Chapter 18 of Sefer Yechezkel is dedicated entirely to a foundational principle: "The soul that sins, it shall die" - no person is punished for the iniquity of their ancestors, and every person is judged according to their own ways. In this part of the chapter, we arrive at the other side of the coin: not only a wicked person who repents, but also a righteous person who turns to wickedness. From here, we will unfold the entire subject of teshuvah: what is teshuvah out of fear and what is teshuvah out of love, what is meant by "regretting earlier good deeds" (toheh al harishonot), and what is the immense kindness concealed within teshuvah. We will conclude with the famous question asked by Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman to the Chafetz Chaim, and the answers given to it.
A Righteous Person Who Turned to Evil - "Regretting Earlier Deeds"
וּבְשׁוּב צַדִּיק מִצִּדְקָתוֹ וְעָשָׂה עָוֶל כְּכֹל הַתּוֹעֵבוֹת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה הָרָשָׁע יַעֲשֶׂה וָחָי? כׇּל־צִדְקֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה לֹא תִזָּכַרְנָה בְּמַעֲלוֹ אֲשֶׁר־מָעַל וּבְחַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר־חָטָא בָּם יָמוּת׃ (כד) - "And when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, doing according to all the abominations that the wicked man has done, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery he has committed and for the sin he has sinned, for them he shall die." (24)
Until now, the prophet spoke of a wicked person who repented. Now he reverses the picture: what will become of a righteous person who turns to wickedness? Could it be conceived that he would commit all the abominations done by the wicked, and yet life would be decreed upon him? "None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered" - all the righteous deeds he performed are forgotten for him.
And on the surface, this is astonishing. A person served Hashem for years, and now he has turned to evil. What, did he hit "reset", "delete", erasing everything that was? If he performed good deeds, give him a reward; if he does evil deeds, let him receive punishment. Why should the past be erased? Regarding this difficulty, the Gemara explains that here we are dealing with one who "regrets his earlier deeds" (toheh al harishonot). That is to say, not a person who was righteous until today and now his evil inclination overcame him and he abandoned observance, but rather someone who actively regrets his good deeds: "Oy, what a pity that I observed mitzvot, what a shame that I wasted my time, when during that time I could have indulged in worldly desires and pleasures." What a pity that I devoted my time to Torah and mitzvot - that is regretting earlier deeds. And since he regrets them, they tell him: your earlier deeds are erased.
Therefore, there is no way he can perform all the abominations of the wicked and "live". He deserves death from two perspectives: First - "for the treachery he has committed", for the very betrayal of Hashem, abandoning the path of righteousness, and regretting it. Second - "and for the sin he has sinned", from here on, for he does not merely regret the past, but accepts upon himself to "improve his ways", in quotation marks, and begins committing sins. From both of these - "for them he shall die."
The Malbim notes the precision in the word "treachery" (maal): "Meilah is nothing other than change / deviation" (Sifra). Meilah denotes taking something designated for sacred use and removing it to the mundane, from propriety to corruption - which is why one who misuses sanctified property incurs a meilah offering. Similarly, "a woman who commits treachery against her husband" - who had been faithful to him and now betrayed him, and likewise "a man who commits treachery against his fellow." So too here: this person committed treachery against the Holy One, Blessed be He; whereas until now he was righteous and attached to Hashem, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, was with him, now he has abandoned Hashem, may He be blessed.
"The Way of the Lord Is Not Just" - What Is the Meaning of "Yitachen"?
וַאֲמַרְתֶּם לֹא יִתָּכֵן דֶּרֶךְ אֲדֹנָי, שִׁמְעוּ־נָא בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲדַרְכִּי לֹא יִתָּכֵן הֲלֹא דַרְכֵיכֶם לֹא יִתָּכֵנוּ׃ (כה) - "Yet you say: 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear now, O House of Israel: Is My way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?" (25)
We often use the Hebrew expression "lo yitachen" (it cannot be / it is not just), but we do not always understand its root meaning. The Malbim explains that it is the reflexive form (Hitpa'el) of tochen, which refers to something balanced equally in measure and weight, without excess and without deficit. A "measured thing" means: precisely as it ought to be, neither more nor less, at its proper weight. "And the quota (tochen) of bricks you shall deliver" - exactly according to the amount; "the measured money (hakesef hametukan)" - what is prepared precisely according to measure; "and meted out (tichen) the waters by measure" - in exact measure. Thus, their claim was: the ways of Hashem are not balanced, they are not aligned with justice and equity. This is also related to "middle" (tichon) - the middle path, balanced and upright.
