Rechav - a model of Teshuvah (Zevachim 116b)

One of Judaism's most famous prostitutes if Rechav. Here's her story:

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)  So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

“Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.” So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” (Joshua 2:1-16)

Notice the bold. Rechav has a special house. She has flax growing on her roof. She also has a window that is part of the city wall and a rope hanging down from it. According to today's daf, these three items traditionally played another role. Rashi tells us that as a prostitute, Rechav used used to use the window and the rope to bring her client's into her house. Furthermore, when she deemed necessary, she would hide them in the flax on her roof.

According to our text, when Rechav met the Israelite scouts she was so taken with Israel's power that she converted to Judaism. However, she was left with her past. How was she to confront all lives she might have ruined with her actions?

It turns out that by using the window, rope, and flax (three symbols of her harlotry) as the means to help the Israelites, she had in essence solved the problem. God forgave her through her work with these three items.

We all have symbols of bad things we have done in the past and they might take many forms. For some it is money. For others it is tangible things that were used to lie, cheat, steal, or embarrass. For some, attaining atonement will necessitate the destruction of these things (see Sanhedrin 25b). However for others, it is the reappropriating of these items that will serve as powerful means to teshuvah.