Why the rabbis argued, and kept both answers
Ezequiel explains why the Talmud records the losing side of every argument, introduces the houses of Hillel and Shammai, and asks a rabbi what it means to say both are the words of the living God.
Forgiving someone who never asked, with Dalia Grinberg
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Show notes
Who has to ask first
Jewish teaching on forgiveness is more demanding of the wrongdoer than of the wronged, and this episode explains why. Ezequiel reads Maimonides on teshuva, repentance, with Dalia Grinberg, whose grandmother survived Auschwitz, raised a family in Buenos Aires, and never forgave anyone for anything.
- The three steps of teshuva and why apology comes before forgiveness
- Why a person must ask three times, and what happens after the third refusal
- Dalia on her grandmother's refusal, and whether it was a failure or a dignity
- Forgiving someone who is dead, or who will never know
Ezequiel ends with the Yom Kippur prayer that only covers sins against God, and why that line exists.
Transcript
Shalom, welcome back to Questions at the Shabbat Table, I am Ezequiel Rosenfeld. My guest today is Dalia Grinberg, a translator here in Buenos Aires. Her grandmother Rosa survived Auschwitz, came to Argentina in 1948, raised four children, and told Dalia on more than one occasion that she would never forgive, and that she did not believe she was required to. That sentence is where we start. Jewish teaching puts the burden on the person who did wrong, not on the person they hurt, and it even says how many times they must ask. We will read Maimonides on repentance together, and Dalia will tell us whether her grandmother's refusal was a wound or a kind of dignity. Then a line from Yom Kippur that surprises everyone. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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