And what exactly was their argument? The Malbim explains that they were philosophizing from the standpoint of philosophical inquiry, as he elaborated at length in Sefer Iyov. The claim of the philosophers and investigators is: how could change occur in the Holy One, Blessed be He, moving from desiring to not desiring, or from not desiring to desiring? After all, the Holy One, Blessed be He, is absolute unity and undergoes no changes - not in the sense of suffering, but in the sense that He is not affected and undergoes no change whatsoever: "For I, Hashem, have not changed, and you, children of Yaakov, are not consumed." And if you say there is change in Him, it would imply, as it were, a flaw or deficiency. For what is change? "My opinion was this, but you convinced me of the opposite" - meaning that until now my understanding was imperfect, and now something new was revealed to me. Such a notion does not apply to the Holy One, Blessed be He, before Whom everything is known, Who declares the generations from the beginning. Therefore they asked: how is it possible that at one moment He willed his harm and now He wills his good, at one moment He willed his death and now his life? If Hashem loved the righteous person and hated the wicked, how could His will regarding them change through a change in their actions? For whomever death was decreed, let death be decreed, and for whomever life was decreed, life.
They argued a second question: Can one imagine that a servant who ruined his work could fix it through regret? If someone murdered another and deeply regretted it, will the murdered person return to life? If someone burned his neighbor's car in anger and felt complete remorse, will the car be restored to its original state? If so, how can one claim that through repentance the ruined work becomes restored? And the same question applies in reverse: regarding the righteous person who performed mitzvot and good deeds, and then regretted his earlier deeds - how could regret erase everything he did? If someone worked for you for three years and said, "I am not continuing here," would you not pay him his salary for those three years? From here on, do not pay him, but why erase what already took place? Even if he were to say, "I regret every single day I worked for you, it was hell" - at most you would not give him a bonus, but to withhold his earned wages entirely, what logic is there in that? These were the two claims they raised against the way of Hashem.
The Parable of the Field and the Rain: The Change Is in the Recipients, Not in the Bestower
An industrious, active man went and sowed his field, prepared it, plowed it, and everything was wonderful. Rain fell - everything began to grow. In contrast to him, "I passed by the field of a lazy man," and it was completely overgrown with thistles, its surface covered with nettles; plowing and sowing were not for him. Rain fell - nothing grew. And people come and ask: But Hashem gave to this one and did not give to that one! The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I gave to everyone equally. It is just that this one came prepared to receive, while that one did not come prepared to receive. For the one who sowed - the rain watered his field; but for the one who did not prepare his field, the rain merely produced puddles and mud, since the field was unfit for growth.
And what would happen in the reverse scenario? That same lazy man, upon whom "poverty" was decreed, who had no produce and nothing to eat, repented and said: I must manage my affairs differently. He went, plowed the field, uprooted the thorns, prepared, and sowed. With the next rain - the field yields its fruit, there is wheat and there is food to eat. Did Hashem now change His mind and decide that this person should have plenty? What a misconception! Hashem says: I brought down the rain before as well, but now the person prepared himself to receive the abundance. And conversely, if that industrious man who had plowed and sowed were to regret it, go and uproot everything - now rain falls, and he has nothing in the field but rot. Did Hashem regret and change His mind? It was he who went and uprooted his deeds, and from that moment on the rain does not affect him for the good in the slightest.
Thus explains the Malbim: This is what Hashem is telling them - the change is not in the Bestower; the change is in the recipients. And when a person ruins his ways and misfortune befalls him, regarding this it is said, "Your own wickedness will chastise you" - your own evil is what harms you. "I constantly bestow abundance; if you prepare vessels - you will receive, and if you do not prepare vessels - you will not receive." But to claim that My way is not just? My way is the path based on one constant, unchanging reality, whereas your way is the one that fluctuates. And this is what is stated in Yeshayahu: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts... For as the rain and snow descend from heaven... and water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout," as discussed at length regarding Yeshayahu chapter 55.
