On Yom Kippur, one is supposed to apologize for his wrongdoings, in front of God and in front of the people whom he may have wronged. In fact, when one apologizes before God, even his willful wrongdoings are considered mere mistakes. What is the proof? - from the phrase “Return… you have stumbled in your iniquity.” Iniquity is something done on purpose, yet here it is called “stumbled.”
But we know more than that; his willful bad acts become his merits! What is the proof of that? - “And if a bad man turns away from his bad deeds… he shall live on account of them.” That is, even his bad deeds will provide merit for his future life. How can both be true? - the first applies when he apologizes out of fear, and the second - when he does it because of love.
Should one apologize again for something he apologized for last year? Some say he should not: he was already forgiven, and now he can only be sullied again by his memories. Others, however, say that it is even better, following the psalms, “I recognize my transgressions, and they are always in front of me.”
Art: Joseph's Forgiveness of his Brethren By Siegfried Detler Bendixen
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