Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

Sugya Map

The transition from the wilderness narrative of Bemidbar to the oratorical landscape of Devarim introduces a profound ontological shift in the nature of the Torah text itself. This sugya centers on the status of Mishneh Torah—the "repetition" or "exposition" of the Law.

• The Core Issue: Is the Book of Devarim of the same metaphysical and revelatory status as the first four books of the Pentateuch? If the first four books represent direct Divine dictation (Torah Min HaShamayim in its purest sense, where "the Shechinah speaks from Moses' throat"), how do we conceptualize a book introduced as "the words that Moses addressed to all Israel" Deuteronomy 1:1?
• The Nafka Minot (Practical and Conceptual Ramifications):
  • Halachic Reading of Curses (Tochacha): Can the curses in Devarim be interrupted during public Torah reading, or do they share the strict non-interruption status of the curses in Leviticus Megillah 31b?
  • Hermeneutical Authority: Do the stylistic variations, repetitions, and apparent discrepancies between Devarim and the preceding books serve as the basis for derashot (exegetical derivations), or are they merely stylistic features of Moses' rhetorical delivery?
  • The Boundary of Torah Min HaShamayim: Does a denial of the divine origin of Moses’ personal oratorical additions constitute heresy under the rubric of "he who claims the Torah is not from heaven" Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1?
• Primary Sources:
  • Deuteronomy 1:1-5
  • Sifrei Devarim 1:1
  • Talmud Bavli, Megillah 31b
  • Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 99a

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Text Snapshot

To understand the mechanics of this shift, we must parse the opening verses of our parashah with exacting precision:

אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּעֵ֖בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן בַּמִּדְבָּ֡ר בָּעֲרָבָה֩ מ֨וֹל סוּףf בין־פָּארָ֧ן וּבֵֽין־תֹּ֛פֶל וְלָבָ֥ן וַחֲצֵרֹ֖ת וְדִ֥י זָהָֽב׃

"These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan—through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab." [^1]

הוֹאִ֣יל מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֵּאֵ֛ר אֶת־הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לֵאמֹֽר׃

"Moses undertook [or: wished/began] to expound this Teaching (Torah), saying..." [^2]

Linguistic & Grammatical Nuances

1. אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים (These are the words): The demonstrative pronoun Eleh ("these") typically acts as an exclusionary term (mi'ut), indicating that only these are the words of Moses' personal agency, or conversely, that these words stand in distinction to the preceding books.^3
2. הוֹאִיל (Undertook/Wished): The verb ho'il is a highly unusual term in the context of lawgiving. Derived from the root y-a-l (יאל), it denotes volition, resolution, or self-initiated action.^4 It stands in stark contrast to the passive reception of prophecy characterized by the ubiquitous formula, Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor ("And God spoke to Moses, saying"). Here, the initiator of the expounding process is the human agent: Ho'il Moshe.
3. בֵּאֵר (Expounded/Clarified): The root b-e-r (באר) implies digging a well (be'er) or making something crystal clear. The Torah does not say katav (wrote) or tziva (commanded), but be'er—he clarified. This implies that the text of Devarim is fundamentally a work of interpretation and translation, rendering the primary light of Sinai accessible to the generation entering the land.

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Readings

To map the conceptual terrain of Devarim’s composition, we must analyze the dispute between Rashi and Ramban. This debate is not merely exegetical; it is a fundamental debate regarding the literary structure and theological character of the fifth book of the Torah.

1. Rashi: The Hermeneutic of Allusive Reproof (Tochacha)

Rashi, drawing on the Sifrei, immediately identifies the opening list of anomalous geographic names as a series of encrypted rebukes.^5

לפי שהן דברי תוכחות ומנה כאן כל המקומות שהכעיסו לפני המקום בהם, לפיכך סתם את הדברים והזכירם ברמז מפני כבודן של ישראל.

