Below is the teaching of Chaplain (soon to be Rabbi) Adam Ruditsky in conjunction with the book Preparing yourself for the High Holidays.
רפואה מן התורה
רפואה מן התורה
You conceal
me in the pavilion on the day of evil, you hide me in the covert of your tent,
you lift me up on a rock (Ps.
27:5)
William Worden, a
leading grief therapist, writes that when there was ambivalence or discord
between the deceased and the living the later will deem the former as an unworthy
partner relationally to fix what was broken.
In other words, the result of that relationship can only be corrected on
one side since the other party is no longer a part of that connection
physically, yet emotionally the relationship certainly carries on. The mourner now must address and fix what was
broken on their own, that is without the departed, and that very much reflects
the above Psalm. How? Giving and
receiving, offering or embracing forgiveness boils down to a belief that it can
happen and it is available no matter how bad the act or even the crime. The
words of the above psalmist says that God would “protect” the doubts and fears
that claims forgiveness is not possible, even if it is only one sided toward
self because the other person(s) are not in the picture any longer. Forgiveness is a powerful thing and people
may feel they are unworthy of it. Ah,
but that is why God hides us spiritually in the tent of his covenant, lifting
us up on the rock to reach for what may seem too far away, even if that means
years have gone by. God’s forgiveness does not have a statute of limitations.
The present contains the potential to change the past
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