Three Steps Of Teshuva

The Minchas Chinuch (364:1) asks that from the Rambam it appears that vidduy is an integral part of teshuva, without it, teshuva is incomplete, however, from numerous Gemorot, such as the Gemorah Kiddushin (49b) which says if one does kiddushin on the condition that he is a tzaddik, it might be a kiddushin, for he may have had thoughts of teshuva, it appears that one can do teshuva even without vidduy?  The Gemorah Kiddushin (40b) says if one regrets doing mitzvot they lose the merit of the mitzvot that they did.  So, they why should vidduy be required to rid one's self of averot?  The Achronim ask, the midrash Tanchuma in Nasso says that teshuva is only granted to Jews but in numerous stories in Tanach such as in Sefer Yonah and the generation of Noach it appears that teshuva is granted to gentiles as well?  

Achronim explain that there are two types of teshuva.  There is the teshuva of the gavra and the teshuva of the cheftzah.  For the gavra to fix himself, for the person's teshuva to be complete, one doesn't need vidduy, the charatah and azivat hachat suffices.  Just as one divorces themselves from the mitzvot they have fulfilled because they regret fulfilling them, so too one can rid themselves of sin.  When a person does teshuva, as the Rambam describes, the person is no longer the individual that committed the sin, one is transformed into a new person and is separated from the crimes one has committed.  Even a gentile can have this type of teshuva.  They can be transformed into a different person and are divorced from their sin.  This teshuva rids one of their connection to the sin, but the sin itself still exists.  Sins create an evil force in the world, as the Tomer Devorah explains, and the world has been contaminated by sin.  The Alter of Slodbadka points out if the Torah says that the scapegoat "carries the sins," then it must be the sin is a reality that exists in the world.  Although, through teshuva one has already been absolved from bearing responsibility for the act of the sin, the sin itself is not rectified.  For that, vidduy is required.  By doing an physical action of speaking words of acknowledging the sin, one can slay the monsters created by their sins (see Derech P'kudecha of Tzemech Tzedek.)  The vidduy and the level of teshuva only granted to Klal Yisroel is the ability to rid the world of the affects of sin. 

Rabbenu Yonah holds that there is a separate mitzvah of doing teshuva on Yom Kippur itself.  Why is there a separate mitzvah of doing teshuva on this day?  The Mishna at the end of Yoma says אמר רבי עקיבא: אשריכם ישראל, לפני מי אתם מטהרין, ומי מטהר אתכם? אביכם שבשמים,.  What is the need for the double language of לפני מי אתם מטהרין, ומי מטהר אתכם?  The possuk in Acharei Mos (16:30) says כִּֽי־בַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם לְטַהֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם מִכֹּל֙ חַטֹּ֣אתֵיכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֥י י״י֖ תִּטְהָֽרוּ.  Again, why the double language of טהרה?  Furthermore, Yom Kippur is a day of atoning sin, what is the טהרה?  

What Yom Kippur adds is a third level of teshuva; tahara.  Even after slaying the monster of sin, the dead carcass has still left its horrific stench in the room.  To rid the smell, air freshener of tahara must be applied. What Rebbe Akiva was teaching was that there are two steps to tahara.  There is the לפני מי אתם מטהרין, which is the person's job to come close to Hashem, אתם מטהרין, and then there is a second level, מי מטהר אתכם, that is the tahara that comes from Hashem that is out of a person's reach (Sifsay Chayim.)  The mitzvah of teshuva on Yom Kippur is to make a person susceptible of accepting the tahara that comes down from the heavens.  To receive the tahara one must be ready; that means one must do teshuva.  That is the double language of the possuk as well.  First there is the avodah of the person, to do what s/he can do to cleanse themselves from the stench of the sin, and then Hashem completes the job that is out of the hands of a person.