“Avraham continued and took a wife whose name was Keturah”
(Bereishit 25:1)
Avraham remarried Hagar and called her Keturah to publicize the fact that she had done teshuvah and her deeds were as sweet as the fragrance of the ketoret. When a ba’al teshuvah is truly penitent, his intentional sins are transformed into merits, which offer a sweet smell. This is the connection between ba’alei teshuvah and the ketoret offering, which contained the foul-smelling chelbonah. Combined with the other spices, it emitted a good fragrance. Regarding sincere ba’alei teshuvah, the Navi states (Yeshayahu 40:2), “Her iniquity has been forgiven.” By doing teshuvah, one’s sins are converted to merits (Kli Yakar).
“Behold, I send you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he will turn back [to G-d] the hearts of fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers” ^(Malachi 3:23-24)
>Those who return wholeheartedly to Hashem will be spared on the Day of Judgment (Radak).
Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rav, “Where ba’alei teshuvah stand, even the completely righteous do not stand” (Sanhedrin 99a). Rashi (ibid.) adds, “The power of ba’alei teshuvah is so awesome that no creature can stand in their presence.”
Nowadays, when we have neither the Beit Hamikdash, nor the Altar for atonement, all we have is the power of teshuvah, which atones for all sins. Even a person who was wicked all his life and eventually did teshuvah is not reminded of his former misdeeds, as the pasuk states (Yechezkel 33:12), “As for the wickedness of the wicked person – he shall not stumble over it on the day of his repentance from wickedness” (Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 1:3).
The Rambam (ibid. 7:4) continues: One who does teshuvah should not fall into depression, feeling that he is distant from the level of tzaddikim on account of his previous sins. On the contrary, he is as beloved by Hashem as though he never sinned at all. Moreover, his reward is very great. He has tasted the taste of sin and has overcome his inclination to repeat it. This is the meaning behind the statement of our Sages “Where ba’alei teshuvah stand, even the completely righteous do not stand.”
