Repentance
Question
hi. are there ways for jews to atone for their sins? it stresses me out that my mom cheated on my dad because adulterers aren’t allowed in heaven and my mom is the one person I need to be with forever. I also shoplifted a few times when I was younger. thieves cant get into heaven so am I screwed either way? I am a young woman with plenty of life left to live but the fear of the unknown weighs a heavy burden on me
Answers
I am not sure where you arrived at the idea that adulterers cannot have a place in the World to Come. I am also unsure as toy how you came to the conclusion that thieves cannot enter the World to Come ether. Repentance is something that can be done at any time. What needs to be done? A person needs to go through the stages that Maimonides describes. They are: 1. Regret 2. Confessing the sin to God in prayer 3. Commitment not to repeat it in future. These stages are the main battle in a person’s personal belief. If a person is cognizant of the fact that this world is merely a temporary station before we move on to the World to Come, it becomes considerably easier to accept the dictates of the Torah and live by them.
The most important piece of advice that I can give to anyone contemplating repentance is that whatever resolutions you take upon yourself do not expect to be able to achieve your goal without “tripping up” on the way. The sign of being serious is that even after having fallen a person does not revert to his old behavior.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team