Study Rosh Hashanah folio 18A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Here the verse is referring to the time before one’s sentence is issued, when God shows favor and forgives; and there the verse is referring to the time after the sentence has been issued, when He no longer forgives. This implies that after a sentence has been issued, there is no possibility of repe
§ The question of whether or not an individual’s sentence can be rescinded is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita that R' Meir would say: Two people take to their beds, and their illness is the same, or two people ascend to the tribunal [gardom] for judgment, and their potential
For what reason did this one recover and come down from his bed, while that one did not recover and come down from his bed; and why was this one saved from death, while that one was not saved? The difference between them is that this one prayed and was answered, while that one prayed, but was not
R' Elazar said: Not so; rather, here he prayed before his heavenly sentence was issued, and so he was answered, whereas there the other one prayed after his heavenly sentence was issued, and therefore he was not answered. R' Yitzḥak disagreed and said: Crying out to God is effective for a person, b
The Talmud asks: Can a sentence of a community really be torn up because they have repented? But one verse says: “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved” (Jeremiah 4:14), and elsewhere it is written: “For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet the st