Willful Compulsion

In the Yom Kippur prayers, we ask G-d that he forgive us for “the sin that we committed by compulsion and voluntarily.”

While the simple meaning of this statement is that it discusses two manners of sin, the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, expressed that it can be read in discussion of a single sin:[1]

“The sin may have been done out of compulsion but its cause was willful. Each Jew is given the ability to overcome any obstacle in one’s service of G-d. Only due to weak willpower can one be coerced into sinning.”

“Essentially then—that cause of compulsion is one’s will.”

[1] Igros Kodesh, Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Vol 2. Pg. 430

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