"Because these are words of reproof, and he is enumerating here all the places where they provoked God to anger, therefore he suppresses all mention of the matters in which they sinned and refers to them only by a mere allusion (remez) out of regard for Israel." [^6]

For Rashi, the entire opening of Devarim is structured around the pastoral and psychological demands of tochacha (reproof). Moses is on the verge of death. He cannot simply present abstract laws; he must ensure that the nation internalizes the moral lessons of their forty-year journey. However, true tochacha cannot be brutal or humiliating; it must be delivered with exquisite sensitivity (mipnei kevodan shel Yisrael).

Rashi systematically decodes each geographical marker:

• במדבר (In the wilderness): Not a geographic location, but a reference to their murmuring in the desert: "Would that we had died" Exodus 16:3.
• בערבה (In the plain): An allusion to the sexual and idolatrous betrayal at Shittim with the daughters of Moab Numbers 25:1.
• מול סוף (Over against Suph): A reference to their faithlessness at the Red Sea Exodus 14:11.
• בין פארן ובין תפל ולבן (Between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban): Rashi notes that "Tophel" and "Laban" do not exist on any map. Rather, they are linguistic encryptions: Tophel refers to the false accusations (tiphlu) they leveled against the Laban (the white Manna), complaining, "our soul loathes this light bread" Numbers 21:5. Paran refers to the tragedy of the spies who set out from the wilderness of Paran Numbers 13:3.
• וחצרת (Hazeroth): An allusion to the rebellion of Korah, or alternatively, a reminder of Miriam’s leprosy, which should have served as a warning against the dangers of Lashon Hara (evil speech) before they spoke out against God.
• ודי זהב (Di-zahab): Literally "enough gold"—a biting but shielded reference to the construction of the Golden Calf, where Israel possessed an excess of gold.

In Rashi's view, Devarim begins not as a code of law, but as a deeply personal, highly sensitive ethical will (tzava'ah) delivered through the medium of coded geography.

2. Ramban: The Lawgiver's Structuralist Exposition

Ramban rejects Rashi's reading of the book’s structure. While accepting the midrashic truth of the Sifrei's rebukes, Ramban argues that looking at Devarim only as a book of rebuke misses its literary and halachic purpose.

Ramban asserts that "These are the words" does not refer to the historical or moralistic introduction, but to the entire corpus of laws that Moses is about to expound throughout the book:

הפרוש הנכון בספר הזה כי... משה רבינו רצה לבאר לדור הנכנס בארץ את כל המצות שנאמרו לו בסיני ובאהל מועד... והנה משה התחיל לבאר להם המצות...

"The correct interpretation of this book is... that Moses our teacher desired to explain to the generation entering the land all the commandments that were stated to him at Sinai and in the Tent of Meeting..." [^7]

According to Ramban, Devarim is divided into two distinct components:

1. Mitzvot Mechudashot (New Commandments): Laws that were never mentioned in the previous four books (e.g., the laws of levirate marriage, the king, appointing judges in every gate, divorce, and the centralized Temple worship). These are laws that were communicated to Moses at Sinai but held in reserve until the nation was on the cusp of entering the land, where these societal and civil structures would become relevant.
2. Mitzvot Mevo'arot (Clarified Commandments): Laws that were previously stated but are now repeated for the purpose of clarification, elaboration, or to adapt them to the permanent agricultural and political life of Eretz Yisrael (in contrast to the miraculous, camp-centric life of the wilderness).

Ramban re-reads the grammatical syntax of the opening verses. He argues that Deuteronomy 1:1 and Deuteronomy 1:5 must be read as a single, continuous sentence, with the historical and geographical details serving as a parenthetical context. The syntax should be understood as: These are the commandments which Moses spoke to all Israel... in the land of Moab, where he wished to explain this Law.

Ramban's most revolutionary contribution lies in his definition of the word הוֹאִיל (ho'il):

והענין של 'הואיל משה' שראה משה מעצמו צורך בדבר זה, ואף על פי שלא צוהו השם עליו, עדיין לא מנעו ממנו... ואחר כך כשהסכים הקב"ה על ידו, נכתבו דבריו בתורה.

