Q:
There is a statement that anybody who says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is a vatran, which means that He waive a man’s sins and not punish, so that man who says such a thing, he’ll be punished just for saying that (Bava Kamma 50a). But don’t we see that Hakodosh Boruch Hu says that if we repent, then even if our sins are as scarlet as crimson, He’ll whiten them like pure white wool?
A:
Now that’s a scholarly question, but the answer lies in the words themselves. Hakodosh Boruch Hu never forgives! He’s not mivater on anything. If a man did a wrong, if he did a sin, then even though fifty years have passed by, and in between, this man became a tzadik, he became a big Rosh Yeshiva with a long white beard, still Hakodosh Boruch Hu won’t forgive him. Hakodosh Boruch Hu won’t forgive him unless he repents, unless he does teshuva. But with teshuva, He forgives. But without teshuva, He will not be a vatran; He won’t waive anything.
TAPE # 21(March 1974)
