זְכֹר֙ אַל־תִּשְׁכַּ֔ח אֵ֧ת אֲשֶׁר־הִקְצַ֛פְתָּ אֶת־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר לְמִן־הַיּ֞וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יָצָ֣אתָ ׀ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֗יִם עַד־בֹּֽאֲכֶם֙ עַד־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה מַמְרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם עִם־יְהוָֽה׃
Ingatlah, jangan lupakan, bagaimana engkau telah membangkitkan murka Yang Mahakekal, Allahmu, di padang gurun. Sejak hari engkau keluar dari tanah Mesir sampai kamu tiba di tempat ini, kamu selalu memberontak terhadap Yang Mahakekal.
Mishneh Torah, Repentance
Among this group of twenty-four are five transgressions which block the way of repentance against the sinners, they are: (1) he who secedes from the community, for he would be absent at the time they repent and could not acquire aught in their virtuous performance; (2) He who opposes the decisions of the sages, for his opposition to them brings about his own separation from them, and he knows not the path leading to repentance; (3) he who disdains the precepts, for as they appear debased to him he does not pursue after them nor perform them, and without performance what virtue can he attain? (4) he who insults his masters, for such conduct brings about his displacement and repudiation, even as it happened to Gehazi2See II. Kings, 4.1G., and being repudiated he will not find a teacher to guide him to the path of truth; (5) He who despises criticism for he, indeed, left no path open for repentance, as it is criticism that begets repentance. Forsooth, when a man is informed that his sins are known, and that he should be ashamed of himself for his wrongdoings, he does repent. For example: it written in the Torah: "Remember, forget thou not, how thou didst make the Lord thy God wroth in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst go forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord" (Deut. 9.7), and: "But the Lord hath not given you a heart to know" (Ibid. 29.3), and: "A foolish people and unwise" (Ibid. 32.6); and Isaiah, likewise, rebuked Israel and exclaimed: "Ah sinful nation!" (Is. 1.4) and, "The ox knoweth his owner" (Ibid. –3), and, "Because I knew that thou are obstinate" (Ibid. 48.4). Almighty, too, charged him to rebuke the sinners, saying: "Cry aloud, spare not" (Is. 58. 1). In like manner did all of the prophets criticise Israel until they turned in repentance. It is, therefore, necessary to appoint over each and every community in Israel a great scholar of mature age, God-fearing since his early youth, and loved by them, people, to preach to the public and turn them to repentance. But he who despises criticism does not come to hear the preacher and does not pay attention to his words, he, therefore, holds on to his sins, which to his eyes appear to be good.3Alfasi, Yoma, Chapter 8. 7a. G.
Sefer Chasidim
Twenty-four things interfere with repentance.1Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 4:1. These are they: (1) gossiping evil, (2) slandering, (3) anger, (4) thinking evil, (5) fraternizing with the wicked, (6) eating at a table a meal that does not even suffice for the host, (7) staring at lewdness, (8) dividing spoils with a thief, (9) saying, “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone,” (10) disregarding one’s teachers, (11) cursing the community, (12) withholding the community from performing a meritorious deed is also included in this sin, (13) deflecting one’s friend from a meritorious deed to an act of transgression, (14) making use of the poor man’s pledge, (15) accepting bribes to pervert the law, (16) finding a lost object and not announcing it publicly so that it can be returned to its rightful owners, (17) seeing one’s son going out to a bad environment and not reprimanding him, (18) eating the plunder of the poor and widows, (19) separating oneself from the community, (20) transgressing the words of the sages, (21) honoring oneself at the expense of a friend’s disgrace, (22) suspecting the innocent, (23) despising reproof, (24) scorning the commandments. All these twenty-four things withhold repentance. Repentance is not withheld if he has repented of them,2Repented of the twenty-four items listed here. for he is then a penitent and has a share in the world to come.
