Return While the Attribute of Mercy Still Stands

Pesikta DeRav Kahana 24:13

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Rabbi Issachar of Kefar Mandi expounded: "For He knows worthless men; He sees iniquity, and will He not consider it?" (Job 11:11). In the way of the world, a man piles up heap upon heap of transgressions, and then does repentance, as it were - "He sees iniquity, but will not consider it" [God overlooks it]. Taught in the name of Rabbi Meir: "Return, O Israel" (Hosea 14:2) - while He still stands in the attribute of mercy; and if not, "to the LORD your God" (Hosea 14:2) - before the defender becomes the prosecutor.

Themes

RepentanceMercyDivine Justice

Continue Reading

Tanna DeBei Eliyahu RabbahGod Forgives First So the World Can StandGod knew the ending before the first morning. Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 1:2 begins there, with a terrifying mercy: if God collected the first debts of humanityPesikta de-Rav KahanaAbundant in Kindness and the Lifting of the EyeWhat does it mean that God is abundant in kindness? Rabbi Lazar paints a courtroom scene. The scale of judgment hangs perfectly even, a person's sins piled on oYalkut Shimoni on TorahThree Who Came With a Pretext and the Raven That Taught BurialThree figures in Scripture, the Sages say, came before God arguing that the verdict against them was unjust: Cain, Esau, and Manasseh. Cain protested that his pBen SiraThe Man Who Curses His Parents Sins GreatlyBen Sira, a sage whose wisdom echoes through the ages, certainly thought so. He dives straight into the heart of familial honor, and it's a message that still rBen SiraSowing Seeds of Unrighteousness Brings RuinWe all do. But what if that little shortcut could lead to a whole heap of trouble? That's the kind of wisdom we find in the Book of Ben Sira, a treasure trove oBen SiraGold's RepentanceHis wisdom, preserved in the book of Ben Sira, a book considered part of the Apocrypha by some, but a treasure trove of practical ethics nonetheless, cuts right