New Beginnings

One of the beautiful aspects of Judaism is that no matter how far a person falls, he can always start over and pick up the pieces.

At the end of last week’s Parsha, we learned about the lineage of Eisav. They were very corrupt, evil people. We are also told that Eisav’s wife’s name was בשמת. Rashi points out that her name was also מחלת. This was meant to teach us that when one gets married, his sins are forgiven. The name מחלת, has the word, מחילה, forgiveness, contained in it.

We are also taught that when one moves to Israel, his sins are forgiven as well.

If one gets himself into a financial mess and cannot see how he will ever pay off his debts, the שמיטה year comes when all of his debts are forgiven. One must never despair. One can always resolve to start over and get things right.