It is possible for a person to err and then rectify your mistake. If a leader would be reclused in his “four amos”, without ever experiencing the taste of sin, he would be unable to forgive a simple Jew who falls prey to temptation. He would be incapable of understanding a brokenhearted individual who sadly committed an aveirah, and he would chastise him and send him away.
Other Meforshim explain Rashi to mean that a generation is fortunate if the leader is on the level of admitting when he is wrong, rather than attempting to hide his sins and portray himself as perfect.
Our tzadikim excelled in this middah, as they always asked forgiveness whenever they slightly wronged anyone. To give one example, it is related that when the Steipler Gaon zt”l was a very old man, it was hard for him to walk and he rarely attended family simchos. One day, he surprised everyone by exerting himself to attend a bar mitzvah. It wasn’t long, however, before everyone heard the explanation.
The Steipler asked to speak to the bar mitzvah bochur alone, and he left right after he finished talking to him. The attendees asked the boy what the Steipler spoke to him about, and he said, “He wanted to ask me mechilah.”
This was the background to the story: This boy’s father davened the Lederman Shul, where the Steipler also davened. When the boy was seven years old, the Steipler saw him looking into a large sefer, and it appeared to him that the boy was learning during the time for davening. He rebuked him and said, “There is a time for learning and a time for davening!”
The boy then showed the Steipler that he actually was looking into a large siddur that looked like a Gemara. The Steipler decided that he needed to ask the boy to forgive him for unjustly suspecting him, but a child under the age of bar mitzvah cannot grant forgiveness. Therefore, he made a note of the boy’s exact age and waited for several years. When he realized that the boy’s bar mitzvah was approaching, he asked around to find out where and when it would be held. When the day arrived, he pushed himself to attend and ask mechilah.
Destruction Caused by Theft:
The Medrash states (Vayikroh Rabbah 33:3): “If there is a pile full of aveiros, which one is the biggest prosecutor? The sin of theft prosecutes the most.”
The Chofetz Chaim (al haTorah, Parshas Kedoshim) explains why theft is the first sin to prosecute against Klal Yisroel with a moshol of a crippled man who had many debts and no way to pay them back. All the creditors feel sorry for the man, so none of them would be mean enough to be the first to enter his house and grab his pillow or bed as payment. However, if one of them runs in first and grabs something, the rest will follow him and get ahold of whatever they can. No one wants to be left with nothing, so everyone will grab some household object until the home is completely bare.
The same idea applies to aveiros. Every aveirah creates a damaging angel; however, none of them want to be the first to come forward with prosecutions against the man. The exception to this rule is the destructive angel created by the sin of theft. This angel is very audacious because it is created by an audacious sin. It has no problem coming forward and being the first to hurl claims against the man, and once it starts, the other angels jump in as well.
There is no Punishment Without Sin:
It is related that the Chofetz Chaim zt”l was once traveling on a wagon and the wagon driver began to complain to him about his bitter lot in life. He said that his horse had died and the people of his town had raised money to buy him a new one, and he still didn’t have sufficient livelihood. He asked, “What did I do wrong? Am I so bad that I don’t deserve to live normally?”
The Chofetz Chaim told him, “You shouldn’t ask questions on Hashem. Whatever He does is good. You must have done something wrong to deserve this. Perhaps you have sinned against your fellow man and are being punished measure for measure. For example, you make up a price for a trip, but in the middle of the journey you jack up the price and ask for more money. Also, you allow your horses to graze in other people’s yards without permission. It is probable that you are being punished in this world so as not to be forced to pace punishment in Olam Haba.”
The wagon driver responded, “Rebbi, if this is true, why was your overcoat stolen last year on the train in Vilna? You certainly never committed any sins so why did you deserve to be punished?”
The Chofetz Chaim answered humbly, “Why do think that I have never done anything wrong? I also sometimes commit financial improprieties. I sell the sefarim that I write, and sometimes there is a torn or smudged page. I try to go through each sefer, but mistakes happen and the buyers are embarrassed to ask me for a refund. That’s why I deserved a punishment.”
Returning the Stolen Items:
A Jewish merchant from the city of Lodzh once hired a non-Jewish wagon driver to transport the merchandise he purchased at the fair. When he reached the place where taxes were collected, the gentile continued on, without relating that he had merchandise in his wagon. The Jewish merchant also remained silent and didn’t say anything. As they approached Lodzh, the wagon driver told him, “If you don’t give me 500 rubles worth of your merchandise, I will go to the police and tell them that you didn’t pay the tax!”
That was the approximate value of everything the merchant had. If he gave it to the driver, he would be left with nothing. He asked the man to have mercy and accept a compromise, but he would not agree. He insisted that if he wasn’t given what he asked for, he would inform on him to the authorities. Left with no other choice, the Jewish merchant gave him almost all his merchandise.
When he got to Lodzh, he ran to the home of the Rov, Rav Eliyahu Chaim Meisel zt”l, and told him about what happened. Rav Eliyahu Chaim called to his attendant and asked him to hire the wagon driver, saying that he was planning on taking a long journey. When the wagon driver arrived, Rav Eliyahu Chaim put out some food and told him, “Eat something before we go. It is going to be a long trip.”
As the wagon driver sat down to eat, Rav Eliyahu Chaim told his attendant to take the horse and wagon and hide them.
When the gentile finished eating his meal, he went outside and saw that his horse and wagon were gone. He began to shout, “I was robbed!”
The Rov came to the door and said, “What’s the big deal? Go and sell the merchandise that you took from the Jew and buy a new horse and wagon!”
The wagon driver understood that he was caught, and he said, “Rabbi, the merchandise I took from the Jew is not worth even half as much as it will cost me to buy a new horse and wagon.”
The Rov told him, ‘Bring back the merchandise and I will try to get your horse and wagon back.” The man ran to bring over the merchandise and, after he put it down on the table, the Rov told his attendant to bring back the horse. He then gave it back to the wagon driver after making him promise not to do anything like this again.