The inner dimension
As explained, the concept of free choice and teshuvah are intrinsically connected. Free choice is expressive of a person’s tremendous connection with G-d. So too, teshuvah brings out this essential connection with G-d as well.
And the Lord G-d said, “Behold man has become like the Unique One among us, knowing good and bad: and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever.
Bereishis 3:22
This verse expresses that by man possessing free choice, he is similar to G-d. Chassidus explains that man’s free choice is derived because he has a soul within him which is united with G-d. Just as G-d has total control to act as He wishes, with nothing stopping him, in a similar vein, so too, does a Jew have the ability to act as he desires—whether those actions are positive or otherwise.
The ultimate concept of choice to do what he wants, with nothing standing in his way, is expressed when a person does teshuvah. When a person sins, they separate themselves from all matters of holiness, and separate themselves from G-d. Once they are separated from G-d, it should be impossible to come close to him and repent for his actions.
This though, is the power of teshuvah. Since a person possesses free choice, which is essentially to act as he pleases, without anything standing in his way, he is able to make a new connection with G-d and choose to be a completely new person from who he was when he sinned.
The idea of free choice is the connection that he has with the Almighty, which makes it possible to return to G-d, no matter how distant he has become.
