לא תתעב אדומי כי אחיך הוא
Do not despise the Adomite, for he is your brother.
The word אדומי means red, as the Navi Yeshaya writes (1-18), "אם יאדימו כתולע" - “If your sins are red like crimson dye.” Thus, the Yesod HaTorah explains this posuk to mean as follows: Do not hate your sins, "כי אחיך הוא", because they can become your brother! Your sins can actually turn into something very precious and beloved!
We know that when a person does teshuvah out of love, his sins are not only wiped away, but they actually turn into mitzvos. The aveiros that originally weighed down the Heavenly scale on the side of sin are moved over to weigh down the side of merit. How does this work? It works because we have changed ourselves. It is really not our mitzvos or aveiros that are on the scale. It is WE who get on the scale and WE who are weighed to see how our mitzvos and aveiros affected us. One mitzvah done with enthusiasm and joy can outweigh a thousand aveiros done without much emotion. Hashem weighs the love inside our hearts. How much ahavas Hashem do we have? How much yiras Shamayim do we feel? One should never be down on themself if they committed a sin. They should not become depressed or think that Hashem despises them. Never, ever. Hashem is waiting and yearning for us to do teshuvah, to change our aveiros into mitzvos by changing ourselves, our values, and our priorities.
Sometimes, we catch ourselves doing something we should not be doing or saying something we should not be saying. Don’t spend the next couple of hours bashing yourself. Rather, say, “Hashem, I am so sorry. That is NOT what I meant to do. I love You so much, and I feel terrible that I have caused You pain.” Now, you just did teshuvah. Not only that, but you turned your aveirah into a mitzvah. The sin actually brought you closer to Hashem. So the Torah teaches us: Do not hate “Adomi,” the red ones, your sins, because they are your brother. These sins can be a beloved brother, for they can turn your sins into mitzvos.
