ArcaMax

To explain the unique spiritual fears of the Jewish people is quite difficult. In a way it is like trying to explain to a white person what it feels like to be a Black person. There are some feelings that we just cannot adequately share with people who do not share our history or faith.

Let me try.

One day during an attack on Israel by Iraqi scud missiles, Tommy and I (Father Tom) were together. I asked him, “Tommy, did you ever wake up in a cold sweat because you thought that all the Catholic people in the world might be murdered?” He thought and quietly said, “No, never.” I then explained to him that every Jew I knew has had that nightmare.

After centuries of persecution, after the Holocaust and after unrelenting hostility to the existence of the State of Israel, every Jew has had to live with the fear that our existence here on planet earth is by no means assured.

Is that fear irrational or excessive? I think not.

One out of every three people on earth is a Christian but less than one in a hundred people on earth is Jewish. The Holocaust murdered one out of every three Jews who had been alive before WWII. Jewish birthrates are low and membership in synagogues is shrinking. Now in the midst of all this, Iran, the world’s greatest sponsor of terror, has declared in clear and consistent language that one of the central purposes of its existence is the extermination of Israel and with it the future of the Jewish people. Iran has also impoverished its own people to develop a nuclear weapon to achieve this genocidal goal. And in the face of this palpable fear Israel has risked its soldiers and citizens to eliminate this existential threat. Tommy understood this during a previous war and I pray that all the Christian supporters of Israel will try to understand this now.

There was no choice for the world’s democracies to fight Hitler. There is no choice for Israel and the world’s democracies now to fight the mullahs in Iran. The Torah teaches in Deuteronomy 30:19, “Choose life”. Sometimes choosing life means defeating evil. Stand with Israel now.

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, you asked for feedback about the topic of "forgiveness". It is one of the hardest things to do, and I have several books on the topic. In this month's issue of the Franciscan magazine, St. Anthony's Messenger, there was an article on the topic. One of the things the article stated was that "forgiveness has to do with handing our abuser over to God" and that God is with us in our suffering and he suffers what we endure with us and we with Him.

I have experience with someone who has done great harm to my family and is still doing harm. I have also decided to hand it over to God for judgment, and I do not want to spend an ounce of energy hating this person. I agree with the sentiment that hating someone is like taking poison yourself and expecting it to harm the other person. I don't believe that you have to maintain contact with that person, and I feel that it's probably better if you don't. I look forward to hearing what you have to say further on the topic. – (From A)

A: Thank you, dear A, for your thoughts about forgiveness. The problem of “handing our abuser over to God” is that it is not so clear what this means. If it means that we should have no relation to our abuser that is impossible. The abuse has intruded on our life and our only choice is how we shall react to it. Seeking justice for the sin must be the first stage of reconciliation.

Beyond justice there is the problem we are considering and that is the question of whether we ought to forgive the sinner in order to enable us to go on with our life without having to carry the anger and vengeance inside us. As I have said and as Judaism teaches, we must do this if and only if the sinner asks us for forgiveness.

Christianity teaches that we must go further and forgive even the unrepentant sinner because forgiveness is a gift from God that we seek for ourselves and so we must not withhold that gift from others. That is where we stand on one of the great spiritual challenges of all time.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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