The BiG Story

What Does It Mean

To Forgive?

Elizabeth Applebaum AppleTree Editor

n Yom Kippur, we ask
God for His forgiveness.
The day before, we are
\_,directed to appeal to our fellow
human beings and apologize for
any harm we may have done them.
But in fact, these are but a few
steps along on our path of repen-
tance.
The Torah teaches that simply
praying for pardon is not enough.
First, man must acknowledge his
sin. He should be humble. He must
ask for God's forgiveness and
mercy, and promise not to repeat
the sin. And then, following
remorse in his heart, he should
make positive steps, take action to
do good.
Teshuvah, repentance, comes from
/--2 the word shuv, or turn. When man
transgresses and sincerely repents, it
is as though God has given him the

strength to turn his life around.
So ready is God to witness one's
sincere atonement that, according
to the Jewish scholar Maimonides,
"Even if a man has sinned his
whole life and repents on the day
of his death, all his sins are forgiven
him."
On this Yom Kippur, as we strive
to be better Jews, here are some
questions to consider:

#1) Why do you think it's so diffi-
cult for people to sincerely apolo-
gize, even when they know they're
wrong?

#2) In what ways have you
changed your behavior from last
Yom Kippur?

#3) Why do you think Yom
Kippur continues to be so widely
observed among Jews?

#4) The Talmud teaches that
"Man should be pliant as a reed,
not hard like the cedar" when
accepting an apology. How ready
are you to forgive someone when
he says he's sorry?

Nazi said he was terribly sorry for
what he had done and that now,
before he died, he needed a Jew
to forgive him.

#5) The hasidic leader Nahman
of Bratslav said, "There is no sin
that will not be forgiven by sincere
repentance." Do you agree?

#8) Why do you go to syna-
gogue or temple on Yom Kippur?
Do you sincerely repent while
you're there?

#6) God is said to be both forgiv-
ing and just. What does that
mean?

#9) Have you done anything for
which you cannot forgive yourself?

#7) In his book The Sunflower,
Simon Wiesenthal tells that, as a
young man, he was called to the
deathbed of a Nazi soldier. The
Nazi had requested that a Jew, any
Jew, come to him because he want-
ed to confess.

When Wiesenthal arrived, the

Wiesenthal would not. What
would you have done?

#10) If you make a promise to
God to change your behavior in
the coming years, how will you
implement that? How will you con-
tinue to monitor your behavior
months after Yom Kippur?

#1 1) Do you continue to engage
in activities that you know in your
heart are wrong? Why? ❑

10/10
1997

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