The Double Punishment of the Righteous Person Who Turned Wicked
בְּשׁוּב־צַדִּיק מִצִּדְקָתוֹ וְעָשָׂה עָוֶל וּמֵת עֲלֵיהֶם בְּעַוְלוֹ אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה יָמוּת׃ (כו) - "When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and dies because of them, he shall die for his iniquity that he committed." (26)
"When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness" - as explained, he regrets his previous deeds and renounces the righteous acts he performed. And not only that, but he "commits iniquity" from now on. For this, he will suffer a double blow. First, when looking at his previous status - according to his former level, his sin is now magnified sevenfold. A person who knows nothing, a tinok shenishba (an innocent captive) raised far away - what demand can be made of him? But you were a tzaddik, and therefore the claim against you is vastly greater.
And so we find regarding a nazir, who must bring a sacrifice at the conclusion of his term of nezirut, a topic discussed in depth in another lesson. The Ibn Ezra asks: Why does he need a sacrifice? After all, he attained a lofty level, and now he merely returned to his previous state, becoming like any other person - do you demand a sacrifice from every ordinary person? The answer is: After breathing the mountain air of the heights, why did you suddenly fall? True, others never reached that peak, but you did - and if you arrived there, you were not permitted to descend. One who has already attained must maintain and hold on to his level. And this is what is stated here: There will be a severe claim against this man, who, after having attained closeness to Hashem and reached the status of a tzaddik, abandoned the good path he had already grasped - the indictment against him is far greater.
And an additional matter: from this point forward he commits wicked deeds. And for both matters together - "and dies because of them": for abandoning the path of good, and for the iniquity he commits from now on. "He shall die for his iniquity that he committed" - and yet understand, says Hashem, that the change is not on My part. He is the one who went and uprooted all the crops that the rain had brought forth; what do you want from Me? I brought down rain for him properly, and he uprooted it. The sin itself is what causes death; I do not bring death, "For from the mouth of the Most High do not proceed both evil and good." Whatever a person does, he does to himself, "Your own wickedness will chastise you," and his ruinous deeds and evil actions are what flog him. Regarding this it is said, "The foolishness of a man perverts his way, and his heart frets against Hashem" - he comes with complaints against the Master of the Universe, and that is your foolishness: your own corrupt actions are what brought disaster upon you. Do not cry out, "Master of the Universe, why do I deserve this?" - do not eat shards of glass and then complain of a stomach ache. You commit an evil deed, and then come with grievances against the Holy One, blessed be He.
A Wicked Person Who Repented Out of Fear
וּבְשׁוּב רָשָׁע מֵרִשְׁעָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וַיַּעַשׂ מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה הוּא אֶת־נַפְשׁוֹ יְחַיֶּה׃ (כז) - "And when a wicked person turns away from his wickedness that he committed, and does justice and righteousness, he shall keep his soul alive." (27)
Here too: "And does justice and righteousness." Hashem says: I have changed nothing; I continue to bring down the rain as usual. It is he who went and sowed his field; he performed justice and righteousness. Therefore, notice the phrasing - "he shall keep his soul alive." I did not change his status; I bestow abundance continually. Rather, he has now prepared vessels, and consequently he himself keeps his soul alive, "and righteousness will give life to its master."
The Malbim adds that there is a distinction here regarding repentance: if one repents only from this point forward and does not express regret over the past, this is repentance out of fear (teshuvah miyirah), and of this it is said, "he shall preserve his soul alive" from now on, and nothing more.
Repentance Out of Love - Willful Sins Become Merits
וַיִּרְאֶה וַיָּשׇׁב מִכׇּל־פְּשָׁעָיו אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה חָיוֹ יִחְיֶה לֹא יָמוּת׃ (כח) - Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
Here the prophet adds to what came before. Up until now, the discussion was only about doing good from this point onward; but if he "considers" with his mind's eye and "turns away from all his transgressions that he had committed" - repenting over the past as well - then "he shall surely live." For when a person repents out of love, willful sins are transformed into merits for him. This too is for the same reason: the Holy One, blessed be He, looks at his prior state, and that becomes a reason to magnify his merit. Just as with the righteous person, his previous state magnifies his current wickedness - "How could you, who were such a righteous person, become corrupted?" - so too with the wicked person: the fact that he was so wicked magnifies his merits when he returns to righteousness. After all, for such a person it is immensely difficult to change his ways from wicked to righteous, and "according to the pain is the reward," as we will see later. Therefore, he deserves far more, "he shall surely live, he shall not die," for his willful sins have been transformed into merits.