And these things are differentiated in their various aspects. They are not all equal in punishment or with regard to repentance. There are aspects of them that close the path of repentance before their doers: “One who separates himself from the path of the community,” that at the time that they do penance he will not be with them, and he will not share with them in the good deeds that they perform; “One who contests the words of the sages,” because argument causes him to separate from them and he does not know repentance; “one who disregards his teachers,” because this causes him to be banished from the world, and in the time that he is being driven from the world he will not find a teacher to show him the path of truth;3Joseph Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim (Book of Principles), ed. Isaac Husik (5 Vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1946), I, 99. “One who mocks the commandments,” since they are despised in his eyes he will never pursue them, will not love them and will not perform them; “One who abhors reproof,” since he despises his reprover he will never find a reprover to lead him in the good path. Reproofs cause repentance, for at the time that they let the man know of his sin and shame him he then regrets his actions4“His actions,” is the preferred reading. and returns (to God) in repentance. And so we find with Moses when he would admonish Israel he would remind them of all their transgressions, “Ye have been rebellious” (Deut. 9:7), in order to cause them to repent, and (in this manner) all of the prophets reproved Israel. Therefore it is necessary to set up in each and all of Israel’s communities a person, an elder, wise and God-fearing from his youth onward and beloved to the people of his city, to reprove them and return them (to God) in repentance. And this one despises reproof and does not listen to his words therefore he will remain in his sins, which in his eyes are good. There are things which are great transgressions and him who does one of them the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let repent because of the gravity of his sin. These are they: one who leads the community astray and included in this perversity is one who restrains the community from performing a meritorious act; one who leads his neighbor from a good to an evil path, such as an instigator and seducer. One who sees his son conducting an evil life and does not reprimand him and his son is still in his care. For if he were to reprimand him, he would mend his ways; this is therefore tantamount to causing him to sin. Included in this perversion is each one who has the power to rebuke others, both the community and individuals, and has not done so;5Shabbath 54b. it is as though he placed the snare with his own hands; also he who says, “I will sin and repent,” “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone.” There are some things for which he who does them is unable to do complete penance, because they are between him and his fellowman; for example, when he does not know the person against whom he has sinned in order to ask for his forgiveness or, if he has stolen, to whom to make restitution. These6In the text, “he does not know” is lacking. are they :one who curses the community and has not cursed a specific individual, to be able to approach him, appease him and ask of him forgiveness; one who shares with a thief, because he does not know from whom the theft was taken because he7“The thief.” steals from all people and brings it to him and he accepts it therefore he doesn’t know to whom to make restitution, moreover, he strengthens the hands of the thief and causes him to sin; one who finds a lost object and does not proclaim it in order to return it to the owners, after a while when he does make penance he does not know to whom to return it; one who eats the loot taken from poor people, orphans and widows, these unfortunate people are not known and wander from city to city and there is no one that knows them to know to whom to return it; he who accepts a bribe to pervert justice, he does not know the extent of the perversion and what loss is involved in order to make a proper restitution moreover, he strengthens the hand of the pervert and causes him to sin.
These are very bad things and he who does them in all probability will not return (to God) because they are simple in the eyes of most people and it appears to them that it is no perversion but it is a decisive sin and perversion. These are they: one who eats at the table a meal that does not even suffice for the host, which is a great sin but he who eats thinks in his heart, “What is my sin, I ate only with his permission”; he who uses the pledge of the poor man, for instance he loans to the poor man on his ax and the creditor chops wood without the poor man’s permission and says, “What is my sin if I have chopped with it, he loses nothing thereby.”8Baba Metzia 82b. One who stares at lewdness, thinks in his heart, “What is my transgression, wherein is my sin, if I did look at my kinsman have I then fornicated with her?” He does not know or understand that he causes sin to the person involved, as it is written, “That ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes after which ye used to go astray” (Num. 15:39). And in the book of Ben Sira he says, “Avert your eyes from a beautiful woman.”9Yebamoth 63b; Ben Sira 9:5.
The rabbis commented on the verse, “He shutteth his eyes from looking on evil” (Isa. 33:15), that he closes his eyes from looking at women.10Baba Bathra 57b. A woman’s leg is a sexual incitement.11Berakoth 24a. The voice of a woman is indecency.12Ibid. As our sages have said, “He who stares at the small finger of a woman is as if staring at the pudenda.”13Ibid. They also have said, “Even at the colored clothing of a woman stretched out on the wall, if he recognizes the owner he is prohibited from looking.”14Abodah Zarah 20b.
