Study Yoma folio 86B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אמר רבי יוחנן: גדולה תשובה שדוחה את לא תעשה שבתורה, שנאמר: ״לאמר הן ישלח איש את אשתו והלכה מאתו והיתה לאיש אחר הישוב אליה עוד הלא חנוף תחנף הארץ ההיא ואת זנית רעים רבים ושוב אלי נאם ה׳״.
§ R' Yoḥanan said: Great is repentance, as it overrides even a prohibition of the Torah. How so? As it is stated that God said: “…Saying: If a man sends away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have committed adultery with many lovers; and would you yet return to Me, said YHWH” (Jeremiah 3:1). Indeed, the Torah states: “Her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she has been made impure” (Deuteronomy 24:4). The relationship between the Jewish people and God is compared to that between a husband and wife. Just as it is prohibited for an adulterous wife to return to her husband, it should be prohibited for the Jewish people to return to God from their sins, yet repentance overrides this prohibition.
אמר רבי יונתן: גדולה תשובה (שמקרבת) את הגאולה, שנאמר: ״ובא לציון גואל ולשבי פשע ביעקב״, מה טעם ״ובא לציון גואל״ — משום ד״שבי פשע ביעקב״.
R' Yonatan said: Great is repentance, which hastens the redemption, as it is stated: “And a redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who repent from transgression in Jacob” (Isaiah 59:20). What is the reason that a redeemer will come to Zion? It is because there are those who repent from transgression in Jacob.
אמר ריש לקיש: גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות, שנאמר: ״שובה ישראל עד ה׳ אלהיך כי כשלת בעונך״, הא ״עון״ — מזיד הוא, וקא קרי ליה מכשול. איני?! והאמר ריש לקיש: גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות, שנאמר: ״ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם (חיה) יחיה״! לא קשיא: כאן מאהבה, כאן מיראה.
Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, as the penitent’s intentional sins are counted for him as unwitting transgressions, as it is stated: “Return, Israel, to YHWH your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity” (Hosea 14:2). The Talmud analyzes this: Doesn’t “iniquity” mean an intentional sin? Yet the prophet calls it stumbling, implying that one who repents is considered as though he only stumbled accidentally in his transgression. The Talmud asks: Is that so? Didn’t Reish Lakish himself say: Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits, as it is stated: “And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he should live thereby” (Ezekiel 33:19), and all his deeds, even his transgressions, will become praiseworthy? The Talmud reconciles: This is not difficult: Here, when one repents out of love, his sins become like merits; there, when one repents out of fear, his sins are counted as unwitting transgressions.