Once Again "Not Just" - And the Objection to the Inversion of Values
וְאָמְרוּ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יִתָּכֵן דֶּרֶךְ אֲדֹנָי, הַדְּרָכַי לֹא יִתָּכְנוּ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲלֹא דַרְכֵיכֶם לֹא יִתָּכֵן׃ (כט) - Yet the house of Israel said, 'The way of the Lord is not just!' Are My ways not just, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not just?
To this as well they still claim, "The way of the Lord is not just": How can the Holy One, blessed be He, turn iniquities into merits? And how can a wicked person suddenly become righteous? How can it be that the sin of the righteous person is greater than the sin of the wicked, and the merit of the wicked person is greater than the merit of the righteous? That is to say, that the wicked person who became righteous receives more merit than the original righteous person, while the righteous person who became wicked incurs more liability than the original wicked person! How can the change they made alter the divine judgment toward them? To this He tells them: Know that here too there is no change in the way of Hashem; rather, it is your way that changes, for you are constantly shifting your paths.
"I Will Judge You, Each One According to His Ways" - According to the Pain Is the Reward
לָכֵן אִישׁ כִּדְרָכָיו אֶשְׁפֹּט אֶתְכֶם בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, שׁוּבוּ וְהָשִׁיבוּ מִכׇּל־פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶה לָכֶם לְמִכְשׁוֹל עָוֺן׃ (ל) - Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be a stumbling block for you.
Since you change your ways - repenting, or acting wickedly after having been righteous - Hashem says: "I will judge you, each one according to his ways." I will judge you according to both ways: I will weigh the present path against the former path, and judge accordingly. When a penitent performs a good deed, his merit is multiplied many times over that of a righteous person performing the very same deed - for he was accustomed to sin, his entire course was set on an evil path, and for him to overcome it is like the parting of the Red Sea; certainly, he deserves a far greater reward.
Consider someone who was accustomed to smoking on Shabbat, and suddenly resolves to take it upon himself and stop - can we compare him to someone who smokes every day but refrains on Shabbat? The latter might say: "It is not easy for me either." True, but do you face his struggle? You have not smoked on Shabbat for thirty years; you do not have that kind of battle. But someone who smoked up until last Shabbat, and this Shabbat resolved to stop - do you know how much effort is required of him, what strength of soul? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I examine the matter, and according to the pain is the reward. And the same applies in reverse: the righteous person who turned wicked deserves a severe punishment, for you were righteous, and good traits and virtues were already acquired within your soul; what another person must strive and labor intensely to overcome came easily to you, and you held fast to the straight path - how could you abandon it?
Therefore He tells them, "Repent and turn away from all your transgressions": strive to repent out of love, so that through it you will not only be righteous from this point forward, but everything you did previously will also be rectified - "so that iniquity will not be a stumbling block for you." All the transgressions you had will henceforth be transformed into mitzvot. For as long as a person repents out of fear, his sins are transformed into inadvertent errors (shegagot), as Hashem turns willful sins into unintentional ones; but if you repent out of love, even the stumbling block is removed. A "stumbling block" (mikhshol) denotes an inadvertent error, and concerning this it is said, "so that iniquity will not be a stumbling block for you" - that the iniquity will not remain even at the level of a stumbling block and an inadvertent sin, but on the contrary, it will become a mitzvah, because through repentance out of love, willful sins are transformed into merits.
"And Make Yourselves a New Heart and a New Spirit"
הַשְׁלִיכוּ מֵעֲלֵיכֶם אֶת־כׇּל־פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר פְּשַׁעְתֶּם בָּם וַעֲשׂוּ לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חָדָשָׁה וְלָמָּה תָמֻתוּ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ (לא) - Cast away from yourselves all your transgressions through which you have transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; why should you die, O house of Israel? (31)
Even if you have not yet reached the level of teshuvah out of love, where intentional sins are transformed into merits - at the very least, "cast away from yourselves all your transgressions," like someone casting off a heavy burden he seeks to be rid of. And what do you gain by this? That your transgressions will at least no longer be on the level of "pesha," rebellion, for a poshea is someone who rebels against Hashem. When a person does teshuvah out of fear, intentional sins (zedonot) are converted into inadvertent sins (shegagot) - and that is already a tremendous gain: you will not be judged as rebels and willful transgressors, but as having acted inadvertently.
