Musar su I Samuele 28:78

And the highest level in this is that one would be humiliated by all of his iniquities in front of God, may He be blessed. And the content of humiliation is the feeling of shame and change in the radiance of his face, like the matter that is stated (Psalms 59:8), "shame covers my face." And you will see that in every place, humiliation is mentioned after shame - as it is more than shame: "Be ashamed and humiliated" (Ezekiel 36:32); "I am ashamed and humiliated"(Jeremiah 31:19). And when the sinner sees that God, may He be blessed, passes over his transgression, is patient with him, does not pay him back, does not do to him according to His sins and does not pay him back according to his iniquities, he has greater shame in his heart. For does not one who sinned against a king of flesh and blood and was treacherous to him, yet is forgiven by him, feel shame towards him? Accordingly is it written (Ezekiel 16:63), "Thus you shall remember and feel shame, [...] when I have forgiven you for all that you did." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 12b) that someone who does something and is ashamed by it has all of his iniquities forgiven. And so do we find with Saul, who said (I Samuel 28:15), "and He no longer answers me, either by prophets or in dreams," but did not mention the Urim and Thumim. For he was ashamed to mention them, since he killed [the inhabitants of] Nov, the city of priests. So Samuel said to him (I Samuel 28:19), "Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me" - with me in my section [of the world to come]." And one acquires the level of shame by meditating to think about the greatness of God, and how evil is the one who rebels against His words; and in always remembering that God sees his deeds, examines his [feelings] and looks into his thoughts.

And the highest level in this is that one would be humiliated by all of his iniquities in front of God, may He be blessed. And the content of humiliation is the feeling of shame and change in the radiance of his face, like the matter that is stated (Psalms 59:8), "shame covers my face." And you will see that in every place, humiliation is mentioned after shame - as it is more than shame: "Be ashamed and humiliated" (Ezekiel 36:32); "I am ashamed and humiliated"(Jeremiah 31:19). And when the sinner sees that God, may He be blessed, passes over his transgression, is patient with him, does not pay him back, does not do to him according to His sins and does not pay him back according to his iniquities, he has greater shame in his heart. For does not one who sinned against a king of flesh and blood and was treacherous to him, yet is forgiven by him, feel shame towards him? Accordingly is it written (Ezekiel 16:63), "Thus you shall remember and feel shame, [...] when I have forgiven you for all that you did." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 12b) that someone who does something and is ashamed by it has all of his iniquities forgiven. And so do we find with Saul, who said (I Samuel 28:15), "and He no longer answers me, either by prophets or in dreams," but did not mention the Urim and Thumim. For he was ashamed to mention them, since he killed [the inhabitants of] Nov, the city of priests. So Samuel said to him (I Samuel 28:19), "Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me" - with me in my section [of the world to come]." And one acquires the level of shame by meditating to think about the greatness of God, and how evil is the one who rebels against His words; and in always remembering that God sees his deeds, examines his [feelings] and looks into his thoughts.

The flags of Reuven, Shimon and Gad contained all three elements of repentance. The first element is that demonstrated by Reuben, who did Teshuvah without being under any kind of pressure. The second element was demonstrated by Shimon, whose repentance was prompted by his being publicly humbled and shamed. His repentance was an example of what is meant by the verse in Jeremiah 31,18, אחרי שובי נחמתי, ואחרי הודעי ספקתי על ירך, בושתי ונכלמתי כי נשאתי חרפת נעורי, "Now that I have turned back, I am filled with remorse and shame; now that I have been made aware, I have struck my thigh, I am ashamed and humiliated, for I bear the disgrace of my youth." We also find in Ezra 9,6, אלוקי בושת ונכלמתי, "My Lord, I have been shamed and humiliated," that repentance was due only to such negative experiences. A public humiliation for the tribe of Shimon occurred in Numbers Chapter 31 where the punitive campaign against the Midianites is commanded and each tribe is supposed to contribute one thousand men to the army which undertakes that campaign. At that time the tribe of Levi also sent one thousand men, (cf. Sifri on 31,4). Since the Torah continues in verse 5 that the total number of men was twelve thousand, it is clear that none of the men were from the tribe of Shimon. It seems obvious that that tribe was too ashamed to participate, since its own leader had been the major factor in the seduction of the Jewish people by the Midianites having had any success at all. Berachot 12 raises the question how we know that G–d forgives anyone all his sins if he is ashamed. The proof is cited from Samuel I 28,19, when Samuel promised Saul he would join him in the Hereafter by the following day.

The flags of Reuven, Shimon and Gad contained all three elements of repentance. The first element is that demonstrated by Reuben, who did Teshuvah without being under any kind of pressure. The second element was demonstrated by Shimon, whose repentance was prompted by his being publicly humbled and shamed. His repentance was an example of what is meant by the verse in Jeremiah 31,18, אחרי שובי נחמתי, ואחרי הודעי ספקתי על ירך, בושתי ונכלמתי כי נשאתי חרפת נעורי, "Now that I have turned back, I am filled with remorse and shame; now that I have been made aware, I have struck my thigh, I am ashamed and humiliated, for I bear the disgrace of my youth." We also find in Ezra 9,6, אלוקי בושת ונכלמתי, "My Lord, I have been shamed and humiliated," that repentance was due only to such negative experiences. A public humiliation for the tribe of Shimon occurred in Numbers Chapter 31 where the punitive campaign against the Midianites is commanded and each tribe is supposed to contribute one thousand men to the army which undertakes that campaign. At that time the tribe of Levi also sent one thousand men, (cf. Sifri on 31,4). Since the Torah continues in verse 5 that the total number of men was twelve thousand, it is clear that none of the men were from the tribe of Shimon. It seems obvious that that tribe was too ashamed to participate, since its own leader had been the major factor in the seduction of the Jewish people by the Midianites having had any success at all. Berachot 12 raises the question how we know that G–d forgives anyone all his sins if he is ashamed. The proof is cited from Samuel I 28,19, when Samuel promised Saul he would join him in the Hereafter by the following day.