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apologizing has “repented of his sin and he propose that she annul her vow and strict with us, He believes in us and gives
regretted his evil.” At the same time, the reconcile with him. us many chances to improve.
victim must not harden his heart, but The woman who stood in front of me Particularly on Yom Kippur, we must
rather “whoever hastens to grant for- declared that she did not remember ever embody G-d’s attributes and not be overly
giveness is praiseworthy and is regarded
favorably by the Sages.” saying such a thing to her mother. In strict with others. May G-d continue to
her view, it was very unlikely she would be kind and tolerant with us, and may
It seems that we can learn this attri- have said something so harsh because He seal us all for a good and happy year,
bute from G-d Himself. Tomer Devorah, she had always been on good terms with a year in which G-d will fulfill all the
by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522–1570), her mother. Nevertheless, she asked me wishes of our hearts, for good.
opens with a parable. In Sefer HaHeichalot, to arrange an annulment of vows. It was
G-d is referred to as “an insulted King,” a easy to annul this vow, which was no
sobriquet used subsequently in various longer relevant anyway. Her mother had
Kabbalistic and Chassidic works. What is died many years before, and her house
the meaning of this name? no longer exists. After we symbolically
annulled the vow, I couldn’t stop think-
Rabbi Moshe Cordovero explains: The ing: what severity! For forty years, two
Master of the Universe knows every- siblings did not speak! Even if the story
thing – He is aware of the actions of each is true and the sentence was said – is it
and every one of us, and the gap between impossible to forgive?
them and the command He has given us.
The Almighty is omnipotent in His ability One who wants to merit forgiveness
to strike sinners immediately, as He did must attach himself to G-d’s attributes Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon
to Yerovam who “stretched out his hand... and not be strict. Whenever we are going is Head of Mizrachi’s Educational
and dried it up” (Melachim I 13:4). If He through hard times and are in need, we Advisory Board and Rabbinic Council.
He serves as the Chief Rabbi of Gush
would run the world in this way, everyone pray and ask for mercy. However, in day- Etzion, Rosh Yeshivah of the Jerusalem
and everything would be forced to do His to-day life we take all the good in our College of Technology and is the Founder
bidding. The angels say to G-d: Why don’t lives for granted, as if we are entitled to and Chairman of Sulamot and La'Ofek.
You act against the people who harm Your this good by law. Do we really deserve
kingdom? This is why the ministering this abundance? It turns out that we are
angels call G-d an insulted King.” G-d is not perfect, and we do not deserve all the A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
forgiving. G-d is patient. G-d is not strict blessings in our lives. And yet G-d is not mizrachi.org/speakers
with us and continues to perform kind-
nesses for us.
We all want G-d to forgive us. But to
achieve forgiveness we must adopt
G-d’s attributes: not to worry about
our own honor and to know how to
forgive others.
Once an elderly woman in her eight-
ies came to my house on Erev Rosh
Hashanah to do hatarat nedarim, the
annulment of vows. At first I was
worried; would I be able to release
her vow? The story she told was truly
shocking. Her eighty-three-year-old
brother had recently explained to her
why he refused to speak with her for
more than forty years. Decades earlier,
during a heated argument, the woman
told their mother that she would never
set foot in their house again. For forty
years her brother harbored this painful
sentence in his heart and refused to speak
to his sister. Only now, in their old age, did

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