Exile and Repentence

Maimonides, in the Laws of Repentance [2:4], states that exile is conducive to the repentance process, because exile makes one contrite and humble.

Rabbi Kook offered an alternate explanation of the efficacy of exile in the repentance process. Each person is not only an individual, but part of a collective. Therefore, when one sins (whether between man and fellow man or between man and God), in addition to the impact on the individual, that sin has a negative impact on the collective.  This aspect of sin is virtually impossible to forgive, for the sinner would have to ask forgiveness from each member of the collective. Exile, continues Rabbi Kook, is the situation in which the sinner, as it were, withdraws from society to reflect on and to recognize the harm his sin has caused to the collective. Therefore, exile is, in fact, not only conducive to repentance, but the beginning of the repentance process.

Beyond its philosophical significance, Rabbi Kook’s explanation relates on a concrete level to other comments of Maimonides in the Laws of Repentance.  In chapter three, Maimonides presents a simple definition of righteous and evil people. A righteous person is one whose merits outweigh his sins, an evil person the opposite. This calculation is not based simply on counting the number of mitzvot versus sins, but is based on a weighted formula known only to God. One whose sins outweigh his merits is judged to death. Similarly, nations and the entire world are judged. Following these introductory comments, Maimonides presents what I believe is his single most important comment in the ten chapters of the Laws of Repentance:  One should always see himself as being in balance between merits and sins. Any further sin will tip the scale to his destruction and the destruction of the entire world.  Any additional mitzva will bring salvation to the individual and to the entire world.