Musar su Levitico 26:40

The fourteenth principle is confession, as it is stated (Leviticus 5:5), "and he shall confess that wherein he has sinned." And he must mention his iniquities and the iniquities of his fathers. For he is punished [for them] - if he holds on to the actions of his fathers. And likewise is it written (Leviticus 26:40), "and they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers."

Since atonement for sins by means of a sacrifice is possible only in ארץ ישראל we could have concluded that outside the Holy Land there is no need for that confession. To tell us that this is not so the Torah writes והתודו את עונם, "they shall confess their sins." This is written in Leviticus 26,40, a paragraph that describes the Jews as already in exile. Daniel 9,7 said: לך ה' הצדקה ולנו בושת הפנים, "Yours is righteousness O Lord, whereas shame is on us, etc." Daniel, of course, lived outside the land of Israel.

The fourteenth principle of repentance is the confession, as it is said, "That he shall confess that wherein he hath sinned" (Lev. 5:5). And a person is obliged to remember his sins, and the sins of his fathers. Now why should he confess the sins of his fathers? Because of the fact that he is considered guilty if he clings to the evil deeds of his fathers. And thus it is written, "And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers" (Lev. 26:40). And he should be very careful at the time of the confession to resolve in his heart to abandon his evil ways, for if he returns to them and does not abandon them he is like one who immerses himself but grasps an unclean creature (Ta'anith 16a). For confession is like immersion and the sin is like the unclean worm, and it is clear that immersion is of no use when the person who immerses himself holds on to the source of his defilement.