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— he will obstinately cling to it until he abandons it on some occasion — he will not be called obedient.
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As for the willfully disobedient (ʿāṣī) — he is one who has designated for himself a single commandment and always treats transgression of it as permissible; the tradition calls him a meshummad.
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The form this takes: he thinks that a certain law has been excessively strict, so he lightens it for himself; or that this law has been insufficiently observed, so he ostentatiously guards it.
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— as when he finds the law of usury or the law of permitted foods burdensome and conducts himself however he pleases in one of them. That is why it is said that each person has his own designated commandment, because their inclinations differ.
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As for the perfect (kāmil) — he is one who has managed to fulfill all the positive and negative commandments without being deficient in any of them; he is the one called a completely righteous person (tsaddiq gamur).
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Though people think it remote that someone like this should have all his conditions fulfilled, I consider it achievable — for had it been otherwise, the Wise One would not have ordained it.
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If someone objects: 'From the fact that the Torah prescribes "one male goat as a sin-offering to atone for you" (Num 28:15), we know there must inevitably be sin' —
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We say: this was ordained on account of possibility — if there was sin, it atones for it; otherwise it brings us reward.
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If he asks: 'How then did Scripture say "there is no righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin" (Qoh 7:20)?' — we say: it speaks only of capacity, meaning that there is no one among the righteous who is able to do good and yet incapable of doing evil; rather he chooses good over evil.
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As for the deficient (muqaṣṣir) — he is one who is negligent regarding the laws of positive action; he is the one said to be 'transgressing a positive commandment.'
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This applies to one who is negligent about ṣiṣit, tefillin, sukkah, lulav, shofar, and the like — he is in this level of transgression.
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As for the sinner (mudhnib) — he is one who transgresses the laws of prohibition, though only those that are not major sins since their punishment in this world is not severe; he is called 'one who transgresses a negative commandment.'
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This includes one who is lenient about nevalah and trefah, wearing shaʿatnez, taking omens and reading signs, and the like — he is in this level of transgression.
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As for the transgressor (fāsiq) — he is one who commits major sins, which are those punishable by karet at the hands of heaven, divine death, or the four capital punishments of the court.
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By this we know they are grave — such as forbidden sexual relations, desecrating the Sabbath, the first-born of the donkey, leaven on Passover, and similar matters — he is in this level.
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As for the unbeliever (kāfir) — he is the one who abandons the fundamental principle, namely the One who encompasses all, blessed and exalted be He; and his abandonment takes three forms.
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Either he worships another beside Him — whether an image or effigy, a human, the sun, or the moon — as He said: 'You shall have no other gods before Me' (Exod 20:3).
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Or he worships neither another nor Him — he worships nothing at all, true or false — as in the case of those of whom it is said: 'They say to God: Depart from us; we do not desire knowledge of Your ways' (Job 21:14).
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Or he is in doubt about his religion — he calls himself a believer and may even pray and supplicate, yet his heart is neither settled nor certain; he deceives and deludes in what he says and believes —
as He said concerning a people: 'They would flatter Him with their mouths and lie to Him with their tongues' (Ps 78:36) —
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'they lied to Him, and their hearts were not firm with Him; they were not faithful to His covenant' (Ps 78:36–37) — he is called one 'by whom the name of Heaven is profaned,' and he is in this level.
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All of these, when they repent, are forgiven in both worlds — except for what God has written in it 'he shall not go unpunished,' in which there must inevitably be a worldly calamity, as we have explained.
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Section 5. The tenth is the penitent who observes the conditions of repentance. The conditions of repentance are four: abandonment, remorse, seeking forgiveness, and committing not to recidivate.
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All four are gathered in Scripture in a single passage: 'Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. Take words with you and return... Assyria shall not save us, upon a horse...' (Hos 14:2–4).
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'Return' — turn back from what you are doing — is the heading of abandoning transgressions.
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'For you have stumbled in your iniquity' means remorse — acknowledge that those sins were stumbling-blocks and evil.
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'Take words with you' means seeking forgiveness — and in it is a remarkable expression: 'Forgive all iniquity and accept the good' (Hos 14:3), meaning: for every sin You forgive us we will thank You and say 'Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in the way' (Ps 25:8) —
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And also: 'We will render as bulls our lips' (Hos 14:3) — this may be read figuratively as 'we will render as bull-offerings our lips'; or it may contain an ellipsis: 'we will render bull-offerings which our lips have proclaimed.'