He who honors himself through the shame of his neighbor says in his heart he is not sinning in that he does not embarrass him and did not bring him to his shame. In what manner does he do this? He compares his deeds with his neighbor’s wisdom, and his wisdom with the deeds of his friend, in order that it may appear therefrom that he is honored and his friend disgraced.
To him “who suspects the innocent,” it appears that he is not sinning, but he needs to learn from Moses, our teacher, who spoke evil and suspected the innocent in that he said, “But behold they will not believe me” (Exod. 4:1), (and) immediately he was stricken with leprosy.15Shabbath 97a. There are five things to which he who does them will remain addicted and from which he will find it difficult to separate himself. Therefore a man must beware of them and remove himself in order not to cleave to them, for they are extremely bad. And these are they: talking evil, going about tale-bearing, anger, thinking evil and associating with a wicked person because he learns from his ways, and they are marked in his heart, “ But the companion of fools shall smart for it” (Prov. 13:20).16Midrash Rabbah, ed. Soncino, Ecclesiastes, VIII, 80.
And these things are differentiated in their various aspects. They are not all equal in punishment or with regard to repentance. There are aspects of them that close the path of repentance before their doers: “One who separates himself from the path of the community,” that at the time that they do penance he will not be with them, and he will not share with them in the good deeds that they perform; “One who contests the words of the sages,” because argument causes him to separate from them and he does not know repentance; “one who disregards his teachers,” because this causes him to be banished from the world, and in the time that he is being driven from the world he will not find a teacher to show him the path of truth;3Joseph Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim (Book of Principles), ed. Isaac Husik (5 Vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1946), I, 99. “One who mocks the commandments,” since they are despised in his eyes he will never pursue them, will not love them and will not perform them; “One who abhors reproof,” since he despises his reprover he will never find a reprover to lead him in the good path. Reproofs cause repentance, for at the time that they let the man know of his sin and shame him he then regrets his actions4“His actions,” is the preferred reading. and returns (to God) in repentance. And so we find with Moses when he would admonish Israel he would remind them of all their transgressions, “Ye have been rebellious” (Deut. 9:7), in order to cause them to repent, and (in this manner) all of the prophets reproved Israel. Therefore it is necessary to set up in each and all of Israel’s communities a person, an elder, wise and God-fearing from his youth onward and beloved to the people of his city, to reprove them and return them (to God) in repentance. And this one despises reproof and does not listen to his words therefore he will remain in his sins, which in his eyes are good. There are things which are great transgressions and him who does one of them the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let repent because of the gravity of his sin. These are they: one who leads the community astray and included in this perversity is one who restrains the community from performing a meritorious act; one who leads his neighbor from a good to an evil path, such as an instigator and seducer. One who sees his son conducting an evil life and does not reprimand him and his son is still in his care. For if he were to reprimand him, he would mend his ways; this is therefore tantamount to causing him to sin. Included in this perversion is each one who has the power to rebuke others, both the community and individuals, and has not done so;5Shabbath 54b. it is as though he placed the snare with his own hands; also he who says, “I will sin and repent,” “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone.” There are some things for which he who does them is unable to do complete penance, because they are between him and his fellowman; for example, when he does not know the person against whom he has sinned in order to ask for his forgiveness or, if he has stolen, to whom to make restitution. These6In the text, “he does not know” is lacking. are they :one who curses the community and has not cursed a specific individual, to be able to approach him, appease him and ask of him forgiveness; one who shares with a thief, because he does not know from whom the theft was taken because he7“The thief.” steals from all people and brings it to him and he accepts it therefore he doesn’t know to whom to make restitution, moreover, he strengthens the hands of the thief and causes him to sin; one who finds a lost object and does not proclaim it in order to return it to the owners, after a while when he does make penance he does not know to whom to return it; one who eats the loot taken from poor people, orphans and widows, these unfortunate people are not known and wander from city to city and there is no one that knows them to know to whom to return it; he who accepts a bribe to pervert justice, he does not know the extent of the perversion and what loss is involved in order to make a proper restitution moreover, he strengthens the hand of the pervert and causes him to sin.
