LEV41 [One of the fundamentals of repentance). Confession, as it is written [this verse]: "He shall confess that wherein he has sinned." And he must mention both his own sins and those of his ancestors. Why those of his ancestors? Because he is punished if he continues in their ways; and it is thus written (Ibid. 26:40): "And they shall confess their transgressions and the transgressions of their fathers." And he must take great care during confession to resolve in his heart to forsake his evil ways. For if he intends to return to them and does not forsake them then he is reckoned as one who undergoes [purifying] ritual immersion with a creeping [defiling] thing in his hand (Ta'anis 16a); for confession is analogous to ritual immersion, and the sin, to a creeping thing, and it goes without saying that ritual immersion is of no avail to one who holds such a thing.