The Power of Effective Apology and Repair
.. וְהָאָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: גְּדוֹלָה תְּשׁוּבָה שֶׁזְּדוֹנוֹת נַעֲשׂוֹת לוֹ כִּזְכִיּוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּבְשׁוּב רָשָׁע מֵרִשְׁעָתוֹ וְעָשָׂה מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה עֲלֵיהֶם (חָיֹה) יִחְיֶה״! ...
...Didn’t Reish Lakish himself say: Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits, as it is stated: “And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby” (Ezekiel 33:19), and all his deeds, even his transgressions, will become praiseworthy? ...
The Architecture of an Effective Apology
...אמרה ירח לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע
אפשר לשני מלכים שישתמשו בכתר אחד
אמר לה לכי ומעטי את עצמך
אמרה לפניו רבש"ע הואיל ואמרתי לפניך דבר הגון אמעיט את עצמי
אמר לה לכי ומשול ביום ובלילה
אמרה ליה מאי רבותיה דשרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני
אמר לה זיל לימנו בך ישראל ימים ושנים
אמרה ליה יומא נמי אי אפשר דלא מנו ביה תקופותא דכתיב (בראשית א, יד) והיו לאותות ולמועדים ולימים ושנים
זיל ליקרו צדיקי בשמיך (עמוס ז, ב) יעקב הקטן שמואל הקטן (שמואל א יז, יד) דוד הקטן
חזייה דלא קא מיתבא דעתה
אמר הקב"ה הביאו כפרה עלי שמיעטתי את הירח
והיינו דאמר ר"ש בן לקיש מה נשתנה שעיר של ראש חדש שנאמר בו (במדבר כח, טו) לה' אמר הקב"ה שעיר זה יהא כפרה על שמיעטתי את הירח...
Narrator:
...Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi tells a story: At the dawn of time, Sun and Moon were equally bright, two great lights in the sky. Moon was not so sure about the practicality of this co-regency. Moon came before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, and spoke:
Moon:
Is it possible for two kings to serve with a single crown?
God:
If sharing power is such a problem for you, go and diminish yourself.
Narrator:
Immediately, it was so. Moon shrank to her current size.
But Moon, no pushover, challenged God.
Moon:
Master of the Universe, because I said an accurate observation in front of You, I have to diminish myself?!
Narrator:
God felt bad for what God had done.
God:
I'll make it up to you. I'll allow you to appear in the daytime sky. Go and rule both during the day along with the sun and during the night, alone.
Moon:
What's so great about shining alongside the sun?! What use is a candle in the middle of the day?
God:
Okay. I'll make it up to you this way: Go, let the Jewish people calculate the days and years with you, and this will be your greatness.
Moon:
But the Jewish people will calculate with the sun as well, as it is impossible that they will not calculate seasons with it, as it is written: “And let them (the sun, moon, and stars) be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14).
God:
How about this: Go, let righteous men be named after you. Just as you are called hakatan or the lesser light, there will be Ya’akov HaKatan, i.e., Jacob our forefather (see Amos 7:2), Shmuel HaKatan the tanna, and King David HaKatan (see I Samuel 17:14).
Narrator:
God saw that the moon was not comforted. The Holy One, Blessed be He, spoke.
God:
The people will bring atonement for me, since I diminished the moon.
Narrator:
And this is what Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says: What is different about the goat offering of the New Moon, that it is stated about it, is is “For the Lord” (Numbers 28:15)? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: This goat shall be an atonement for Me for having diminished the size of the moon.
Restorative Justice: Jewish Roots
In this text, Howard Zehr, the pioneer of modern Western restorative justice, working with Ali Gohar, explicitly connects restorative justice to Jewish concepts:
“Restorative justice is based upon an old, commonsense understanding of wrongdoing. Although it would be expressed differently in different cultures, this approach is probably common to most traditional societies. For those of us from European background, it is the way many of our ancestors (and perhaps even our parents) understood wrongdoing.
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Crime is a violation of people and of interpersonal relationships.
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Violations create obligations.
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The central obligation is to put right the wrongs.
Underlying this understanding of wrongdoing is an assumption about society: we are all interconnected. In the Hebrew scriptures, this is embedded in the concept of shalom, the vision of living in a sense of “all-rightness” with each other, the creator and the environment. Many cultures, however, have a word that represents this notion of the centrality of relationships: for the Maori, it is communicated by whakappa; for the Navajo, hozho; for many Africans, the Bantu word ubuntu. Although the specific meanings of these words vary, they communicate a similar message: all things are connected to each other in a web of relationships.”
Howard Zehr with Ali Gohar
Justice as a Communal Process
(ח) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, אַל תְּהִי דָן יְחִידִי, שֶׁאֵין דָּן יְחִידִי אֶלָּא אֶחָד. וְאַל תֹּאמַר קַבְּלוּ דַעְתִּי, שֶׁהֵן רַשָּׁאִין וְלֹא אָתָּה:
(8) He used to say: judge not alone, for none may judge alone save one. And say not “accept my view”, for they are free but not you.
Core of Inviolable Goodness
(א) אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַֽתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא אַתָּה בְרָאתָהּ אַתָּה יְצַרְתָּהּ אַתָּה נְפַחְתָּהּ בִּי וְאַתָּה מְשַׁמְּ֒רָהּ בְּקִרְבִּי וְאַתָּה עָתִיד לִטְּ֒לָהּ מִמֶּֽנִּי וּלְהַחֲזִירָהּ בִּי לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא..
(1) My God! the soul which You bestowed in me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it in me in the time to come...