"And make yourselves a new heart" - that you should have a new power of choice. The Malbim explains consistently that the heart is the ruling faculty, while the spirit (ruach) is the power of imagination, which conjures images before the heart and entices it to act according to the spirit's desires. Until now, the spirit was conjuring images of sins and transgressions, for every sin begins in the imagination - in those vivid scenes a person paints in his mind. How are we tempted by a particular food? They show you pizza with steam rising, the melted cheese stretching on top. Yet it is always less tasty than it appeared in the photograph - always. And that is not merely because they use fewer ingredients than what was photographed, but because at first, the power of imagination is at work, and the imagination always presents something far more extraordinary than it truly is, thereby swaying the heart. Therefore he says: strive that your spirit should only present good images and wholesome imaginations to your heart - of Torah, of avodat Hashem, and of yirat Hashem. Then you will have a new heart and a new spirit: the spirit will evoke only positive images, and the heart will rule with the fear of God. "Why should you die, O house of Israel?" - repent so that you do not die; for here he speaks of teshuvah out of fear of punishment, at the very least.
"For I Do Not Desire the Death of the One Who Dies"
כִּי לֹא אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הַמֵּת נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְהָשִׁיבוּ וִחְיוּ׃ (לב) - For I do not desire the death of the one who dies, says the Lord God; repent and live! (32)
And why should Hashem accept even such teshuvah, which is modest and low in stature, born out of fear and seemingly deficient? For two reasons. First, "for I do not desire the death of the one who dies" - from which Chazal deduced that the wicked in their lifetime are called "dead," since one is already considered dead through wickedness, and Hashem declares that He takes no pleasure in his death. Second, through this teshuvah you will later come to teshuvah out of love and ascend in level, and then "repent and live" - you will also repent for previous sins, turning them into merits, and live an eternal life. Therefore Hashem tells them: My way is just, and it is your ways that are unjust.
Rav Elchanan Wasserman's Question to the Chofetz Chaim
With this we conclude the chapter. In conclusion, we will focus on a matter touched upon here that the Acharonim discussed at length, famous as a question raised by Rav Elchanan Wasserman, may Hashem avenge his blood, to his rebbe, the Chofetz Chaim - a very powerful question that many attempted to answer, each offering their own perspective.
The Mesillat Yesharim explains that teshuvah is an immense chessed, and that logically, there is no such thing as teshuvah, nor is it conceivable that repentance should be effective. These are his words: "How can a person rectify what he has ruined when the sin has already been committed?" If someone caused destruction and burned down his neighbor's house, will the house reappear just because he repented? If he murdered someone, will the victim come back to life? "If a person murdered his fellow, if he committed adultery - how can he rectify this? Can he erase a deed that was done from reality?" What happened happened, and it cannot be undone.
To this, the Mesillat Yesharim answers that there is a special attribute - the Attribute of Mercy (Middat HaRachamim): "However, the Attribute of Mercy provides the opposite of the three things we mentioned: namely, that time is granted to the sinner and he is not wiped out from the earth the moment he sins; that the punishment itself is not to the point of complete destruction; and that teshuvah is granted to sinners as absolute kindness, such that uprooting the desire is considered like uprooting the deed itself." And what immense kindness this is: "Since the penitent recognizes his sin, confesses it, reflects upon its evil, and repents with complete regret from the outset" - if only I had never done this - "exactly like the regret that annuls a vow, where he entirely reconsiders and wishes with all his heart that the deed had never taken place, feeling intense sorrow in his heart that it occurred, and abandons it for the future and flees from it - behold, this uprooting of the matter from his desire is considered like the uprooting of a vow." Just as an annulled vow is uprooted retroactively, so it is here. "And this is what Scripture says: 'Your iniquity is removed and your sin purged,' meaning the iniquity is genuinely removed from reality and uprooted by virtue of his present sorrow and regret over what occurred retroactively. And this is undeniably a chessed that transcends the strict line of justice."
This is an immeasurable, indescribable kindness, something completely beyond human logic. If a person stands in a court of law and they tell him, "Sir, you are accused of murder," and he responds, "True, Your Honor, but I regret it; I did teshuvah" - would they send him home? Certainly not! How then does the Holy One, Blessed be He, do this? It is a kindness beyond comparison.
