Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

THE GATE OF REPENTANCE
An Explanation of the Multifaceted Obligation of Repentance, Its Essential Elements, and the Things Connected to It
Having discussed in the preceding gate [the virtue of] humility, which is the root and beginning of repentance, I think it proper to follow with an explanation of the essential elements of repentance, and the ways to its perfect fulfillment.
First, let us take up the obligatory character of repentance and the need for it. It is clear to us, through reason and from what is written in Scripture, that a human being falls short in the fulfillment of his obligations to the Creator.
Reason tells us [the following]: A human being, we find, is subject to diverse natural forces, is composed of divergent elements, possesses conflicting traits of character, and must adapt to changing circumstances. Accordingly, his deeds are also diverse. They include the noble and the reprehensible, the corrupt and the just, the good and the evil. Hence the need for the restraining bonds of revealed law and the restrictions of the political order.
As for what is written in the Torah on this matter, Scriptural comments include the following: “For the devisings of man’s heart are evil from his youth” (Bereshis 8:21); “Every impulse of the thought of his heart was only for evil, all the time” (ibid. 6:5); “A man is born a wild donkey” (Iyov 11:12); “Behold, even the moon is not bright, the stars are not pure in His sight. How much less man, a maggot” (ibid. 25:5-6); “How can he, born of mortal woman, be upright?” (ibid. 25:4).
Since it is clear that man fails to live up to his obligations, it was strictly out of grace that the Creator, in His love and compassion for man, gave him the ability to correct his error and make up the loss in his service, by repenting and returning to Him. He then emphasized its importance and gave assurances concerning it, through His servants, the prophets. He allows us wide-ranging excuses when we stray from the path of His service, and has promised to accept [our repentance] and quickly favor us, even if we have long defied His word and violated His covenant, as He clearly stated in the passage that says, “When a wicked man turns from his wickedness and executes justice and righteousness, because of these he will live” (Yechezkel 33:19).
Since the righteous are of two kinds — (1) those who have always been free of sin and transgression, and (2) those who have repented of their sin — and as the great majority of the righteous are penitents, the psalmist opened with “Happy is one pardoned of transgression and forgiven sin” (Tehillim 32:1), and then followed with the other class, those who have escaped sin entirely, even though this class is higher in excellence. The reason for this is that every penitent was perfectly righteous before he sinned, but not every righteous individual is a penitent.
Of the perfectly righteous he says, “Happy is the man whom God does not regard as guilty, in whose spirit there is no deceit” (ibid. 32:2). This class is mentioned last because in every generation it is rarely found, as it says: “O God! If You hold on to sins, who, O God, will survive?” (ibid. 130:3); “For there is not a righteous man on earth who does [only] good and does not sin” (Koheles 7:20); “For there is no man who does not sin” (Melachim I, 8:46).
For this reason, our Masters established the matter of repentance and forgiveness at the beginning of the [Amidah] Prayer, in [the blessings that conclude] “Who invites repentance” and “Who generously forgives.”