Back to the Garden
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, starts tonight. Most people know that it includes a long fast. Some people know that the Arab nations attacked Israel on this day thirtysomething years ago. Fewer people, I think, know that today is the day that we hope for God's forgiveness.
I guess in this day and age it's hard to ask for forgiveness, and maybe harder to experience forgiveness. This is a time in history when we avoid guilt feelings wherever possible. (We're more than happy to assign blame, but to feel guilt is a big no-no.)
The ancient rabbis said that God can forgive the sins we commit against Him, but He can't (or won't) forgive the sins we commit against other humans, so observant Jews spend the days between Rosh Hashana and today saying to their friends and neighbors "Please forgive me for anything I did over the past year to offend or hurt you," or words to that effect. The ancient rabbis also teach us that we may not withhold our forgiveness from others when asked for it.
What does all this mean? It's hidden in the Hebrew word for "repentance," which is "tshuvah". It doesn't really mean "repentance," which is another word for feeling sorry. "Tshuvah" means "return." In Jewish thought, this isn't a time for feeling guilty or sorry, necessarily, unless those feelings are necessary steps in a return to the life we led before we sinned.
That's the crux of the matter tonight and tomorrow. It's a time to repair the damage we did to ourselves and others by our actions, and to re-establish the way it was when the world was new.
Even a slum, like the one Ben "The Thing" Grimm up there grew up in, can look like the Garden of Eden after that.
Benshlomo says, Dear world, I'm sorry if I hurt you last year; please forgive me and remember that I love you.
I guess in this day and age it's hard to ask for forgiveness, and maybe harder to experience forgiveness. This is a time in history when we avoid guilt feelings wherever possible. (We're more than happy to assign blame, but to feel guilt is a big no-no.)
The ancient rabbis said that God can forgive the sins we commit against Him, but He can't (or won't) forgive the sins we commit against other humans, so observant Jews spend the days between Rosh Hashana and today saying to their friends and neighbors "Please forgive me for anything I did over the past year to offend or hurt you," or words to that effect. The ancient rabbis also teach us that we may not withhold our forgiveness from others when asked for it.
What does all this mean? It's hidden in the Hebrew word for "repentance," which is "tshuvah". It doesn't really mean "repentance," which is another word for feeling sorry. "Tshuvah" means "return." In Jewish thought, this isn't a time for feeling guilty or sorry, necessarily, unless those feelings are necessary steps in a return to the life we led before we sinned.
That's the crux of the matter tonight and tomorrow. It's a time to repair the damage we did to ourselves and others by our actions, and to re-establish the way it was when the world was new.
Even a slum, like the one Ben "The Thing" Grimm up there grew up in, can look like the Garden of Eden after that.
Benshlomo says, Dear world, I'm sorry if I hurt you last year; please forgive me and remember that I love you.
posted by benshlomo at 4:05 PM
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