"The meaning of ho'il Moshe is that Moses saw on his own initiative a need for this matter. Even though God had not yet commanded him to do so, He did not prevent him... and afterwards, when the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with his action, his words were written down in the Torah." [^8]

This is a breathtaking claim. Ramban posits that the entire book of Devarim originated as a human initiative. Moses, looking out at the young generation about to cross the Jordan without his leadership, felt a deep pastoral urgency to translate, explain, and codify the Torah for them. He did not receive a command to begin this discourse; he wished (ho'il) to do so. God then ratified Moses' subjective, human exposition, retroactively elevating it to the status of objective, divine Holy Writ. Devarim represents the ultimate synthesis of the Divine word and human understanding.

3. Gur Aryeh (Maharal): The Metaphysics of Moses' Intellect

The Maharal of Prague, in his supercommentary Gur Aryeh, addresses a deep challenge to Rashi’s view.^9 If Devarim consists of Moses’ own words of rebuke and exposition, how can it be categorized as part of the Written Torah? Does this not blur the boundary between the Written Law (Torah Shebichtav) and the Oral Law (Torah Shebe'al Peh)?

The Maharal explains that Moses' intellect was not like that of ordinary humans. Moses had achieved a state of total intellectual detachment from material limitations—a state of sechel ha-nivdal (transcendent intellect). Consequently, when Moses spoke of his own volition, his words were not "personal" in the subjective sense. Rather, his mind was so perfectly aligned with the Divine Will that his spontaneous speech was a direct channel for Divine truth.

Thus, when the Talmud states that Moses spoke these words "from his own mouth" (mipi atzmo), it does not mean he made them up as a human being. It means that the Divine light flowed through his developed intellect, rather than bypassing it as it did in the first four books. In the first four books, Moses acted as a passive scribe (sofer); in Devarim, Moses' own cognitive and linguistic faculties became the instrument of revelation.

4. Or HaChaim: The "Shechinah Speaking from His Throat"

The Or HaChaim Hakadosh Deuteronomy 1:1 takes this metaphysical reading a step further, addressing the dual nature of Moses' voice.^10 He notes that the verse emphasizes: "These are the words that Moses addressed."

The Or HaChaim explains that there are two distinct levels of prophecy:

1. Aspaklaria She'eina Me'irah (The dim mirror): The prophet receives a vision and translates it into their own words.
2. Aspaklaria HaMe'irah (The luminous mirror): Unique to Moses, where the Divine Presence speaks directly through his physical vocal cords—Shechinah medaberet mitoch grono.

In the first four books, the Shechinah spoke from Moses' throat, and Moses spoke in the third person ("And God spoke..."). In Devarim, however, Moses speaks in the first person ("I said to you at that time..."). The Or HaChaim argues that this represents an even higher, more intimate union. Moses' own human soul became so completely unified with the Divine Shechinah that there was no longer any distinction between the voice of Moses and the voice of God. When Moses said "I," he was speaking simultaneously as Moses the man and as the channel for the Divine "I."

Summary of Readings

Analyst	Core Definition of Devarim	Function of Deuteronomy 1:1	Ontological Status of the Text
Rashi	A book of highly sensitive, coded pastoral rebuke (tochacha).	Coded allusions to historical sins, protecting Israel's dignity.	Divine dictation of Moses' historical rebukes.
Ramban	A systematic exposition of the Law (Mishneh Torah), containing new and explained mitzvot.	An introduction setting the historical and geographic context for the lawgiving.	Human-initiated exposition (ho'il) retroactively ratified by God as Written Torah.
Maharal	Moses' transcendent intellect (sechel ha-nivdal) acting as a perfect conduit.	The transition of Moses' role from passive scribe to active intellectual channel.	The bridge between Written and Oral Torah; Moses' intellect as a vessel for Divine light.
Or HaChaim	The absolute unification of the human and Divine "I".	The manifestation of the Shechinah speaking directly from Moses' throat in the first person.	Peak prophecy where human voice and Divine decree are completely indistinguishable.

