We praise and bless Hashem “Chanun HAMARBEH lisloach - the gracious One, Who pardons abundantly.”
By a human, if one person harms another and asks for a pardon, they are forgiven. But if they repeat the misdeed, it becomes very difficult to forgive them again, and certainly, a third and fourth time.
By Hashem, however, there is no difference between [asking forgiveness] once and a thousand times because forgiving comes from Middas Harachamim, the attribute of mercy. And His holy middos have no bounds and are not finite; they are infinite. And relative to ein sof, infinity, there is no difference whatsoever between a small number and a large one. Therefore, He removes our sins [when we ask him, again and again] every year.
All the sins for which we confess in the Al Chet annually, though repeatedly violated, we again confess them on Yom Kippur in the coming year, and so on always. “Every year” does not necessarily imply a yearly pardon, for three times every day, we pronounce, “Blessed are You, HaShem, who is gracious and pardons abundantly.” = Tanya, Igeres HaTeshuvah Perek 11
[When we say Al Chet, our intentions are not to violate them again, as explained further in this perek and will be printed in a future issue of the BET Journal.]
Chai Elul: Yom Holedes of the Baal Shem Tov, 5,458/1698, and the Baal HaTanya, 5,505/1745
U FARATZTA RABBI SHALOM BER MUNITZ
