yom kippur
shouldn't everyone have a day of atonement? Isn't it a good thing, to be responsible for our words and actions and to actively repent? In Judaism we believe that God can and will forgive us our lapses of faith, but that only the people we wrong can forgive us for the harm we've done them. I grew up in a faith that demanded I confess my sins and that I do a prayerful penance for those sins in order to be forgiven. So when I kicked my brother square in the ass, I confessed and said my Hail, Mary's, and went on my merry way. It's easier, by a lot, to confess and pray to God for forgiveness. God might forgive me, but would my brother? Did I forgive him? Not for years and years, until the collective good we have done each other has overwhelmed all the internecine sibling warfare between us. Would have been far simpler to just apologize. Isn't retrospect grand?
