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Q:

If a person did a sin bein adam lechaveiro and he asked his friend for mechila and his friend was mochel, is the sin erased?

A:

It is erased in a certain sense.

I’ll have to explain that. When a person does a harm to a fellow Jew he has created a kilkul in his neshamah. It means that in addition to the cheit that he did he has also made a certain ruination of his character.

Now, if he goes to that fellow man and asks him for mechilah, so al pi halachah the sin against this fellow man is forgiven; but the kilkul, the ruination that is made in his neshamah needs a certain remedy. And therefore besides going to the person, you also have to ask Hashem for mechilah. Hashem has to be mochel too.

And in addition even to that, you have to do something to convalesce from the illness you caused yourself. Because you made a scar on your neshamah. And therefore it’s important as a result of one misdeed to think of ways and means of becoming better. You have to improve. If you work on self-improvement then in the course of time the scar is erased.

TAPE # E-129 (February 12, 1998)

Rav Avigdor Miller on Healing Scars of Sin

print

Q:

If a person did a sin bein adam lechaveiro and he asked his friend for mechila and his friend was mochel, is the sin erased?

A:

It is erased in a certain sense.

I’ll have to explain that. When a person does a harm to a fellow Jew he has created a kilkul in his neshamah. It means that in addition to the cheit that he did he has also made a certain ruination of his character.

Now, if he goes to that fellow man and asks him for mechilah, so al pi halachah the sin against this fellow man is forgiven; but the kilkul, the ruination that is made in his neshamah needs a certain remedy. And therefore besides going to the person, you also have to ask Hashem for mechilah. Hashem has to be mochel too.

And in addition even to that, you have to do something to convalesce from the illness you caused yourself. Because you made a scar on your neshamah. And therefore it’s important as a result of one misdeed to think of ways and means of becoming better. You have to improve. If you work on self-improvement then in the course of time the scar is erased.

TAPE # E-129 (February 12, 1998)

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