As Jews we are all aware of Yom Kippur, a day when we pray to G-d that He may forgive us and grant us atonement for our sins. However our sages [1] teach us that Yom Kippur cannot atone for our sins against our fellow man unless we first seek forgiveness from those we have wronged. Apologizing and asking for forgiveness can be one of the most difficult tasks of our lives. Even assuming that apologizing comes easy to us, it may be difficult to remember everyone we have hurt. For this reason alone  we should not wait until Yom Kippur to seek forgiveness but should do so every day. In addition there are people whom we may not have realized we had hurt. For these people it may be even more difficult if not impossible to seek forgiveness. For this reason we should make a concerted effort to grow in our sensitivity to the feelings of our fellow man. In addition we should make every attempt to forgive our fellow man and especially our fellow Jew for anyway they may have hurt us as we would hope that they forgave us for any way we had hurt them.  Moreover our sages teach us that G-d forgives us as we forgive our fellow man [2]. 

 

Beyond this our sages [3] have taught us that baseless hatred among Jews was one of the main reasons for the Jewish exile and the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash (Temple in Jerusalem).  We have the mindset that we have been in exile for over 2000 years and that there is nothing we can do in our lifetime to change that, but nothing could be further from the truth. If only we could change our baseless hatred into love for our fellow man there is no doubt  that G-d would redeem us in an instant.

 

It is our hope that with your help  we as a people will all be able to gain a greater sense of Jewish unity and love for one another. In this vain please consider agreeing to as well as sharing  the following thought:

 

I forgive any way any other Jew may have hurt me be it through speech, thought,

actions, lack of actions, be it intentional, not intentional, known to me or not known to 

me and I pray that Hashem may forgive them and grant them atonement.

                                                                            

 

 

 

 

In the merit of us quickly and easily forgiving one another may G-d quickly and easily forgive us for our sins and may the Jewish people know the true meaning of the word  Achdus (Unity).

 

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[1] R' Elazar ben Azarya (Mishnah Yoma [8:9]) - derived from Vayikra [16:30]

[2] Rava (Tractate Rosh Hashana 17a)

[3] (Tractate Yoma 9b)