Sins Becoming Merits

"If a man commits a sin [in Hebrew, "chet"] worthy of death…." (Deut. 21:22)

Reish Lakish said, "Great is the power of returning to G‑d [teshuva], for a person's intentional sins become like unintentional sins…" (Yoma 86b) But Reish Lakish also said: "Great is the power of returning to G‑d, for a person's intentional sins become like merits…" There is no contradiction. The first case speaks about returning to G‑d out of fear [of punishment], the second speaks about returning to G‑d out of love [of G‑d].

G‑d's glory fills the entire world. Even the existence of sin and the enjoyment of the sinner come from the Supernal Pleasure. For there is an attribute called "delight" [in Hebrew, "chemda"], from which G‑d draws upon the entire Creation: man, beasts, animals, insects, etc., as we clearly see.

Every creature in the world takes pleasure in something. That pleasure is derived from the Supernal Pleasure, whose source is G‑d. This is true even of the pleasure a person derives from sin.

And within every delight are [the names] Havayah and Ado-nai. Before the delight is experienced, it is Havayah, and after it is experienced, Ado-nai is created. Now, the letter chet [whose numerical value is 8] from the word "chet" refers to the eight letters of these two names together, and the letter tet in the word refers to the goodness hidden within it. The letter alef, however, is silent. This is chet.

The letter alef is not pronounced in the word. It refers to G‑d who is hidden in the sin. (See the following pieces:)

…There are thirteen principles of Torah interpretation. One of them is "from lesser to greater" [or "all the more so"].

In this method, one deduces the law of a greater or more stringent case from that which applies to a lesser one. The Baal Shem Tov relates to this as a universal spiritual principle: when physical delight is enjoyed Below ("lesser"), it should awaken spiritual delight Above ("greater").

By evoking pleasure Below the same trait should be aroused Above - all the more so. However, the "shell" of sin prevents the arousal of this goodness Above. But when a person repents, the element of evil and the shell are removed, and the hidden goodness left behind. Then goodness is also evoked Above, and sins are transformed into merits. However, this is only for a person who succumbed to temptation, not for one who intentionally sought to anger G‑d.

The letter alef is silent [in the word "chet"] to teach us that the Master of the World - the Alufo shel Olam [literally the "Chief of the World"] - is concealed there; for without Him, "no man can lift his hand", whether small or great.

…The reason why the letter alef is not pronounced is because the sinner, at the moment he wants to sin, forgets the Alufo shel Olam.

I heard from my Master that the Alufo shel Olam is hidden within sin. That is, the letter alef can not be heard when pronouncing the word, and it is written last. So too in the word "impure" [in Hebrew, "tuma", spelled tet, mem, alef], the alef is also silent and last.

Understand this! For when a person sins, his awareness [daat] of G‑d leaves him, as the Sages said, "A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly enters him"(Sotah 3a). He imagines then that G‑d has abandoned the world and is unaware of him. For if he knew and believed that G‑d is aware of everything that he does, and watches over him constantly, he would never sin.

But this is a total falsehood, for G‑d's providence is there too, for if you could imagine that He were to remove His influence for even an instant, G‑d forbid, the person would immediately die. He would not have the power to do anything. The Holy One is certainly there, though greatly concealed. This is alluded to by the silent alef, which refers to the Alufo shel Olam [literally the "Chief of the World"].

"If a man has committed a sin [in Hebrew, "chet"] worthy of death, and is executed, and you hang him on a tree, you must not allow his body to remain on the tree overnight, but you must bury it on the same day." (Deut. 21:22)

There is a problem with this verse. The above is referring to an unintentional sin. Why should he receive the death penalty, which applies only to intentional sins?

The answer is that the sin of spilling seed is a capital offense, even when it happens unintentionally. Because the first time it happens, the Other Side removes the person's Nefesh, the second time, his Ruach, and the third time, his Neshama. It leads him into the kelipot so that he rejects all rebuke, and the result is death, G‑d forbid.

This is the meaning of the phrase "If a man has committed a chet": That is, the type of unintentional sin that nonetheless carries the death penalty, i.e. spilling seed. "…And you hang him on a tree" - that is, even if you hang him on the Tree of Life and admonish him, he won't accept it. Therefore, "you must not allow his body to remain on the tree overnight, but you must bury it on the same day." That is, the moment he enters the aspect of "day" - "his day is pure" - in order to purify his soul, then "you must bury it" - i.e. separate the dross from him.

This means that sin causes a person to become insensitive to spiritual admonition. However, there is a moment when a sinner enters the aspect of "day", and has an arousal of spiritual purity. At that moment, he will hear your words, and thus you can separate the bad in his personality - the dross - from the good.

Reprinted with permission from www.baalshemtov.org