Analysis of the Hebrew term 'hayav' which simultaneously means obligation and guilt. The Mishnah sometimes uses 'hab' instead to indicate pure obligation without guilt. Being responsible is not the same as being guilty — this confusion is at the root of Jewish neurosis. The primordial moral obligation is that we receive being before deserving it. A zakai (innocent/meritorious) is someone who has acquired merit through his attitude, transforming obligation into merit.