Forgiveness – A Jewish and a Christian Perspective |
During the Hebrew month of Elul, immediately preceding and leading up to the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it is the season when Jews turn inward, toward God and toward one another. Seeking forgiveness sits at the center of that.
Rabbi Jonathan Hausman of Ahavat Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and Pastor Joe Green, senior vice president of Eagles’ Wings, joined the Inspiration from Zion podcast to discuss Jewish and Christian perspectives on forgiveness, not as opponents but as long-standing friends.
In Elul, during which the conversation took place, Jewish daily liturgy shifts. Psalm 27 is recited each morning: “The Lord is my light and my help, whom shall I fear?” The shofar is sounded on weekdays, not first on Rosh Hashanah. Hausman compared Elul to an alarm clock that has already gone off. He reflected on the pulse of this season, not just from timeless Jewish teaching and practice. He related that his grandfather used another image. Sometimes you need someone to turn the key and walk in. Elul is that key.
He also corrected a common Christian impression that Jews barely think about sin until this season. The Amidah prayer recited three times a day already contains petitions for understanding, return, and pardon. The Hebrew word for sin, he noted, begins as an image of an arrow that misses the mark. The language of the prayers is first person plural. “Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned.” The High Holiday season does not invent the work. It raises the volume from private petition to communal accounting.
Though having many Jewish friends and having been to Israel many times,........