We're going through the 13 attributes of mercy of God that are listed in the pasuk of El Rahum V’Hanun. We are now up to the middot of Noseh Avon, V’Phesha, V’Chata’ah, which are three separate Middot, the 10th 11th and 12th. V’Nakeh is the 13th.
Avon, Phesha and Chatah are three different types of sins, so what exactly does Noseh Avon mean?
(There are actually two listings of the 13 attributes. One shows up in the Torah and the other one shows up in the Navi. We say that one during Tashlich, “Mi El Kamocha, who is like you, God, Noseh Avon, that carries sin.” Noseh Avon is the second in that listing, but the 10th in this listing.)
The Tomer Devorah explains that Noseh Avon means to carry the sin. What does that mean?
The Tomer Devorah explains an important principle: Everything in this world needs sustenance. Nothing in this world has its own independent existence, except God.
When we sin, that creates a negative force, a prosecuting angel.
(Mishna in Mesechet Avot)
And angels also need sustenance. We might think that angels just fly around, but nothing survives without sustenance. It says the food of angels, a man ate. Moshe Rabbenu ate the food of angels in Shamayim. What's the food of angels? The Manna.
It's a spiritual sustenance that the angels eat, and God sustains them.
As we said, when a person commits a sin, he creates a negative force. Who is going feed that negative force? It needs to survive. So it comes to God like all creatures, and says, “Feed me.”
And God should say, “I should feed you? Go to the one who created you, the sinner. Let him feed you.”
But how do you feed a negative force? Well, if the sin causes the person to have suffering, for example, the sin causes that the man needs to break his leg, the angel sustenance is the broken leg. But God doesn't do that. God has patience, so we don't see the immediate reactions from our sins. That's God's mercy. We don't have Middat HaDin/ Justice. The letter of the law would say, just like when someone cuts his finger, he bleeds, or if a person with a nut allergy eats a sesame seed- there’s an immediate reaction, so too, when you do a sin, there should be an immediate reaction.
There's no patience, it just happens. And really, that's what should happen in the world of sin as well. There should be an immediate reaction, but it doesn't happen. What does happen is that God is Noseh Avon. He carries the sin. He feeds the sin. He sustains the sin. That is the trait of Noseh Avon. God sustains the sin. What does that mean for us? We'll continue tomorrow, B’Ezrat Hashem.