Teshuvah תשובה

Teshuvah literally means "return", not "repentance": not regret for the past but a return to the point where a person was still himself. The sages say teshuvah was created before the world—a world in which a mistake could not be undone could not exist.

The Rambam sets out the sequence: stop the act, regret it, confess aloud, resolve not to repeat. The real test, he says, is the same situation and a different choice. Offences against another person, however, are not atoned by Yom Kippur until forgiveness is asked directly.

The Talmud preserves both sides: "where the returning stand, the wholly righteous cannot stand"—and the warning that whoever says "I will sin and repent" is denied the chance. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are given to this.