“If the king commits a sin by unintentionally violating one of the Almighty’s commandments which he should not have done…” (Vayikra 4:22)
Rashi comments that the first word “Asher”(If) comes from the word “Ashrei” (Happy). Happy is the generation in which a King brings an offering when he transgresses unintentionally. So much more if he regrets something he did wrong intentionally.
The King was a person with much power and his biggest virtue had to be HUMILITY. Power can make a person very arrogant and haughty and this character trait makes it very hard for a person to admit his mistakes. Although today we don’t live amongst kings, we do live surrounded by very powerful people. Even us simple people have a certain degree of power in our own piece of the world. Bosses, parents, teachers, supervisors, policemen, etc… hold some power. The more power you have the greater the importance of having the intellectual honesty to admit our wrong doings. Take pleasure whenever you build up the courage to admit you have made a mistake. This pleasure will give you the strength to always do the right thing. This is what it means to be brave and as Rashi says “Happy is the generation in which the King brings atonement even for an inadvertent act of his; how much more he will make penance for his willful sins.”
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