It is written at the end of Hosea, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God” (Hos. 14:2). Repentance is great in that it reaches the Throne of Glory for it is said, “Unto the Lord.”¹ And it is one of those matters that had preceded the creation of the world.² It is equal in importance to all the sacrifices for it is said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Ps. 51:19). It does not say “sacrifice” but “sacrifices of.”³ Let it not seem to the penitent that he is distant from the station of the righteous because of his past perversions, sins and rebellion, for the matter is not so. He is loved and desired by the Creator more than the righteous, for he has tasted sin and has subdued his evil inclination and our scholars have said, “In the place where the penitent stand the completely righteous are unable to stand.”⁴

footnotes: ¹ Yoma 86a. ² Pesahim 54a. ³ Sanhedrin 43b. ⁴ Berakoth 34b.