Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayelekh/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayelekh

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Does Repentance Always Bring Forgiveness?

Do confession and repentance necessarily bring atonement in their wake? In Devarim 30, Hashem implies that they do, promising that if we return to Him, He will return to us, have mercy, and return the people from exile. Yet, in Parashat Vayelekh, the Torah describes how, after an initial punishment, the people will confess their sins, and this will lead not to forgiveness, but to redoubled punishment! How is it that Hashem rejects the nation's repentance?

• While Ramban suggests that the people's repentance will not be sincere, R. Avraham Saba1 asserts that the text does not really mean that Hashem continued to punish them. Do these reinterpretations conform to the simple meaning of the verses? What support can you bring for either position? What marks repentance as sincere or insincere?
• Ralbag prefers to maintain the literal reading of the text, and claims that the assumption that repentance must avert punishment is simply wrong. Do you find this claim theologically troubling? Why or why not? For elaboration, see Repentance Rejected.