“No one can forgive crimes committed against someone else,” the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said in reference to the Holocaust.
The renowned theologian’s words resonated with Rabbi Stephen Pearce as he reflected on last week’s terrorist attacks against New York and Washington.
“Forgiveness for this attack on America has to come from the victims and families,” said Pearce, senior spiritual leader at San Francisco’s Reform Congregation Emanu-El. “It’s not for me to say.”
The concept of forgiveness is at the forefront of many area rabbis’ minds as Yom Kippur approaches at sundown Wednesday. On this Day of Atonement in a country shaken by violence, they hold varying opinions about the possibility of forgiving those who murdered thousands.
Forgiveness, according to Rabbi Evan Goodman of the Reform-Conservative Congregation Beth Israel-Judea in San Francisco, is reserved for those who seek repentance with genuineness.
Those who engaged in the terror attacks “have not sought forgiveness or changed their actions,” and until they do this, “we cannot turn the other cheek,” he said. “We need to continue our lives and defend our lives as Americans and as Jews.”
Like Goodman, Rabbi Leah Sudran of Conservative Congregation B’nai Israel in Petaluma agreed that the terrorists must seek forgiveness themselves before others can grant it. Within Jewish understanding, “forgiveness involves the person who has done something wrong making amends, expressing regret, vowing never to do it again and seeking restitution,” she said.
“If the perpetrators of these crimes were to do those things, then we would have to consider it.”
But if this were the case, forgiveness would be more than just a consideration, said Rabbi Harry Manhoff of Conservative Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro. If the terrorists were to seek restitution, forgiveness would be a requirement, he said.
“If they came and apologized to the victims and the victims’ families and did what Jewish law requires, we would have an obligation to forgive them.”
But, like Pearce, Rabbi Steven Chester of Reform Temple Sinai in Oakland said, “The only one who has the power to forgive are the victims themselves or God.”
Rabbi George Schlessinger of Conservative Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa agreed “the victims would have to see if they could find it in their hearts to forgive.” Tragically, he added, only those who were injured could grant forgiveness, since “those who perished cannot.”
Likewise, the hijackers who died aboard the four jets will never be able to seek forgiveness, said Manhoff.
“There’s a reason there’s a law against suicide,” he said. “A person who commits suicide can never make right what they’ve done wrong.”
But according to Rabbi Jacob Traub of Orthodox Adath Israel in San Francisco, some wrongs can never be made right.
“There are certain things in this world that are unforgivable. This is one of them,” he said.
This way of thinking, said Traub, is in accordance with the teachings of Maimonides. The 12th-century theologian and physician taught that “the unwarranted taking of life for no reason whatsoever other than to make a point” forfeits one’s opportunity for forgiveness.
Rabbi Mark Bloom of Conservative Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland also said he could not forgive the terrorists.
“I’m not ready,” he said. “I don’t think Jewish tradition is either.”
What would it take for him and Jewish tradition to be ready to forgive? The terrorists would have to stop terrorizing, he said. “Until then, I can’t forgive them.”
Manhoff said he, too, has personal difficulty “forgiving someone who murdered hundreds of people.” But, he added, “even though they deserve to be hated, I don’t think it helps me to hate them.”
On this subject, Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh of the Jewish Renewal Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco explained that the Book of Leviticus requires Jews not to hold a grudge, thereby exhorting us “not to hate.”
As for forgiveness, she said, it is a process — one that Jewish tradition asks us to enter into as part of the High Holy Days.
Still, she said, it is up to members of her community to decide for themselves when and if they want to forgive.
“I’m not going to ask my community to forgive the terrorists on Yom Kippur,” she said. “Forgiveness is an automatic process that just happens within us. Our lives as Americans and human beings are forever altered because of the events of that week. We must be very quiet and search deeply inside for answers and for direction.”
But in Judaism, reaching the point of forgiveness is a holy or tzaddik accomplishment, said Rabbi Yisrael Rice of Chabad of Marin in San Rafael.
“The idea of wholesale forgiveness is a Christian idea,” he said. “Jews, unlike Christians, do not dispense forgiveness freely.”
So, if some do indeed reach the tzaddik level during Yom Kippur, Rice hopes they will first direct their attention to themselves and then toward those in their personal lives.
“If we can make ourselves that much more sublime, then why are we thinking about forgiving the terrorists? What about yourself, your spouse, your neighbor, the brother you haven’t spoken to in 20 years?
“Direct your focus to the people in your life and when you’re finished, then move on to the terrorists.”