It’s Yom Kippur. What is the holiday? How is it observed? | Opinion – Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Posted By admin on October 8, 2022
By Adam B. Cohen
The Jewish High Holidays Rosh Hashana (which already has passed) and Yom Kippur are upon us.
While the first really commemorates the creation of the world, Jews view both holidays as a chance to reflect on our shortcomings, make amends and seek forgiveness, both from other people and from the Almighty.
Jews pray and fast on Yom Kippur to demonstrate their remorse and to focus on reconciliation. According to Jewish tradition, it is at the end of this solemn period that God seals his decision about each persons fate for the coming year. Congregations recite a prayer called the Unetanah Tokef, which recalls Gods power to decide who shall live and who shall die, who shall reach the ends of his days and who shall not an ancient text that Leonard Cohen popularized with his song Who by Fire.
Forgiveness and related concepts, such as compassion, are central virtues in many religions. Whats more, research has shown that it is psychologically beneficial.
But each religious tradition has its own particular views about forgiveness, as well, including Judaism. As a psychologist of religion, I have done research on these similarities and differences when it comes to forgiveness.
Several specific attitudes about forgiveness are reflected in the liturgy of the Jewish High Holidays, so those who go to services are likely to be aware of them even if they skip out for a snack.
In Jewish theology, only the victim has the right to forgive an offense against another person, and an offender should repent toward the victim before forgiveness can take place. Someone who has hurt another person must sincerely apologize three times. If the victim still withholds forgiveness, the offender is considered forgiven, and the victim now shares the blame.
The 10-day period known as the Days of Awe Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the days between is a popular time for forgiveness.
Observant Jews reach out to friends and family they have wronged over the past year so that they can enter Yom Kippur services with a clean conscience and hope they have done all they can to mitigate Gods judgment.
The teaching that only a victim can forgive someone implies that God cannot forgive offenses between people until the relevant people have forgiven each other. It also means that some offenses, such as the Holocaust, can never be forgiven, because those martyred are dead and unable to forgive.
In psychological research, I have found that most Jewish and Christian participants endorse the views of forgiveness espoused by their religions.
As in Judaism, most Christian teachings encourage people to ask and give forgiveness for harms done to one another. But they tend to teach that more sins should be forgiven and can be, by God, because Jesus death atoned vicariously for peoples sins.
Even in Christianity, not all offenses are forgivable. The New Testament describes blaspheming against the Holy Spirit as an unforgivable sin. And Catholicism teaches that there is a category called mortal sins, which cut off sinners from Gods grace unless they repent.
One of my research papers, consisting of three studies, shows that a majority of Jewish participants believe that some offenses are too severe to forgive; that it doesnt make sense to ask someone other than the victim about forgiveness; and that forgiveness is not offered unconditionally, but after the offender has tried to make things right.
Take this specific example: In one of my research studies I asked Jewish and Christian participants if they thought a Jew should forgive a dying Nazi soldier who requested forgiveness for killing Jews. This scenario is described in The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, a writer and Holocaust survivor famous for his efforts to prosecute German war criminals.
Jewish participants often didnt think the question made sense: How could someone else someone living forgive the murder of another person? The Christian participants, on the other hand, who were all Protestants, usually said to forgive. They agreed more often with statements like Mr. Wiesenthal should have forgiven the SS soldier and Mr. Wiesenthal would have done the virtuous thing if he forgave the soldier.
Its not just about the Holocaust. We also asked about a more everyday scenario imagining that a student plagiarized a paper that participants friends had written, and then asked the participants for forgiveness and saw similar results.
Jewish people have a wide variety of opinions on these topics, though, as they do in all things. Two Jews, three opinions! as the old saying goes.
In other studies with my co-researchers, we showed that Holocaust survivors, as well as Jewish American college students born well after the Holocaust, vary widely in how tolerant they are of German people and products. Some are perfectly fine with traveling to Germany and having German friends, and others are unwilling to even listen to Beethoven.
In these studies, the key variable that seems to distinguish Jewish people who are OK with Germans and Germany from those who are not is to what extent they associate all Germans with Nazism. Among the Holocaust survivors, for example, survivors who had been born in Germany and would have known German people before the war were more tolerant than those whose first, perhaps only, exposure to Germans had been in the camps.
American society where about 7 in 10 people identify as Christian generally views forgiveness as a positive virtue. Whats more, research has found there are emotional and physical benefits to letting go of grudges.
But does this mean forgiveness is always the answer? To me, its an open question.
For example, future research could explore whether forgiveness is always psychologically beneficial, or only when it aligns with the would-be forgivers religious views.
