“Let the wicked forsake his way and the man of iniquity his thoughts” (Isaiah 55:7). Rav Beivai bar Aviya said: How must a person confess on the day before Yom Kippur? He must say: ‘I confess all the evil that I have performed before You. I had been standing on a path of evil.
But everything that I have done, I will not do anything like it again. May it be Your will, Lord my God, that You pardon me for all my iniquities, forgive me for all my transgressions, and atone for me all my sins.’ That is what is written: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the man of iniquity his thoughts.” Yitzḥak said: Like a person who welds two boards and attaches them to each other.
Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: Like a person who welds two legs of a bed and attaches them to each other. “Let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him (Isaiah 55:7).”11Rabbi Yitzḥak’s point is that when one wants to attach two boards, one must make sure they are straight. The process of confession and repentance restores one’s ability to connect to God, just as straightening a board allows it to be attached to another one.
Thus, after the verse states “Let the wicked forsake his way and the man of iniquity his thoughts,” it states: “Let him return to the Lord.” Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina adds that the individual who has repented is considered to help hold up the world together with God, just like two legs of a bed (Etz Yosef). The Rabbis and Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, the Rabbis say: The Holy One blessed be He showed Abraham our patriarch of blessed memory all the atonements except for the tenth of an ephah.12In the Covenant of the Pieces, God showed Abraham all the offerings that bring atonement except the freewill meal offering, which is a tenth of an ephah of flour.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: The Holy One blessed be He showed Abraham our patriarch of blessed memory even the tenth of an ephah. [The word] “these” (Leviticus 2:8)13“You shall bring the meal offering that is prepared of these to the Lord.” is stated here, and [the word] “these” (Genesis 15:10)14“He took all these for him.” is stated there. Just as [the word] “these” stated here refers to the tenth of an ephah, so, too, [the word] “these” stated there refers to the tenth of an ephah.
“And to our God, as He abundantly forgives” (Isaiah 55:7); Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon in the name of Rabbi Ze’eira: The Holy One blessed be He, too, added one atonement of his own.15He added a form of atonement that He did not show to Abraham, in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis. Which is that? It is the tenth of an ephah.