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Friction

The Strongest Kushya: The Heresy of Mosaic Authorship vs. "Moses Spoke on His Own Accord"

The central theological tension of Sefer Devarim emerges from a direct contradiction between two foundational talmudic passages.

On one hand, the Gemara in Sanhedrin 99a defines the absolute boundaries of the dogma of Torah Min HaShamayim (Torah from Heaven):

ואלו הן שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא... האומר אין תורה מן השמים... ואפילו אמר: כל התורה כולה מן השמים, חוץ מפסוק זה שלא אמרו הקדוש ברוך הוא אלא משה מפי עצמו - זהו 'כי דבר ה' בזה'.

"And these are the ones who have no share in the World to Come... He who says the Torah is not from Heaven... Even if he asserts that the entire Torah is from Heaven, except for this single verse, which he claims was not spoken by the Holy One, blessed be He, but by Moses from his own mouth (mipi atzmo)—this constitutes 'for he has despised the word of the Lord'." [^11]

According to this passage, attributing even a single verse of the Torah to Moses' independent human authorship is an act of heresy that cuts a person off from the Jewish faith.

On the other hand, the Gemara in Megillah 31b, in discussing the laws of public Torah reading, states:

קללות שבתורת כהנים - אין מפסיקין בהן... קללות שבמשנה תורה - מפסיקין בהן. מאי טעמא? הללו בלשון רבים נאמרו, ומפי הגבורה נאמרו; והללו בלשון יחיד נאמרו, ומשה מפי עצמו אמרן.

"The curses in the Priestly Code (Leviticus) may not be interrupted... but the curses in the Repetition of the Law (Deuteronomy) may be interrupted. What is the reason? Those [in Leviticus] are formulated in the plural, and were spoken from the mouth of the Almighty (mipi ha-gevurah); whereas these [in Deuteronomy] are formulated in the singular, and Moses spoke them from his own mouth (mipi atzmo)." [^12]

Here, the Gemara explicitly states that Moses spoke the curses of Devarim mipi atzmo—from his own mouth!

This presents a glaring contradiction. If believing that Moses spoke even one verse mipi atzmo makes someone a heretic who has "despised the word of the Lord" (Sanhedrin), how can the Gemara in Megillah use that exact phrase (mipi atzmo) to describe the entire collection of curses in Devarim?

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Resolution A: The Two-Stage Theory of Composition (The Ramban's Approach)

To resolve this contradiction, we must distinguish between two different stages of the Torah's composition: the spoken stage and the written stage.

During the forty-year journey in the wilderness, Moses lived in a state of continuous prophecy. On the plains of Moab, during the final weeks of his life, Moses stood before the assembly of Israel and delivered a series of speeches. He did this of his own volition (ho'il Moshe), using his own linguistic style, choosing his own words, and formulating the curses in the singular (mipi atzmo). At the moment these words were spoken, they had the status of Torah Shebe'al Peh (Oral Torah)—the inspired, prophetic exposition of a master teacher.

However, prior to his death, God commanded Moses to write down the entire five books of the Torah, from the Bet of Bereshit to the Lamed of L'eyney kol Yisrael. At that moment, God dictated to Moses every single word of the speeches he had delivered over the previous weeks.

When Moses wrote down the text of Devarim, he did not write his own memoir; he wrote down what God dictated to him. God chose to canonize Moses’ human explanations, elevating them into the Written Torah.

Thus:

• Megillah 31b refers to the origin and stylistic formulation of the words. When they were first spoken, they were formulated by Moses (mipi atzmo).
• Sanhedrin 99a refers to the written text we possess today. If a person claims that Moses wrote a single verse in our Torah Scroll of his own accord, without Divine dictation, they are denying the divine nature of the text. The source of the text's sanctity is entirely Divine dictation, even if the source of its phrasing was Moses' human intellect.