If you are observing Yom Kippur, remember that as with every topic Judaism has a wide and, well, forgiving view of what is acceptable when it comes to forgiveness.
Adam B. Cohen is a psychology professor at Arizona State University. He wrote this piece for The Conversation, where it first appeared.
Visit link:
It's Yom Kippur. What is the holiday? How is it observed? | Opinion - Pennsylvania Capital-Star
- Michigan GOP faces backlash for tweet tying gun reform to Holocaust - CNN - March 25th, 2023
- The Holocaust: Facts, Survivor Stories, Documentaries & More - PBS - March 14th, 2023
- An apology to the victims of the Holocaust for the silence of my great-uncle Subhas Chandra Bose - Scroll.in - March 14th, 2023
- Rare Marilyn Monroe footage preserved by Holocaust survivor who escaped Nazis with help of Superman publisher - Fox News - February 19th, 2023
- A Timeline of the Holocaust | My Jewish Learning - January 21st, 2023
- British parliament member booted from Conservative Party after comparing COVID-19 vaccination to Holocaust - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - January 12th, 2023
- Trump Meets With White Supremacist And Holocaust Denier Nick Fuentes ... - January 2nd, 2023
- Online Bookstore: Books, NOOK ebooks, Music, Movies & Toys - November 23rd, 2022
- Fact check: Poster was once sold at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum - November 23rd, 2022
- Two new movies, Till and U.S. and the Holocaust, help us connect the dots between Jim Crow and fascism - Andscape - November 23rd, 2022
- Villager Maggie Wacker recently donated her fathers diary to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - The Villages Daily Sun - November 23rd, 2022
- The Holocaust | Facing History and Ourselves - October 27th, 2022
- Kanye was invited to tour a Holocaust museum. Would it have worked? - eJewish Philanthropy - October 27th, 2022
- Sisters who survived Holocaust die days apart in Alabama - October 19th, 2022
- How one Colorado Republican shaped what students will learn about the Holocaust - Chalkbeat Colorado - October 19th, 2022
- Holocaust-surviving lawmaker opens Italy's Senate, even as the far-right takes office - NPR - October 19th, 2022
- Child Survivor of the Holocaust - aish.com - Aish.com - October 19th, 2022
- The moral corruption of Holocaust fiction - The New Statesman - October 19th, 2022
- Historian: Holocaust Comparisons Are Frequent In US Politics - Texas A&M University Today - October 8th, 2022
- 'Hidden child' Holocaust survivor to speak at S&T - Missouri S&T News and Research - October 8th, 2022
- Powell-Heller Conference explores before, during and after the Holocaust - Pacific Lutheran University - October 8th, 2022
- Eastern Michigan University to host "The U.S. and the Holocaust" documentary webinar - Oct. 13 - EMU Today - October 6th, 2022
- S&T professor to give a talk on liberation of concentration camps - Missouri S&T News and Research - October 6th, 2022
- On the Anniversary of the Massacre at Babyn Yar: Joint Statement from Special Envoys for Holocaust Issues Condemning Russian Actions in Ukraine - U.S.... - October 2nd, 2022
- Ken Burns Turns His Lens on the American Response to the Holocaust - The New Yorker - September 23rd, 2022
- 'Shadowland' Could Be a Sequel to 'The U.S. and the Holocaust' - TIME - September 23rd, 2022
- A life of remarkable resolve - The story of Shaul Ladany, survivor of the Holocaust and Munich massacre - ESPN - September 23rd, 2022
- The U.S. and the Holocaust - Eight, Arizona PBS - September 23rd, 2022
- US Response to the Holocaust Explored in New PBS Documentary - WTTW News - September 23rd, 2022
- Iranian presidents remarks on the Holocaust spark outcry in Israel - PBS NewsHour - September 19th, 2022
- The U.S. and the Holocaust. Revisiting America's Role | THIRTEEN - New York Public Media - MetroFocus - September 19th, 2022
- Stand against Israel's attack on Palestinian human rights organisations - rabble.ca - August 30th, 2022
- Japhetites - Wikipedia - August 25th, 2022
- Common sense is not so common! You'll never believe the stupid answers and quotes given by these stars! - The Daily Post-Athenian - August 25th, 2022
- Biden meets with Holocaust survivors at memorial in Jerusalem - ABC News - July 14th, 2022
- Holocaust: Meeting the last witnesses to the Vl d'Hiv roundup, 80 years on - FRANCE 24 English - July 14th, 2022
- 'The Jewish Experience': Films find multiplicity of cultures - Rutland Herald - July 10th, 2022
