Without forgiveness, the world would probably be a much worse place than it is. Without the idea of forgiveness, which lies at the center of Yom Kippur, many interpersonal disputes would probably go on forever. Without forgiveness, many disputes between individuals, entities, countries, and nations would go on without any end in sight.
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Not everything can be forgiven. I, for example, am unable to forgive the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his people for the destruction of Gush Katif and the expulsion of its residents. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to. There is no forgiveness or redemption for maliciously taking a life, and certainly the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazis not forgivable.
On the other hand, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee established by the South African government in 1995 after the apartheid regime ended allowed its victims to tell their stories and the perpetrators of the crimes to apologize to them, admit guild, and be pardoned. In 2008, 143 years after slavery was ended in the US, a Jewish member of Congress, Rep. Steve Cohen, initiated an apology and request for slavery and segregation by the US House of Representatives. A year later, the University of Waterloo newspaper published a list of six components that must be included in a governmental apology and request for forgiveness. They are similar, and not by chance, to the mechanism for forgiveness in Judaism: admission, remorse, and repentance.
The Midrash says that God created forgiveness only after he created human beings. Next to the Sabbath, forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts Judaism has given the world. Rabbi and philosopher Jonathan Sacks, who passed away bout a year ago, noted that before Judaism, there was no such thing as forgiveness. Anger could fade or there could be reconciliation, as in the story of Jacob and Esau, but there was no forgiveness. Forgiveness is mentioned for the first time in the story of Joseph who was thrown down a hole and sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers, and after much occurred, forgave them.
Sacks defines forgiveness as one of the "most daring ideas most radical ideas [to] have ever entered the human situation." He defines forgiveness as an act that is not a response, but as one that breaks the cycle of provocation and response, offense and vengeance, that led entire cultures to destruction and still threatens the future of the world.
Forgiveness, Sacks explains, releases the individual from the burden of their past, and humanity from the "irreversibility of the past." According to Sacks, "Repentance and forgiveness – the two great gifts of human freedom – redeem the human condition from tragedy."
However, divine forgiveness is conditional: when the masses sing together, "Forgive us, forgive us, forgive us," they are asked to remember that God doesn't forgive humans until humans learn to forgive each other and until people learn to look inward and forgive themselves.
"Jewish autumn in the lands of my forefathers / Sends within me hints of Elul," Arik Einstein sang in a version of the poem by Avraham Halfi. "Already are fluttering inside of me / Little birds whistle the sadness / of Yom Kippur. So will the shofars be blown to open the gates of Heaven / and Jewish faces from the Diaspora / In a grayish glow / Will hover before the Almighty's throne / With pleas and entreaties and many sparks / In the depths of their eyes."
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