GEN1098 (Continued from [[EXOD1039]] Exodus 34:7 forgiving DORFFDRAG 188-9) The search for forgiveness and restoration of bonds with God and people, while the focus of the High Holy Day season, is not restricted to it. Judaism seeks forgiveness as a critical part of ongoing human interactions, and it provides a specific way to accomplish it. (See Dorff (1998b) “The Elements of Forgiveness: A Jewish Approach.” In Discussions of Forgiveness: Psychological Research and Theological Perspectives (29-55) Ed., Everett Worthington Jr., Templeton Foundation). Here I note those parts of the tradition dealing with individuals’ forgiveness of each other that formed the background for Judaism's understanding of communal forgiveness. If one has physically injured another, Jewish law maintains that payment of compensatory sums is not sufficient; the assailant must also ask the victim’s forgiveness. M. Bava Kamma 8:7; B. Yoma 85b; and M.T. Laws of Repentance 2:9-10. It is not only the injury that must be repaired, but the relationship. This imposes a reciprocal obligation on the wronged party: He or she, when asked for forgiveness, must forgive. Injured parties who refuse to do so even when asked three times in the presence of others are, in turn, deemed to have sinned. B. Bava Kamma 92a; Tanhuma, Hukkat 19; M.T. Laws of Forgiveness 3:10. They are called cruel and are not regarded as descendants of Abraham; for ever since Abraham forgave Abimelech, forgiveness has been a distinguishing mark of Abraham’s descendants, a special gift God bestowed upon them. Genesis 20:17, B. Bezah 32b, B. Yevamot 79a, and Numbers Rabbah 8:4. Such people also cannot expect divine forgiveness for their own sins: “All who act mercifully [forgivingly] toward their fellow creatures will be treated mercifully by Heaven, and all who do not act mercifully toward their fellow creatures will not be treated mercifully by Heaven.” B. Shabbat 151b. Moreover, they have failed to imitate God, for just as God is forgiving, so we are supposed to be. B. Shabbat 133b. This does not mean that people who have been wronged are supposed to squelch their feelings of anger. The Torah prohibits retaliatory action: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself.” Nevertheless, in the verse immediately before that one, it sanctions, and even commands, that people express their feelings of outrage after being wronged: “You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him.” Leviticus 19:17-8 According to rabbinic interpretation, this even justified students criticizing their teachers, and the rebuke could be repeated even one hundred times over-- although another rabbinic dictum urges us to admonish only those who will listen. There was a dispute among the Rabbis about whether the censure could take the form of physically striking the offender, but all agreed that it could not include public embarrassment. B. Bava Metzia 31a; B. Arakhin 16b, B. Yevamot 65b and Rashi there. Biblical and rabbinic law did, however, stipulate in considerable detail the ingredients of a just punishment and/or compensation for the range of human transgressions of one person toward another. It also stipulated the rules under which a community as a whole could punish its members. The communal court would impose these punishments. One of the clearest expressions of communal distaste for an act was the penalty of excommunication, for then the very essence of the punishment was that the community was saying that a particular person was no longer fit to live with us -- at least until he or she abided by the dictates of the court. Once the culprits pay the penalty, however, Jewish law requires that the community take them back into the community wholly. “When the parties to a suit are standing before you,” Judah, the son of Tabbai said, “you should regard them both as guilty; but when they have departed from you, you should regard them as innocent, for they have accepted the verdict.” M. Avot 1:8. Unlike American law, under which a felon continues to suffer disabilities and embarrassment for the rest of his or her life, Jewish law demands that the community's forgiveness be complete -- even to the point of not mentioning the crime any longer. M. Bava Metzi’a 4:10 and B. Kiddushin 40b; compare M.T. Laws of Repentance 1:3. In sum, while wrongs are to be redressed and the emotions accompanying them assuaged, the ultimate goal is to mend human ties through forgiveness and reconciliation. As Hillel said: “Be among the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah.” M. Avot 1:12.