[Avodah] Offenders must repent before they are forgiven

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Feb 02, 2018 at 10:55:39AM -0500, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: In light of the fact  that what ... did is a Chilul HaShem,  then
: based on  Rav Schwab's article
...
: it seems to me that ... cannot fully repent until his death.

Assuming he did it. I deleted the name because the person was
investigated, cleared by police and Child Protected Services. There is no
reason to presume guilt, which actually means it's assur for me to do so.

But, treated the case as a hypothetical:

Why quote R Schwab when what you're saying is straight from the gemara R
Schwab quoted:
:>         we find in the Talmud: "He who has committed Chillul
:> Hashem, even Teshuvoh, Yom Kippur and suffering cannot
:> fully atone for his sin until the day of his death (Yoma 86)."

HOWEVER, I would be clear that he CAN fully repent. Notice "teshuvah"
in the gemara's list. What he cannot achieve is full kaparah.

In terms of us as a society.... The recidivism rate is high, but it's
wrong to pretend it's 100%. If the man did teshuvah, we shouldn't be
invoking uvi'arta hara'ah beqirbekha. That Hashem didn't grant him full
kapparah is between the offender and HQBH.

And in terms of keeping our society safe, there are psychometric tests
used by the penal system to assess a person's risk baasher hu sham. We
can get the risk of who we trust down to the same ballpark as people
whose history give us no cause to even ask the question (ie the unknowns
who make of the rest of the community).

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person lives with himself for seventy years,
micha at aishdas.org        and after it is all over, he still does not
http://www.aishdas.org   know himself.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter