G‑d then reviewed the laws of theft, in order to encourage the Jewish people to make sure they were not in any way guilty of this sin before setting out on their journey toward the Land of Israel.
Counteracting Negativity
אִישׁ אוֹ אִשָּׁה כִּי יַעֲשׂוּ מִכָּל חַטֹּאת הָאָדָם . . . וְאָשְׁמָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא: וְהִתְוַדּוּ אֶת חַטָּאתָם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ וגו':
(במדבר ה:ו–ז)
[G‑d instructed Moses to tell the Jewish people,] “When a man or woman sins, and feels guilty and confesses the sin he [or she] committed.”
Numbers 5:6-7
If we have wronged a fellow human being in some way, we must first ask their forgiveness; then, we must restore the item or pay for any damage we caused. Then, we must “apologize” to G‑d, through repentance. Repentance consists of three steps:
regret for the past,
positive resolution for the future, and
verbal confession to G‑d of the misdeed.
Every misdeed creates negative energy, which has a “body” and a “soul.” The “body” of this energy is the misdeed itself, while its “soul” is the lust that caused the misdeed and accompanied it. Feeling regret for having committed a misdeed destroys the “soul” of the negative energy; confessing verbally – physically using our mouths – destroys the “body” of the negative energy.1
We as Jews can’t be right with G d until we’ve made it right with our fellowman or woman. We’re human and always prone to err, however, when we do negative acts or say negative words to all other persons then we must perform constructive criticism upon ourselves. We should do this type of criticism on a weekly basis so sins don’t mount into a hillside. We must pray humbly to G d for his help to examine our conscience whole heartedly then pray for G d’s help in how to deal with all the hurtful acts we’ve thrust upon others and pull out of our minds the negativity we’ve been thinking, as well as, we’ve been mouthing. Then we can begin to compose the most effective way to reach out to these people, preferably with a face to face meeting. Apologies over the telephone, or by
correspondence isn’t usually the best idea, unless they live miles away. We need to plan a face to face meeting; that seems the best way to put negativity to rest.