Daf Yomi - Yoma 86 - From Evil to Good

Daf Yomi - Yoma 86 - From Evil to Good

The Gemara states that repentance is so great that willful transgressions can be accounted for the penitent as merits, providing that one is motivated to repent by love. Reb Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin writes that although a gentile is also capable of repenting, he will not be motivated to repent by love. Thus, although a gentile can remove the stain that was caused by his sin, he is not capable of transforming a willful transgression into a merit. The source for this idea can be found in the Medrash Tanchumah regarding the priestly blessings. The kohanim would recite the words may HaShem lift His countenance to you. The Medrash wonders how this blessing can be recited if it said in the Torah regarding HaShem, Who does not show favor and Who does not accept a bribe. The Medrash answers that HaShem will show favor to the Jewish People if they repent, but the gentiles cannot merit this favoritism, as it is said may HaShem lift His countenance to you, and this excludes the gentiles. Rabbi Mordechai Miller zt”l extends this idea to explain the Gemara in Shabbos 146a that states that when the primal serpent seduced Chava, he cast impurity into her, which she then passed on to future generations of men. The Jewish People stood at Mount Sinai to accept the Torah, so their impurity was removed. The gentiles, however, who did not stand at Mount Sinai, did not have their impurity removed. It is the power of Torah that motivates a Jew to repent by love and thus a Jew’s willful transgressions will be accounted for as merits, whereas a gentile who does not study Torah cannot be motivated to repent by love.