פירוש על ויקרא 26:40

והתודו את עונם, only some of them, as we know from Daniel and Ezra.

והתודו את עונם, "And they will confess their sins, etc." Earlier commentators have not explained these verses to our satisfaction; most of their commentaries are too far fetched to be taken seriously. One of the reasons is that there appears no reason why the Jewish people at that time should confess the sins of their ancestors. As soon as they confess their own sins they are no longer guilty of perpetuating the evil ways of their fathers (compare Berachot 7). Secondly, why did the Torah (verse 41) write: "also I will walk contrary unto them?" Why does the Torah mention a punishment after the people have already confessed their sins? Thirdly, why does the Torah speak about G'd bringing the Israelites into the land of their enemies when we have heard this already in verse 33? Fourthly, what is the meaning of the words או אז יכנע לבבם הערל, "or perhaps their uncircumcised heart will be humbled?" Nachmanides interprets the word "or" as alluding to the two possible causes of the eventual redemption. Either it would occur due to repentance on a nation-wide scale or it would occur because G'd's timetable had been exhausted and the Jews had experienced sufficient punishment during their long years in exile. I believe this is a very forced explanation..

I believe the appropriate approach to these verses is an examination of the causes of sinful conduct by the people. The people who experienced G'd's retribution on their own bodies had first observed how their fathers and forefathers had failed to observe the Torah and G'd had not seemed to react. The sinners appeared to have prospered. As a result of G'd's long-lasting patience, even reading in the Torah all the warnings about what would happen if we failed to observe the Torah or even listening to the warnings of the prophets became progressively less effective. The evidence of the people's eyes contradicted what they read in the Torah. As a result it became impossible to warn people of the disastrous results in store if they continued to ignore the Torah's precepts. In fact, the so-called facts undermined the people's belief in the whole concept of reward and punishment. This is why once G'd began to exact the retribution He had warned of such misfortunes as befell the Jewish people they would not be recognised as part of G'd's system of reward and punishment. Only after most of the dire warnings in the Torah had actually occurred, matching what the prophets had warned of for a long time, would the people begin to recognise it for what it was. G'd therefore demanded that when the time came the Israelites would not only have to acknowledge and confess their own sins, but unless they also confessed that their fathers and ancestors had been at fault, confessions of their own misdemeanours would not guarantee that this would not occur again.

Confessing their fathers' sins reinforces the people's confession of their own sins as it deprives them of the argument that whatever sins they had committed were no worse than what their fathers had committed without being punished. When the Torah writes ואף אשר הלכו עמי בקרי, "even though they walked contrary unto Me," this is the Torah's way of explaining the reason why the Israelites interpreted their misfortunes as being accidental, מקרה, rather than as a natural consequence of continued defiance of Torah precepts. The people would have to confess this error as an additional sin.