On Yom Kippur we read, “Yom Kippur atones for sins committed by humans toward God. But it cannot atone for sins committed by one human being against another.” What does this mean? This week’s Torah portion explains, “When a man or woman commits any wrong toward a fellow man, thus breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess the wrong that he has done. He shall make restitution in the principal amount and add one-fifth to it, giving it to him whom he has wronged.” (Numbers 5:5-7) In other words, guilt and confession are not sufficient for atonement when we have wronged another person. The most important thing we must do is to correct the damage we have caused. It is not sufficient to restore property; we must also pay 20% in damages. Or if we hurt someone, it is not enough to say we are sorry. We must put in extra effort to repair the relationship we have damaged. Judaism is not a cop-out for responsibility. Being religious, “keeping faith with God,” requires that we maintain the highest level of integrity in our personal relationships.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 10:07 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.