Atonement without repentance
The Rambam in the Laws of Repentance, Chapter 1, Halacha 2, writes that the goat that is sent atones for all offenses, provided that he repents. But if he does not repent, the goat that is sent atones only for minor offenses, that is, those for which there is no kert.
And K.L., how can one understand such a thing? How can it be that someone who does not repent, nevertheless the goat atones. The person does not repent, intends to go through it over and over again, he does not care about it, and yet the goat atones for him?! I am amazed.
Some would also make it difficult for those who do perform Teshuvah. Rabbi Soloveitchik, the author of Teshuvah, deals with this. According to one opinion, even the intensity of a day of expiation. He likens it to a mikveh. But this is conditional on partnership with the community and with the daily work (entering the mikveh), when one is purified as part of the community.
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