According to the article we read, it seems as if only humans have the option of doing תשובה. We see that when אדם and חוה sin, 'ה asks them what happened, giving them the option to confess. With the נחש, though, 'ה doesn't ask what happened, he just punishes it. The נחש is part of nature, and as such, has no hope of doing תשובה. The laws of nature are very strict. It is not in the laws of nature for an animal or another part of nature to do תשובה. Only creatures made בצלם א-לוקים (humans) merit the demonstration of the attribute of mercy.
In the example given in the article, there was a man named R' Elazar ben Dordaya who was known for having had many inappropriate relations with women all over the world. One of the women told him that he would never be accepted as having done תשובה. He felt terrible for what he had done and went to many creatures of nature to ask them to beg for forgiveness on his behalf. He went to the mountains and valleys, the earth and sky, the sun and moon, and the stars and constellations. All of them said that they had to pray for forgiveness for themselves first. R Elazar sat down and began crying. He cried for a long time and said, "There is no one for me to depend on but myself!" After a short time, a voice rang out and said R' Elazar ben Dordaya is invited to Eternal Life.
As the article says at the end, "There is no repair and no teshuva – not through the heavens and the earth, neither by the agency of the mountains and hills, nor any hope in the sun and moon or the stars and constellations, nor through the snake. Teshuva and repair exist only within man, and we have no one to rely on but ourselves."
We should all work to do תשובה and repair ourselves, especially during these עשרת ימי תשובה and we should all be signed and sealed in the ספר החיים.
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