[Avodah] partial teshuva

[Akiva Miller]

R' Eli Turkel asked:

> My problem is more fundamental. In real life teshuva is usually
> a process and not a single moment with regret and acceptance
> and usually not vidui. A person may decide to eat kosher in the
> future without regretting all the delicious shrimp from the past

On Rosh Hashana afternoon, the rav of our shul (Rabbi Avrohom Herman, JEC, Elizabeth NJ) addressed what I think might be this exact question, saying that it is clearly an incomplete teshuva because of the missing steps, but that the person can still become a tzadik in the process.

He quoted the gemara in Kiddushin about one who is mekadesh a woman "al m'nas that I am a tzadik gamur", and that the kiddushin is safek valid, because he might have done "hirhurei teshuva". He suggested that "hirhurei teshuva" is a less-than-complete teshuva, and gave the specific example of one who resolves to be better in the future *without* any regret over the past. Such a person, he said, is henceforth a tzadik gamur, even though his slate has not been wiped clean.

Akiva Miller

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