Rav Elchanan asked: I do not understand; what is there to marvel at here? Where is the chesed? After all, this is simply the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He. What happens when a person was a tzaddik and then regretted his former good deeds (toheh al harishonot), when he regrets the righteous acts he performed? Everything is erased for him; nothing will be remembered. If so, why marvel at the chesed of teshuvah? This is the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He: whoever did something and regretted it - it is erased. Just as you understand that a tzaddik who repents erases his righteous deeds, so too one who was wicked and repented erases his liabilities. Where is the chesed here? There is nothing supernatural here; it is simply Hashem's governance, both for good and for bad. Strict justice dictates: you regretted it - you erased your mitzvos; if so, strict justice likewise dictates that one who regrets his sins has erased them. There is no chesed here at all, but rather equal judgment for both the tzaddik and the rasha.
The Chofetz Chaim's Answer
The Chofetz Chaim replied to him: You are correct - in teshuvah out of fear (teshuvah miyirah) there is truly no chesed, for just as one who regrets his mitzvos has them erased, so too one who regrets his sins has them erased, and that is strict justice. But let us think for a moment: as for the tzaddik who regretted his good deeds - does the Holy One, blessed be He, count his good deeds as iniquities, prosecuting him and punishing him with Gehinnom for them? No, that has never been said; rather, the good deeds are simply erased. If so, the same should have applied to the wicked person: when he repents, the bad deeds are erased. But to take all the evil deeds and count each evil deed as a mitzvah - that is already chesed! That is the chesed: that through teshuvah out of love (teshuvah mei'ahavah), the Holy One, blessed be He, transforms willful sins (zedonot) into merits (zechuyot). In other words, you are correct that in teshuvah out of fear there is no chesed, but in teshuvah out of love there is chesed.
Rav Elchanan's Own Answer: Two Dimensions to Sin
Rav Elchanan did not accept this answer, because the wording of the Mesillat Yesharim does not imply this. The Mesillat Yesharim states that a person cannot rectify what he has twisted: "If a person murdered his fellow, if he committed adultery - how can he rectify it?", and he makes no distinction between teshuvah out of fear and teshuvah out of love. He is speaking about the very principle that in reality it is impossible to repair damage, and Hashem's chesed is that He granted the possibility of repairing that damage; he is not discussing turning sins into merits at all. If so, the difficulty remains: you see that it is possible - the tzaddik performed righteous deeds and Hashem removes them from him, so where is the chesed? And to say that the Mesillat Yesharim was speaking only of teshuvah out of love is very difficult.
Therefore, Rav Elchanan gave another resolution: every act of sin has two ramifications. One - the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded not to do it and you did it, rebelling against the Divine command and disobeying His word. The second - the sin damages the person himself. This is comparable to a father who told his son not to run into the street; the child ran into the street and, Heaven forbid, was struck by a passing car. There are two harms here: one, that he disobeyed his father - and this exists even if nothing had happened to him; and the second, the physical injury that actually occurred. So it is with every sin: it contains disobedience to Hashem's word, and it contains corruption and damage to the person's soul.
With this, a question asked by many is resolved: Chazal say regarding one who says, "Behold, you are betrothed to me on condition that I am a complete tzaddik" - that even if he is an absolute rasha, she is betrothed, lest he had a thought of teshuvah in his heart. Yet, if everything is rectified in a single moment of a thought of teshuvah, why did the Reishis Chochmah and the Arizal prescribe all those fasts - thirty-nine fasts for a single act of mockery, eighty-four fasts for a blemish of the covenant (pegam habris), and so forth, along with rolling in snow and other tikkunim? The answer is that there are two dimensions to sin. Regarding the disobedience to Hashem's word - in a single moment you can repent and become a complete tzaddik, and Hashem says, "I forgive you." However, the person who corrupted has defiled the higher worlds and defiled his soul, and that must be repaired. The mortifications and fasts correspond to the dimension of the damage caused to the soul. These are two separate dimensions: for disobeying His word, "he does not move from there until he is forgiven" in certain sins, but the corruption still requires rectification.
