Kaisipang Hudyo sa Ezekiel 3:17: Akeidat Yitzchak

Midrash Rabbah Numbers, 20, states that the verse in Deut. 32,4 "the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, tells us that G'd has granted equal opportunities to the gentiles. If Israel possessed outstanding kings, so did the nations of the world. King Solomon's grandeur had been matched by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Yet, whereas Solomon used his position to build a temple for the Lord, composed prayers and hymns, Nebuchadnezzar cursed G'd, and declared war against Him. (Isaiah 14,14) David used the wealth granted him to fund the building of the temple. Haman used his wealth to obtain permission to wipe out the Jewish nation. Since the Jewish people had been given the prophet Moses, G'd had assigned Bileam to the nations of the world. The difference between the two lay in the fact that whereas Moses and other Jewish prophets warned their people against sin, Bileam seduced people into sinful behaviour, causing them to forfeit their share in the world to come. Jewish people exhibited compassion not only for their own people, but also for other nations. (Jeremiah 48,36, Ezekiel 27,2) Bileam, on the other hand, was bent on the destruction of an entire nation that had not committed an offence. This portion of the Torah is recorded to explain to the world why G'd removed His holy spirit from the nations of the world forthwith.

Since man's purpose therefore cannot be achieved without valiant effort on his part, and we observe more people regressing rather than progressing, the Lord, in His infinite wisdom created the vehicle of repentance. This will give those who have erred along the way a chance to return to the proper path. Each group of people,- in accordance with their respective characteristics,- is given a chance to do repentance accordingly. The best kind of baal teshuvah, penitent sinner, is the person or group of persons who is constantly worried about having committed a sin, and who therefore repents instantly, as soon as he becomes aware of an error committed. Such people seek to prove their having repented by exposing themselves to circumstances similar to the ones in which they had previously failed. In this fashion they can prove the viability of their repentance. Another type of baal teshuvah is the sinner who is aware of errors committed, but who lacks a sense of urgency and needs to be prodded into active repentance. Such people call on the Priests and the Levites for guidance in order to find the way back to Hashem. Then there is the third group of sinners, who do not consider repentance until the consequences of their sins have caught up with them, and they have discovered that the path they had chosen for themselves was useless.