LEV107 … [there is] one who constantly sets himself on a path that is not good (Tehillim 36:5), a man who daily treads [the course of] his sins (Eichah 3:39), repeating his foolishness (Mishlei 26:11). He keeps returning to his pursuit (of sin) (Yirmeyahu 8:6), at every turn he cherishes evil. The very obstacles of his sin, namely, his passion and yetzer, are constantly before him (Yechezkel 14:3; see Rashi; they become the bedrock of his ideology), and his desire and aim is that nothing should stand in the way of his implementing what he has devised (Bereishis 11:6). For such an individual repentance begins when he forsakes his evil ways and thoughts, and when he consents to maintain and commit himself not to sin any further. [Only] afterwards must he regret his corrupt deeds (unlike one who has sinned perchance, where the process of teshuvah begins with regret, this individual must first totally distance himself from sin; only then can regret bring him to repentance.), confess his wrongdoing and return to Hashem, as the pasuk says, (Yeshayahu 55:7), "Let the wicked forsake his way and the iniquitous man his thoughts (I.e., a complete break with his former lifestyle of sin.); Let him return to Hashem (this is the next stage in his repentance: regret, confession, and prayer (Zeh Hasha'ar), for he is now ready to return to Hashem.), and He will show him mercy." This is comparable to one who holds a [dead] sheretz (I.e., one of the eight low-creeping creatures that impart tum'ah (ritual impurity). [See this and following two verses), and comes to immerse himself [in a mikveh] to be purified. If he releases the sheretz first and subsequently immerses himself, he will then be purified; but as long as the sheretz is in his hand, he remains impure, and the immersion will be to no avail (See Ta'anis 16a). Forsaking one's preoccupation with sin is equivalent to casting aside the sheretz; while regret over sin, confession, and prayer, take the place of the immersion.