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Resolution B: The Brisker Lomdus of "Gavra" vs. "Cheftza"

A second, highly elegant resolution can be formulated using the analytical tools of the Brisker school of rabbinic analysis. This approach distinguishes between the Gavra (the person/agent of speech) and the Cheftza (the object/substance of the speech).

In the first four books of the Torah, Moses was merely a passive transmitter. The Gavra (the speaker) was God; Moses was merely the microphone. The words were spoken mipi ha-gevurah (from the mouth of the Almighty) in both substance and delivery. Moses had no personal agency in how the message was conveyed.

In Sefer Devarim, the Gavra (the speaker) is Moses. He is the active agent of the speech act. He is the one standing on the stage, using his vocal cords, his grammar, and his pastoral sensitivity. This is what the Gemara in Megillah means by mipi atzmo: the delivery of the speech was driven by Moses' own agency.

However, the Cheftza (the substance and content) of his words remained entirely Divine. Moses did not invent a single halacha, nor did he introduce a single concept that did not originate at Sinai. The ideas, the laws, and the spiritual truths were entirely Torah Min HaShamayim.

Therefore, if someone claims that a verse in Devarim was spoken mipi atzmo in terms of its Cheftza—meaning that Moses invented the law or the idea of his own accord—they are a heretic (Sanhedrin). But we can freely acknowledge that the Gavra of the speech act was Moses (mipi atzmo in Megillah), because God chose to have His divine truth channeled through the thoughts and speech of His most faithful servant.

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Intertext

To understand how this dual nature of Devarim—the human voice carrying the Divine word—manifests elsewhere in Jewish thought, we can look to two key areas: the halachot of public Torah reading and the covenantal structures found later in the Prophets.

1. Halachic Parallel: The Curses of Leviticus vs. Deuteronomy

The practical halachic distinction between Leviticus and Deuteronomy is codified by the Shulchan Aruch:

בקללות שבמשנה תורה יכולים להפסיק... אבל בקללות שבתורת כהנים אין מפסיקים בהם כלל, אלא קורא אותם אחד מתחילה ועד סוף.

"In the curses of the Repetition of the Law (Deuteronomy), we are permitted to make an interruption [i.e., call up multiple people for Aliyot]... but in the curses of the Priestly Code (Leviticus), we do not make any interruption at all; rather, one person reads them from beginning to end." [^13]

The Levush explains this difference through a psychological and theological lens.^14 The curses in Leviticus are written in the plural and represent direct decrees from God ("And if you will not listen to Me..."). To interrupt these curses would look as though we are trying to distance ourselves from God's word, or as though we cannot bear to hear His direct rebuke. It is disrespectful to pause when the King Himself is speaking.

In contrast, the curses in Deuteronomy are written in the singular and were delivered by Moses ("The Lord will strike you..."). Because they are delivered through a human intermediary, the emotional weight is different. The community is not standing in immediate, terrifying confrontation with the Divine Voice, but is instead listening to the pastoral warnings of their leader. Therefore, we are permitted to pause the reading and divide it among different people.

This halacha demonstrates that the distinction between mipi ha-gevurah and mipi atzmo is not merely an abstract theological idea; it has practical, concrete expression in how we read the Torah in the synagogue.

2. Tanakh Parallel: Joshua’s Covenant at Shechem

To appreciate the unique status of Devarim as part of the Written Torah, we can compare it to the covenant speech delivered by Joshua at the end of his life:

וַיֶּאֱסֹ֧ף יְהוֹשֻׁ֛עַ אֶת־כׇּל־שִׁבְטֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל שְׁכֶ֑מָה... וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁ֜עַ אֶל־כׇּל־הָעָ֗ם כֹּה־אָמַ֤ר יְהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל...

"Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem... and Joshua said to all the people, 'Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel...'" Joshua 24:1-2

Joshua’s speech has many of the same features as Moses’ speech in Devarim. It is a retrospective review of Jewish history, it includes a call to loyalty, it warns of the dangers of idolatry, and it concludes with a covenant.

