written, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, etc. and they should confess.’” That is, that we expound the verse as if it is not written about a specific thing. “And from where do we know that its understanding [includes sins that are punishable by] death and excision? Since it is stated about the confession of Aharon in Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16:16) ‘for all their sins.’” [The Sages], may their memory be blessed, expounded [on this verse] to include negative commandments; and “that they did” which is written here to include positive commandments, meaning to say that if he does not do a positive commandment that he could have done, he is obligated to confess about it. And they further expounded there in the Mekhilta, “‘From any of the sins of man’ — from that which is between him and his fellow: theft, robbery and evil speech.” And this confession truthfully requires that he return the “[theft] that is in his hands,” as if he does not do so it would be better not to confess about it. “‘To rebel’ includes all those sentenced to death who must [also] confess. I might have thought to include even those convicted by false witnesses”; that is, even though he knows that he did not sin, except that false testimony was testified against him, that he be obligated to confess about this. “Hence the verse teaches, ‘soul [that] is guilty’ — I only said when there is guilt there, but not when he knows that he did not sin, except false testimony was testified against him. Hence we understand that [for] all iniquities, large and small — even positive commandments — a man is obligated to confess about them.

And since this commandment of confession comes with the obligation to bring an offering — as is written in Parashat Vayikra there (Leviticus 5:6), “And he shall bring his guilt-offering, etc.” — one might think that the confession is not an independent commandment on its own, but rather only one of the things that are an extension of the sacrifice. Therefore they had to elucidate in the Mekhilta that such is not the case, but rather it is indeed an independent commandment. And so they said there, “I might have thought that I only confess when they brought [offerings]. From where do I know even at the time that they do not bring [them]? Since it is stated, ‘the children of Israel[...] and they shall confess’” — meaning to say that the tradition comes to expound [it] in this way. “Still, I might have thought that there is confession only in the Land”; that is, even though one may confess without the sacrifice, nonetheless, that the obligation for confession is only in the Land, as that is the locus of atonement, and the sacrifices are there and the locus of everything is there. “From where do I know to include the Diaspora? From that which is written (Leviticus 26:40), ‘And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers.’” That is, the iniquity of their fathers who sinned and were exiled from the Land. “And so [too,] did Daniel say outside of the Land (Daniel 9:7) ‘For You, Lord, is the righteousness and for us is the shame on this day.’” Hence it is elucidated that confession is an independent commandment and that it is practiced in all places. And they also said in the Sifra (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 4:6), “‘And they shall confess’ — that is verbal confession.”

It is from the roots of this commandment [that it is] because through the verbal admission of iniquity, the sinner reveals his thoughts and opinion: that he truly believes that all his deeds are revealed and known before God, blessed be He, and that he will not act as if ‘the Eye that sees’ does not see. Furthermore, through mentioning the sin specifically, and through his remorse about it, he will be more careful about it on another occasion not to stumble in the same way again. Since he declares verbally, “I did such-and-such, and I stumbled in my deeds,” he will have created a fence so he will not repeat what he did. And through this he will be wanted by his Creator, blessed be He. And the Good God, Who wants the good for His creations makes them walk in this way, [that] they merit with it.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Taanit 15a) that repentance is that the sinner leave the sin and remove it from his heart and from his thought, and he decide in his heart not to do like this again, as it is written (Isaiah 55:7), “Let the wicked give up his way, the sinful man his thoughts”; and afterwards, he must confess about it, meaning to say that he say the words of repentance orally, as it is stated (Exodus 32:31), “and they made for themselves a god of gold.” And he must also mention explicitly that he will not return to do the sin again, as it is stated (Hosea 14:4), “and we will not again say ‘our god’ about the work of our hands, etc.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said (see Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 1:2) that the scapegoat would atone for all sins when one repented, light and weighty — whether he transgressed them volitionally or accidentally whether it was known to him or unknown to him. But if he did not repent, the scapegoat only atones for the light ones. And what are the light ones and what are the weighty ones? [Weighty ones] are sins for which one is liable for the death penalties of the court or excision; and also vain and false oaths are from the weighty ones, even though they do not come with excision. And the other positive and negative commandments that do not come with excision are called light, in comparison to the weighty ones. And now that we do not have the Temple and the altar of atonement, on account of our iniquities, we only have repentance. And repentance atones for all sins. And even if one was a complete evildoer all of his days and he repented completely at the end, we do not mention any of his evil, as it is stated (Ezekiel 33:12), “and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble when he turns back from his wickedness, etc.” To what do these words apply that repentance alone suffices? To sins between man and the Omnipresent, such as one who eats something prohibited or has a prohibited sexual intercourse and so [too,] one who negates one of the positive commandments and similar to it. But [regarding] sins between a man and his fellow, such as one who injures his fellow, or robs his money or with any other thing through which he illegally injures him — whether in action or in speech — it is never forgiven him with repentance alone, until he gives his fellow what he owes him and until he is appeased. And they, may their memory be blessed, have already said (Yoma 87a) what is his remedy if his fellow does not want to be appeased by him. And also from the content of the commandment is that which they said in the Tosefta that there are twenty-four things that impede repentance, and they enumerate them there. [This] and the rest of the details of the commandment are elucidated in the last chapter of Yoma. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 1.)

And this commandment is practiced in every place and at all time by males and females. And one who transgresses it and does not confess about his sins on Yom Kippur, which is the day that is set from always for forgiveness and atonement, has violated this positive commandment. And woe to a man, if he dies without confession and carries his iniquity.

And the essence of confession that we received from our Rabbis and that is the custom of all of Israel to say during the Days of Repentance is, “However, we have sinned, we have been guilty, etc.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said in Shabbat 32a in the chapter [entitled] Bemeh Madlikin, “One who became ill and tended towards death, they say to him, ‘Confess,’ as it is the way of all those executed to confess.” And so [too,] in Tractate Semachot, it is taught, “One who tended towards death, they say to him, ‘Confess before you do not die. Many confessed and did not die, and many who did not confess died and many that are walking in the marketplace [have] confessed, as you live from the merit of your confessing.’” If he can confess orally, he [should do so], and if not, he [should] confess in his heart. And Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban), may his memory be blessed, wrote (in Torat HaAdam, Chapter of the End, regarding confession) that he received [a tradition] from pious men and men of good deeds, that such is the confession of someone on his deathbed: “I admit in front of You, Lord, my God and God of my fathers, that my healing is in Your hands and my death is in Your hands. May it be the will in front of You that You heal me [with] a complete healing. But if I die, let my death be atonement for all of my sins and my iniquities and my rebellion that I have sinned and been iniquitous and rebelled in front of You; and let my portion be in the Garden of Eden, and make me merit the world to come that is safeguarded for the righteous.” And remember this order, to say sins first, and afterwards iniquities and afterwards rebellion — the way we have mentioned, “I have sinned, I have been iniquitous, I have rebelled (chatati, aaviti, pashaati).” As Rabbi Meir and the Sages already disagreed about this in the Gemara (Yoma 36a): Rabbi Meir reasons that it is the opposite, that we say like Moshe said, “Who carries iniquity, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:7). But the law is like the Sages who reason that one mentions sins first. And the reason for the matter is explained in the Gemara.