Now, says Rav Elchanan, when a person regrets his previous deeds, this only uproots the rebellion itself, saving him from punishment - but he does not have the power to uproot the defect caused to his soul, which has already become a reality within his soul. And here we see Hashem's chesed: that even this reality within the soul, the Holy One, blessed be He, uproots it as well and grants the ability to rectify it. In contrast, when a person performed mitzvos and regrets them, saying, "What a pity I obeyed Hashem's voice" - the rectification wrought in his soul remains intact; what he lacks is the reward, for he will not receive reward for those mitzvos, yet the rectification in his soul remains. The same should have applied to the sinner: the damage in his soul should remain, and Hashem would say, "I will not punish you for being wicked, but your soul remains damaged." The chesed of Hashem in teshuvah is that the Holy One, blessed be He, cleanses even this and wipes away the sin: "Your iniquity is removed and your sin purged," meaning that the iniquity is actually removed from reality and uprooted retroactively through his present sorrow and regret; "When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion" - a total cleansing, including the cleansing of the soul. This is the chesed of teshuvah, even in teshuvah out of fear. And we do not find the reverse: when a tzaddik regrets his former deeds, Hashem does not defile his soul; the purity in his soul remains, and he merely loses the reward for the mitzvos.
The Challenge of Rav Gabriel Toledano
Rav Gabriel Toledano, in his sefer Mitz'adei Gever, challenged this answer. The claim was that one who regrets his previous deeds loses only the mitzvah aspect - the reward for listening to the word of Hashem - but does not lose the actual rectification within his soul. Yet he argues that this does not fit the language of the Gemara: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that even if one was a complete tzaddik all his days and rebelled at the end, he loses the former deeds. This implies that he loses them entirely, and not that the spiritual refinement remains while only the reward for fulfilling Hashem's will is lost. Furthermore, it is written, "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day of his transgression" - implying that it no longer exists at all; and so it is implied by the Rambam, that it is completely erased. For had the rectification he wrought in his soul remained, it should have protected him on the day of his wickedness; and since it does not protect him, this implies that it does not remain at all, and the erasure is total. And if the erasure is total for the tzaddik, the question returns: what is the chesed shown to the wicked person whose iniquities are erased?
The Answer of the Author of Merchavei Yam: To Sever a Bond, One Act Suffices
In the sefer Merchavei Yam on Masechet Sanhedrin, another answer is proposed. There is a vast difference between regretting mitzvos one has performed and regretting transgressions one has committed. One who regrets a mitzvah - what did he have until now? A connection with the Holy One, blessed be He, and he announces to the Master of the Universe: I have severed the connection. In contrast, one who was wicked had no connection, and what does he say now? Master of the Universe, I am reconnecting the bond. This is the difference between a tzaddik who becomes wicked and a wicked person who becomes a tzaddik.
And consider: to sever a connection, one party disconnecting unilaterally is enough - if the two of us are speaking on the phone and I hang up on my end, you can talk to thin air. The righteous person who regrets his good deeds says: I want to sever the connection. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: You can disconnect, no problem; you pressed "end call" and disconnected. But when the wicked person comes and says, "Master of the Universe, I want to establish a connection" - the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: To make a connection requires two. Someone on the other end has to pick up. You are calling, but who says I am obligated to pick up? It turns out that the willingness of the Holy One, blessed be He, to reconnect is pure chesed. To sever - one is enough, and it is easy; to forge a connection - the other side must respond, provide feedback, and be willing to connect, and for that, the Divine will is required. Why should the Holy One, blessed be He, be open to this relationship after you acted wickedly? This is a chesed that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs with man.
Another Resolution: The Reward of a Mitzvah Is a Gift of Love
Rabbi Goldwasser, in the book Kadosh VeNorah Shemo, cites a fine resolution in the name of his student, the bachur Sandomirsky. It is well known that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us mitzvos so that we would not suffer from nehama de-khisufa, bread of shame - as discussed at length regarding the Ramchal's Derech Hashem and on other occasions. Hashem did not want you to arrive Above and be ashamed that you received charity, and therefore: "Perform mitzvos and receive your reward by right of justice"; the righteous eat by the strength of their own arm, receiving what is rightfully due to them.
Yet this seems puzzling. The story is told that a president of the United States once visited the headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. They showed him around the factory, and finally said to him: In honor of the President of the United States, we would like to give you a car as a gift. He replied: No, I will get into trouble with the government and the legal counsel; I am only willing to pay. They said to him: Fine, give us fifty dollars. He took a hundred-dollar bill out of his pocket; they said to him: We don't have change. He said: In that case, give me two. And if people ask him where he got the car and he says, "I paid for it," they will say to him: Fifty dollars - you call that paying? So too, seemingly, here: could all the mitzvos we perform our entire lives ever equal a single moment of bliss in the World of Truth? It is like one who bought a diamond for a mere penny - is that not still bread of shame? Had you paid its actual worth, fine, there would be no shame; but when you yourself realize that what you paid is a penny compared to the eternity that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives you, we are still left with bread of shame!
