„Supreme forgiveness comes from the source of loving-kindness, from th…”
„Supreme forgiveness comes from the source of loving-kindness, from the complete, boundlessly broad greatness that knows the whole in all its scope, and the particulars in all their precision. It knows the holy and the good in all their exaltedness, and the profane and the evil in all their lowliness, and it knows, with this, that everything is weighed in justice on the scales and balances of judgment—and that the inclinations of evil, the destruction, the wickedness, and the low descent also have their demand, and in the totality of all they combine; and yet, with this, evil is separated from good, falsehood from truth, lowliness from loftiness.”From Shemonah Kevatzim, V, 193
We live in a generation that sees beneath the rug, that is ever more aware of many of the sins of society and of the individual. Things that once powerful people would do, using their power, have today, in a more rectified world, become the dread of public figures.
This is true of the powerful in society, and it is also true of society as a whole.
In 2020, a person who decades ago stole or harassed or harmed is not worthy of pardon. The contemporary moral view looks at the victim who carries the sin of the perpetrator with him all his life. This is a hard view, but from the standpoint of strict justice it is precise.
Precisely because of this, it is fitting that we remember that the forgiveness we ask of our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. He sees and knows where we harmed, how much we sinned, where we erred. And after all this we ask that He forgive and pardon.
When we approach and ask forgiveness from our Father in Heaven, as His children, matters are clearer. A father forgives his son for his sins, however grave they may be. The bond of blood succeeds in seeing and feeling the transition. Of course here too there are exceptions, but usually a father (and a mother, of course) contains his children more than the rest of society does.
In this passage Rav Kook says that God's forgiveness is precisely because of the fact that He is the King of the world. The ability to see everything at once, to understand a complete picture, to see a person along with his sin and the factors that caused the sin, to see in the whites of the eyes the will of regret, the ability to improve and to recover, the advancement—this is what causes God, not only as a Father but also as a King, to pardon and to forgive.
For the recovery of Roza bat Bova
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.