Yet, Joshua’s speech was never integrated into the Pentateuch. It remains in the Book of Joshua, classified as Nevi'im (Prophets), which carries a lower level of sanctity and authority than the Torah.

Why? Because Joshua was not Moses. Joshua’s intellect had not achieved the level of sechel ha-nivdal (transcendent intellect) that would allow his personal words to be retroactively dictated by God as part of the primary Law. Joshua’s speech was an act of prophecy, but it could not become Torah. This comparison highlights the unique status of Devarim: it is the only text in human history that began as a human speech and was elevated to the status of primary Pentateuchal revelation.

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Psak/Practice

Halachic Derivations from Deuteronomy

The dual nature of Devarim has a significant impact on how halacha is derived. Can we derive laws from Devarim in the same way we do from the first four books?

The answer is a resounding yes. The Talmud is filled with critical halachot derived from the specific phrasing, spelling, and repetitions in Devarim. For example, the entire structure of the laws of divorce is derived from the words sefer keritut in Deuteronomy 24:1, and the laws of appointing judges are derived from our parashah Deuteronomy 1:16.

This reveals an important halachic principle: once God ratified Moses' words and instructed him to write them down, Devarim became identical in its halachic authority to the first four books. Every letter, every spelling variation (chaserot v'yiterot), and every juxtaposition of verses (semuchin) in Devarim carries the same weight as those in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

אין הפרש בין "שמע ישראל" לבין "ותמנע היתה פילגש" - הכל מפי הגבורה, והכל תורה אלקית אחת היא.

"There is no difference between the verse 'Hear, O Israel' and 'And Timna was a concubine'—all of it is from the mouth of the Almighty, and all of it is one Divine Torah." [^15]

The Meta-Psak Heuristic: Human Agency in the Divine Law

On a deeper level, Sefer Devarim serves as the ultimate justification for the authority of rabbinic interpretation (Torah Shebe'al Peh).

By accepting Moses' human exposition and canonizing it as part of the Written Torah, God demonstrated that human understanding is not an obstacle to Divine revelation, but rather its ultimate destination. The Torah was not meant to remain an abstract, celestial document; it was meant to be processed, translated, and applied through the human mind.

This principle underpins the entire process of halachic decision-making throughout the generations. When a posek (halachic authority) analyzes a modern question using their intellect, they are continuing the work of ho'il Moshe. When their rulings are aligned with the principles of the Torah, those human decisions are elevated and integrated into the living body of Divine Law.

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Takeaway

Sefer Devarim is the bridge where the Divine voice and the human mind meet, proving that when we strive to understand the Torah with all our intellectual and pastoral sensitivity, our human words can become the vehicle for the Divine Presence.

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References

[^1]: Deuteronomy 1:1. [^2]: Deuteronomy 1:5. [^3]: See Sifrei Devarim 1:1; see also Talmud Bavli, Menachot 5b for the general hermeneutical rule of Eleh as an exclusionary term (mi'ut). [^4]: See Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:5 s.v. "ho'il Moshe"; see also Genesis 18:27 ("ho'alti ledaber") and Joshua 7:7 ("lu ho'alnu"). [^5]: Sifrei Devarim 1:1. [^6]: Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:1 s.v. "Eleh ha-devarim". [^7]: Ramban on Deuteronomy 1:1 s.v. "Eleh ha-devarim". [^8]: Ramban on Deuteronomy 1:5 s.v. "ho'il Moshe". [^9]: Gur Aryeh (Maharal) on Deuteronomy 1:1 s.v. "el kol Yisrael". [^10]: Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 1:1 s.v. "Eleh ha-devarim". [^11]: Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 99a. [^12]: Talmud Bavli, Megillah 31b. [^13]: Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 428:6. [^14]: Levush, Orach Chayim 428:6. [^15]: Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 3:8, based on Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 99a.