Regarding this, he makes a wonderful point: by performing mitzvos, we do not become entitled in the sense of "I paid the full price"; rather, through performing mitzvos we forge a bond with the Holy One, blessed be He. One says: Master of the Universe, I fulfill Your mitzvos; You are a Father and I am a son. And from a father, one feels no shame in receiving gifts. A father bought me a gift - that is not bread of shame. It turns out that performing mitzvos is not payment, but connection to Hashem; and then the reward is received from Someone to whom you are close, and there is no shame in that.
According to this, we can understand: for a transgressor, punishment is deserved by strict justice; you sinned and rebelled against Hashem's word, so you deserve it by law. But for one who fulfills a mitzvah, reward is not coming to him by strict justice, but as a gift from One who loves you; the Holy One, blessed be He, loves you for fulfilling His mitzvos, and therefore you receive a gift. Now this is well understood: when someone regrets a mitzvah, it makes sense that his reward should be erased - for Hashem no longer loves you, and what did you actually pay? A penny. The reward did not come because it was strictly owed to you, but because Hashem loves you, and once you regretted it, you are no longer entitled to a gift. By contrast, when someone regrets a sin - why on earth should the punishment be erased? After all, you earned the punishment by strict justice, and why should something deserved by law be wiped away? It follows that regarding the righteous, strict justice dictates that the reward be erased, whereas regarding the wicked, justice does not dictate that the punishment be erased - and if Hashem is nevertheless willing to forgive you, that is absolute chesed.
The Simple and Wonderful Answer: You Cannot Erase a Debt Owed to Others
Let us conclude with one final point, which is perhaps the most wonderful answer offered here. It is simple and straightforward, and truly represents the profound truth of Torah. Imagine that someone owes me money, and I tell him: I forgive your debt. Is that possible? Certainly, I can forgive it, no problem at all. But now someone comes to me and says: What about the money you owe me? And I answer him: I forgive you. Forgive me?! You owe me money! "Well, earlier someone came who owed me money and I forgave him, so I forgive you too" - that is absurd. A debt that you owe to another, how could you possibly forgive it?
And this is truly wonderful: when a person commits a sin, what does he have here? A debt toward the Holy One, blessed be He. Whereas a righteous person has credit with the Master of the Universe; he is owed reward. When the righteous person comes and says, "Master of the Universe, erase it, I don't want it" - regretting his former good deeds - excellent, you can erase it; whatever is owed to you from others you are permitted to forgive and erase, you have the power to waive it. But what you owe to others, you have no power to erase. The righteous person says: I have a credit with the Master of the Universe, please erase it - certainly. But to say: I have a debt toward the Master of the Universe, erase it - how could that be? How can I erase my own debts? And this is a truly marvelous answer for understanding the chesed in the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, is willing to erase our debts as well, our very sins. May it be Hashem's will that we all merit complete forgiveness and pardon from Him, blessed be He, Amen and Amen.
In summary: In this part of the chapter, Yechezkel teaches that there is no change in Hashem's ways, and all change lies entirely within the recipients: the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows constant abundance, and it is man who either prepares vessels or uproots his plantings. The righteous person who regrets his former good deeds loses his righteous acts and is punished doubly - for betraying the closeness to Hashem he had already achieved, and for the wrongdoing from that point forward. The wicked person who repents out of fear "shall save his soul alive," and his intentional sins become like unintentional errors; and one who repents out of love - his intentional sins become merits, and according to the pain is the reward. Hence the call: "Cast away from you all your transgressions... and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit," so that the spirit brings up to the heart only wholesome thoughts. And in the appendix, we addressed Rav Elchanan Wasserman's question to the Chofetz Chaim - what is the chesed of teshuvah, if in any event one who regrets his former deeds loses them - and the answers that were given: the transformation of intentional sins into merits, the cleansing of the blemish in the soul, that connecting requires two while disconnecting requires only one, that the reward of a mitzvah is a gift of love whereas punishment is by strict justice, and finally: a person can forgive a debt owed to him, but cannot erase his own debts - and the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, erases our debts as well is absolute chesed.