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“Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?” (Lam. 3:38). The Holy One, blessed be He, does not decree that a man be either good or bad.1Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 5:12 And so the scholars have said, “All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven”2Berakoth 33b. as it is has been said, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God, require of thee but to fear…” (Deut. 10:12). In the hour that a person is born, it is decreed whether he will be strong or weak, rich or poor, handsome or ugly, tall or short, but not whether he will be righteous or wicked,3Niddah 16b. they merely place before him two paths and he chooses one. And since this sinner injures himself when he turns from the good path, eschewing the good and choosing evil, he therefore needs to cry and wail for that which he has done to his soul. His reward is evil, and this is as it has been written after it, “Wherefore doth living man complain, a strong man because of his sins” (Lam. 3:39). Come and see how numerous are the afflictions, the fasts and the supplications entreated when his son or one of his loved ones is sick, for then his heart is bitter. So much the more must he afflict himself and mourn when he commits a transgression. Repentance returns his soul to two worlds.4This world and the next.