- New archway brings recognition to Jewish cemetery in South Haven - Herald Palladium - July 10th, 2022
- Libya sees rebirth of traditional jewelry craft once taught by Jewish artisans - The Times of Israel - July 10th, 2022
- Why an Orthodox Jewish organization welcomed the end of Roe v. Wade - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - July 10th, 2022
- Jewish Population of the World - June 30th, 2022
- Good Within Bad - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - June 30th, 2022
- From Loneliness To Oneness: The Endless Expansion of Self - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - June 30th, 2022
- What's The Real Purpose Of Aleinu? (Part II) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - June 30th, 2022
- Cambridge to mark Refugee Week and Holocaust Memorial Day at free civic event on Sunday 26 June - Cambridge City Council - June 26th, 2022
- Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff Visits USC Shoah Foundation - University of Southern California - June 14th, 2022
- Opinion | Russia's Missiles Are Burning the History of Ukraine's Babyn Yar Ravine - The New York Times - June 14th, 2022
- Guildhall exhibitions focus on emigration and exile ahead of Refugee Week - Leicester News - June 14th, 2022
- 80 years ago Anne Frank started her diary, a landmark of world literature - FRANCE 24 English - June 13th, 2022
- About Us - A world that remembers the Holocaust | IHRA - June 8th, 2022
- Turning on the Light - UofSC News & Events - SC.edu - June 8th, 2022
- Dov Forman Wants You to Know His Great-Grandmothers Holocaust Story - The New York Times - June 8th, 2022
- Summer TV 2022: 27 Shows to Watch - The New York Times - June 4th, 2022
- www.mdjonline.com - May 25th, 2022
- Come to This Court and Cry by Linda Kinstler review when Holocaust memories fade - The Guardian - May 25th, 2022
- Three Brothers Bakery in Houston Is a Story of Survival - Texas Monthly - May 25th, 2022
- Lessons in hate from the Holocaust to Buffalo - Harvard Gazette - May 20th, 2022
- KY Rep. Thomas Massie voted 'no' on measure condemning antisemitism - Courier Journal - May 20th, 2022
- Professor's Portrait Captures the Resilience of a Holocaust Survivor - University of Denver Newsroom - May 16th, 2022
- The Holocaust | Holocaust and Genocide Studies | College ... - May 6th, 2022
- Holocaust Photos: 44 Heartrending Images Of Tragedy And ... - May 6th, 2022
- My Great-Uncle, The Holocaust's First Jewish Victim - The Atlantic - May 6th, 2022
- Days of Remembrance: Determination, Hope and Honor | Article | The United States Army - United States Army - May 6th, 2022
- What Happened at the 1941 Babi Yar Massacre? - History - May 6th, 2022
- UNESCO | Building peace in the minds of men and women - April 20th, 2022
- Holocaust Remembrance Day event set Sunday - Oakridger - April 20th, 2022
- Holocaust survivor freed from Auschwitz writes symphonic poem that will be performed Wednesday at Carnegie Hall - CBS New York - April 20th, 2022
- Ukrainian Holocaust survivors flee war again this time to Germany - NPR - April 16th, 2022
- The Holocaust Memorial Undone by Another War - The New Yorker - April 16th, 2022
- Holocaust survivor Elizabeth Sandy will speak at URI on April 28, Holocaust Remembrance Day - University of Rhode Island - April 16th, 2022
- Marvin Chomsky, Director of Roots and Holocaust, Dies at 92 - The New York Times - April 16th, 2022
- Holocaust Awareness Week features talk by Holocaust survivor - Source - February 28th, 2022
- Alderwoman Coggs: On the reemergence of America's Black Holocaust Museum - WisPolitics.com - February 28th, 2022
- Invasion of Ukraine brings back memories of the Holocaust, VB rabbi says - WAVY.com - February 28th, 2022
- Traveling exhibit sheds light on the Holocaust during visit to north central Florida - WUFT - February 17th, 2022
- Holocaust victims opera stored for years in trunk gets premiere at last - The Guardian - February 17th, 2022
- We cheapen the grief of the Holocaust by conjuring Nazi tyranny it must stop | Opinion - NorthJersey.com - February 17th, 2022
- New York police investigating 2 alleged assaults against Jews - The Times of Israel - February 11th, 2022
- Teen Charged With Hate Crime In Attack On Man In Brooklyn - CBS New York - February 11th, 2022
- Jewish Documentary Film Series Begins Feb. 15 At The Jewish Cultural Center For 4 Consecutive Weeks - The Chattanoogan - February 11th, 2022
Comments