Stories of Forgiveness and Upcoming Jewish Holidays

Dear WISDOM Sisters:

I am forwarding a request to you from a Free Press Journalist by the name of Cassandra Spratling. She is working on an article about the power of forgiveness tied to a new garden of forgiveness being opened at the Dominican Center for Religious Development in Detroit.
In addition to that garden, she will be writing about a couple creating a park in Highland Park so kids have a safe place to play—part of their forgiveness of a man who killed their 2-year-old son in a hit and run.
She is looking for other examples of expressions of forgiveness or personal stories that demonstrate the power of forgiveness.

Since the garden is in Detroit and the playground will be in Highland Park, she especially needs to find people or examples in Oakland or Macomb county. If you can help Cassandra with her article for the Free Press, please reply to me at wisdom@interfaithwisdom.org with your contact information and I will forward it on to her. Thanks!!

While we are talking about forgiveness, I would like to mention that the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are fast approaching. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is centered around forgiveness. I would like to wish our Jewish Sisters a Happy and Healthy New Year (the Jewish New Year!!). Please read on for more information.

Gail Katz
WISDOM President


Rosh Hashanah, the first Jewish holiday of the year, begins at sundown on Monday, September 29th and ends at sundown on Wednesday, October 1st. Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year” and is New Year’s Day for the Jewish people. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the day when God created Adam and Eve. At this time God judges everyone and weighs their good deeds, or mitzvot, next to their sins. Thus, Rosh Hashanah is also called the Day of Judgment. If you have a superabundance of good deeds, you will immediately be inscribed in God’s Book of Life and Blessing. If you have way too many sins, and you are wicked, you will be inscribed in the Book for Death and Misfortune. Most people, however, are not in either of these extremes. So God gives people an extra ten days to improve their lives by committing to the Ten Commandments, and by asking their fellow human beings for forgiveness for hurtful words that may have been said, or hurtful acts that may have been committed during the year. Jews are supposed to be mindful of making peace and reconciliation.These ten days of repentance end on Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown on Wednesday, October 8th and ends at sundown on Thursday, October 9th. This repentance must be accompanied by a commitment to change. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, the day when God’s written decree for each Jewish person for the coming year is about to be sealed. This day is supposed to be spent fasting, in prayer and meditation, in confession of sin, and in reconciliation with God and with his/her fellow man and woman.

Yom Kippur is the conclusion of the 10 days of repentance that began with Rosh Hashanah, and the time when God will inscribe you in the Book of Life and Blessing (or not, as the case may be). But it also has a story from the Bible (Torah) connected with it that gives it special meaning. When the Jews were brought out of Egypt, they made a golden calf and worshipped it. This was a horrible sin against God. Moses begged God for 40 days and 40 nights until he could obtain His forgiveness. The day that God forgave the Jews for this major sin (the 10th of Tishrei on the Jewish calendar) was selected as the Day of Atonement for future generations. This is became the day of Yom Kippur for future generations.