The Parashah teaches, that one who steals an ox must pay five times its value, yet for a sheep four times (21:37). Chazal teach that the one who carries the sheep pays less since he suffered from embarrassment by carrying the sheep in public. (Bava Kamma 79b) Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz explains that since he suffered from more embarrassment, we would assume that he had some element of regret, consequently this would atone for some of his sin. Therefore, he only has to pay four times its value. We see from here that repentance isn’t ‘all or nothing’ and even thoughts of regret achieve some amount of atonement, even if we didn’t fully change our ways.
