[Avodah] Yom Kippur Thought

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 07/12/16 05:44, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
> When you look at the backup lists to the ashamnu’s and al cheit’s, you
> may notice a lot of thought issues (e.g., thinking haughtily). While it
> would be great to change oneself to never have a bad thought, are we
> required to ask forgiveness for something we haven’t acted on?

1. *Having* a thought can't be an aveira, because it's involuntary, but 
*consciously entertaining* it can be one, and often is.  That would 
certainly require teshuvah.

2. Teshuva  is not just for aveiros.  For instance, even tzadikim who 
literally do no aveiros at all need to do teshuvah, because teshuvah 
means turning oneself into a better person, and there's no limit to 
that.  Yesterday's mitzvah can be today's "aveira", so to speak.   So 
even if one dismisses an inappropriate thought the moment one becomes 
conscious of it, and thus has no actual aveira to be punished for, it 
makes sense to do teshuvah for being the kind of person to whom such 
thoughts occur, i.e. to try to turn oneself into the kind of person to 
whom they wouldn't.

-- 
Zev Sero                Winter has officially begun
zev at sero.name