Page 34 - HaMizrachi #32 RH-YK 2021 USA

An
Unforgiving Age

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks ל״צז

n 2015, Sir Tim Hunt, a British Here is a man condemned because Ishmaelites… for he is our brother, our
Nobel Prize-winning scientist, vis- of somebody else’s selfie with him, flesh and blood…” (Bereishit 37:26–27)
ited South Korea. While speaking somebody else’s t-shirt, with no trial,
Ithere, he made a bad joke about no evidence, no judicial process, no Yehudah sold his brother as a slave –
an actual, real sin. And yet Yehudah
women in laboratories that fell flat. It reflective moral judgment, no “you
was a silly joke, which he immediately shall inquire, and research, and ask became the ancestor of Israel’s Kings.
But he also became much more than
admitted and apologized for. How- diligently”(Devarim 13:15), no effort to that. We bear his name. We are called
ever, someone tweeted the joke and examine the evidence well and see if Jews, Yehudim, because we are named
it went viral. After that, he became the thing is true. Nothing but simple after Yehudah. Why? Because he was
the target of an online shaming cam- condemnation. forgiven. And why was he forgiven?
paign, which ultimately forced him to Because he owned up and said, “But we
resign his positions at University Col- I happen to have the privilege of know- were guilty.” As we recite in the Selichot:
lege London, the Royal Society and the ing Jordan Peterson. I went to inter- “What more can we say to justify our-
European Research Council, and turned view him at his home in Toronto, and selves?... G-d has uncovered our guilt.”
him into a pariah. This happened even we had a long conversation together. (Bereishit 44:16)
though he obviously was only making Here is a serious human being, a man
a joke (immediately afterward in his whose work is intensely moral, pro- What’s more, he changed: From the
talk, he said, “Science needs women.”) foundly spiritual and intellectually person who sold his brother as a slave,
It happened even though his wife is a challenging. A person who is focused Yehudah became the person who was
distinguished scientist, even though he on taking responsibility for his life. willing to spend the rest of his life as
apologized time and time again, and Not blaming other people, but taking a slave so that his brother Benjamin
even though fellow scientists defended responsibility. And yet – nothing was could go free. He became a Ba’al Teshu-
him. Despite it all, he was condemned said in his defense. vah. Yosef, his brother, forgave him. G-d
without trial, without consideration forgave him, and it is his name we bear.
of the evidence, due process, appeal, Let me give you a second example.
mercy, regard to his lifetime of service Here I speak of a King of Israel whose
to science, and the simple fact that he behavior was... well, how can I put it? In
was a human being and human beings the immortal words of the late Leonard
make mistakes. Ours is an unforgiving Nobody gave them a chance Cohen: “Your faith was strong, but you
age. to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ to explain needed proof. You saw her bathing on
or to be forgiven. the roof; her beauty and the moonlight
Jordan Peterson is a psychologist at
the University of Toronto and probably overthrew you.”
the most followed public intellectual Here was a man who made an ill- King David committed adultery with
globally. He has a massive following judged joke, and here was a man who somebody else’s wife and then sent
because he’s a counter-cultural figure unwittingly took a selfie together with her husband to the army’s frontline.
and dares to challenge politically cor- somebody wearing an inappropriate This was a horrendous sin, an appall-
rect positions. ing crime. And yet, he became Israel’s
t-shirt. And yet these were the people
Somebody discovered, somewhere on for whom, in Maimonidies words: greatest King and the most remark-
Facebook, that an unknown person had “The gates of repentance were closed.” able religious poet the world has ever
taken a selfie with Jordan Peterson. The Nobody gave them a chance to say, “I’m known. Why? Because he was forgiven.
man who took the selfie was wearing a sorry,” to explain or to be forgiven. And why was he forgiven? Because he
t-shirt with an insulting slogan. Now, said in the shortest form of Selichot ever
hundreds of people on that night took Now consider two people who did delivered, “Chatati.” “I have sinned.”
commit great wrongs – wrongs so bad
selfies with Jordan Peterson. He had we would understand if what they did But he also said, “My sin is in front of me
all the time.” (Tehillim 51:4) Meaning, I
no opportunity to scrutinize what the was unforgivable.
people were wearing. He had no idea will never, for one minute, forget that I
sinned. And so he was forgiven.
what was written on the t-shirt, and yet Think of a young man who said:
he was condemned. Ours is an unfor- “What profit will we get if we kill our Yehudah and King David were Ba’alei
giving age. brother? Come, let us sell him to the Teshuvah who confessed and apologized

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