218. Repenting from Bad Traits

Teshuvah 7:3

One should not delude himself that repentance is only for those sins that involve actions, like acts of immorality, robbery and theft. Rather, just as we must repent from deeds, we must repent from our negative character traits, including anger, hatred, envy, foolishness, extreme desires for money and honor, gluttony, etc. These are even harder to repent from than sins involving actions because it is harder for a person to separate from them. Isaiah 55:7 says, “May the wicked abandon his path and the corrupt man his plans.”

Teshuvah 7:4

A baal teshuvah should not think that he is far from righteousness because of the sins he formerly committed. Quite the opposite! He is loved by God as if he never sinned and he has a great reward waiting for him because he tasted sin but turned his back on it. The Sages said that even the completely righteous are not able to stand in the place occupied by baalei teshuvah. The level achieved by baalei teshuvah exceeds that of those who never sinned because baalei teshuvah had work harder to overcome their evil inclinations.