“Return, Israel, unto Hashem, your G-d, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.” (Hoshea 14:2)

In general, when one does teshuva, if the iniquity was done in a public forum, the teshuva must also be done in a public forum, in order to counter the chillul Hashem that the sin caused. We all understand this, and it seems to make sense, but the question remains: Is this necessary for a sin that was done between man and G-d?

Chazal tell us that when one sins against his fellow man, aside from asking for mechila from his fellow man, he must also ask for forgiveness from Hashem. But the first step has to be asking for forgiveness from his fellow man. The Shla Hakodesh explains that the infraction between man and his fellow man acts as a barrier, preventing his supplication from reaching Hashem.

Regarding a sin which was done in public, aside from the sin, there is an aspect of the desecration of Hashem’s holy name, which must be attended to. One may ask whether not taking care of the chillul Hashem aspect gets in the way of asking for forgiveness from Hashem. The Pri Megadim teaches us, based on the Yalkut on this verse, that they are independent. One can realign himself with Hashem without first attending to the aspect of the desecration of His name. From what he writes it seems to me that the reason for this is that when someone sins against Hashem, he can never really affect Hashem in a negative manner! Even the desecration that ensues, in reality, doesn’t affect Hashem’s status in the world at all. This is what the source verse teaches us “Return, Israel, unto Hashem, your G‑d…” If this is true and there was no real damage committed, why must a person do teshuva for any sin? The answer is obvious: Teshuva is not for Hashem, it is for us.

I would like to explain this with a parable: You have a child who has desires, which by following them, brings the child to places which are not good for him. The parents admonish, cajole, and try to talk sense into the child to avoid such activity. After being punished, the child might possibly think that the parents don’t love him as they don’t allow him to do what he wants to do. But as he matures, the child may realize that those punishments were actually for his own betterment.

I heard from a Rabbi in Flatbush, Brooklyn, that a student of his told him privately that he started to smoke marijuana. Upon hearing this, the Rabbi said, “I would like to give you a brocho.” The student was amazed, and asked, “What brocho do you want to give me?” The rabbi answered, “I give you a brocho that you get busted immediately by the police!” That motza’ei Shabbos the brocho was fulfilled and the boy called the Rabbi from jail telling him that his brochos have much power to them! This is a story from which we can learn that what seems to be bad for us can really be for our betterment. When we own up to the sins that we have done and follow the Rambam’s rules for doing teshuva, we come out a better person. As Chazal teach us: A place where a baal teshuva stands, a Tzadik gamor cannot stand.

What we understand from this is that the purpose of our doing teshuva is not to avert a bad decree on us, whether in this world or the world to come (though we hope it will be the outcome of our teshuva), rather it is an opportunity to come closer to Hashem by bettering ourselves. I believe that when we understand that teshuva is all for our betterment, we will, on our own volition, want to repent and show our remorse publicly in order to bring us to higher levels of closeness to Hashem, which will in turn cause others to learn from our mistakes. This will counter the previous chillul Hashem.

When our teshuva is motivated by our need of getting closer to Hashem, that teshuva will sanctify G-d’s name. Through that, we will be part of Klal Yisrael’s great sanctification of G-d’s name and thereby merit a kesiva vechasima tova.