By: Pammy Tokajer
Forgiveness can sometimes be a good thing or a bad thing depends on the situation. The Torah teaches us to forgive one another, but there are some that say we should not forgive at all. But they are wrong.
Psalm 25:11 TLV
For Your Name’s sake, Ad-nai, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
When someone does something to us, bullies us, or calls us a bad name, the Bible tells us to turn the cheek, but it is harder than it seems. I know it is hard to forgive people when our pride gets in the way.
I know when I was younger I was called four eyes because of my glasses, and I was called miss goody two shoes because I was always kind and friendly. It was hard to forgive the kids for calling me names, but I knew way back then it was what G-D wanted me to do.
Forgiveness comes in many forms. One is verbal, and one is silence. But, asking forgiveness in person takes guts, fortitude, sacrifice and being humble.
Yom Kippur is when we ask others for forgiveness for the past year. It is hard to do, but it is expected of us. The high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year to ask G-D to forgive the sins of B’nei Israel on Yom Kippur. It was a very important thing to do then and now.
The purpose of Yom Kippur is to bring about reconciliation between people and between individuals and G-D.
I am so thankful for G-D’s forgiveness to us. Each time we mess up, we ask G-D to forgive us and He forgives us each time. He knows we are human, and we are going to mess up from time to time.
If you do not ask people for forgiveness, it will eat at our hearts, and we will feel guilty until we do.
It may be hard to forgive, but it will be better when you do.