These are very bad things and he who does them in all probability will not return (to God) because they are simple in the eyes of most people and it appears to them that it is no perversion but it is a decisive sin and perversion. These are they: one who eats at the table a meal that does not even suffice for the host, which is a great sin but he who eats thinks in his heart, “What is my sin, I ate only with his permission”; he who uses the pledge of the poor man, for instance he loans to the poor man on his ax and the creditor chops wood without the poor man’s permission and says, “What is my sin if I have chopped with it, he loses nothing thereby.”8Baba Metzia 82b. One who stares at lewdness, thinks in his heart, “What is my transgression, wherein is my sin, if I did look at my kinsman have I then fornicated with her?” He does not know or understand that he causes sin to the person involved, as it is written, “That ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes after which ye used to go astray” (Num. 15:39). And in the book of Ben Sira he says, “Avert your eyes from a beautiful woman.”9Yebamoth 63b; Ben Sira 9:5.
The rabbis commented on the verse, “He shutteth his eyes from looking on evil” (Isa. 33:15), that he closes his eyes from looking at women.10Baba Bathra 57b. A woman’s leg is a sexual incitement.11Berakoth 24a. The voice of a woman is indecency.12Ibid. As our sages have said, “He who stares at the small finger of a woman is as if staring at the pudenda.”13Ibid. They also have said, “Even at the colored clothing of a woman stretched out on the wall, if he recognizes the owner he is prohibited from looking.”14Abodah Zarah 20b.
He who honors himself through the shame of his neighbor says in his heart he is not sinning in that he does not embarrass him and did not bring him to his shame. In what manner does he do this? He compares his deeds with his neighbor’s wisdom, and his wisdom with the deeds of his friend, in order that it may appear therefrom that he is honored and his friend disgraced.
To him “who suspects the innocent,” it appears that he is not sinning, but he needs to learn from Moses, our teacher, who spoke evil and suspected the innocent in that he said, “But behold they will not believe me” (Exod. 4:1), (and) immediately he was stricken with leprosy.15Shabbath 97a. There are five things to which he who does them will remain addicted and from which he will find it difficult to separate himself. Therefore a man must beware of them and remove himself in order not to cleave to them, for they are extremely bad. And these are they: talking evil, going about tale-bearing, anger, thinking evil and associating with a wicked person because he learns from his ways, and they are marked in his heart, “ But the companion of fools shall smart for it” (Prov. 13:20).16Midrash Rabbah, ed. Soncino, Ecclesiastes, VIII, 80.
Arukh HaShulchan
It is correct that when you say "and chose us" to remember standing at Mt. Sinai , concerning 'chose us", as it is written "lest you forget the things....the day you stood before the Eternal Your God at Horeb(Deuteronomy 4:9)." And when you say, "Your great name, " remember the incident of Amalek that The Name is not whole until one wipes out the descendants of Amalek, as it is written, "Remember what Amalek did to you ..."(Deuteronomy 25:16)" And when you say, "To acknowledge You" remember that the mouth was created to acknowledge Him who is blessed and not to speak words of gossip. And remember the incident of Miriam, as it is written, "Remember what the Eternal your God did to Miriam...(Deuteronomy 24:8)" And when you say "In love" remember concerning what is written, "Remember how you provoked the Eternal your God in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 9:7)." And when you read, "And when you remember all of God's commandments", remember that Shabbat is equal to all the commandments, as it is written, " Remember the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8)." As it is said, never forget the Sabbath day. And like Amram of blessed memory: From one Sabbath to the next Sabbath. And therefore in the Psalm of the day we read: "This is the first day of the Sabbath....." And when we say, "from the four corners of the earth," place the corners of the tallit that are upon his shoulders to fall downward. (Magen Avraham, small paragraph, Bet, and we are not concerned with this. See Pri Etz Chayim, Gate of the Recitation of the Shma, Chapter 3, and you will understand what we are not accustomed to. And be precise and find easy.)