The Jewish response to this argument allows us to appreciate some of the fundamental differences between Jewish and Christian theologies, and may also help us to understand the true nature of korbanot.
For Christianity, sin creates some form of “debt” which must be repaid – if not through animal sacrifice then by some alternative – “without shedding of blood there can be no atonement” (Hebrews 9:22). The Jewish prophets, by contrast, take a very different approach to the process of divine forgiveness. As we will read from Yeshayah on the upcoming Ta’anit Esther:
“Let the wicked one reject his path, and the man of iniquity his thoughts, and he shall return to God, Who shall have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon”.
It is highly difficult for us to imagine that the grievous sins which we may commit can be so freely forgiven. Our instinct is to imagine God in our own image and likeness and presume that He too cannot forgive without repayment. To such a theology – which is adopted by Christianity – Yeshayah forcefully responds “for My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts [higher] than your thoughts”. If you return to Me and truly change your ways then your sins will be forgiven. As Jews, we seek to elevate and build ourselves in God’s image by “walking in His ways” rather than lowering Him by attributing our human flaws and frailties to His divine processes. Thus we are taught in Hilchot Teshuva (10:2):
It is forbidden for a person to be cruel and refuse to be appeased. Rather, he should be easily pacified, but hard to anger. When the person who wronged him asks for forgiveness, he should forgive him with a complete heart and a willing spirit. Even if he aggravated and wronged him severely, he should not seek revenge or bear a grudge. This is the path of Israel and their upright spirit.
Rather than a form of appeasement or repayment of a ”sin debt”, korbanot are better understood as a means through which “lehakriv” – we come closer to God. Judaism Reclaimed develops this idea further based on the teachings of Rabbi S. R. Hirsch and the Kuzari, who explain (based on a Talmudic teaching) how each corner of the altar symbolized a different aspect of a person’s relationship with God which might have been harmed through sin. Crucially, it is only “careless” sinning – based on an overall weakening of our relationship with God – which is repaired through a korban.
There is a fascinating flip-side to this Jewish-Christian divide on the subject of forgiveness of true evil, which relates to the need to forgive all people – even those who are thoroughly evil and whose repentance is questionable or even completely absent. With the “blood debt” of sin now believed to be forgiven vicariously and automatically for all of humanity, the lines between good and evil now begin to get blurred.
A famous article by Simon Wiesenthal describes how he could not bring himself to forgive – on behalf of all Jews – a concentration camp guard who had admitted to involvement in the torture and murder of thousands of Jews. All Christians he subsequently discussed this with thought this unwillingness to forgive to be wrong and ungodly whereas Jews agreed with his decision to refuse forgiveness to this guard, who lay on his deathbed fearing imminent divine retribution.
In contrast to the Christian approach which emphasises universal forgiveness, the paradigm of evil in the Torah is represented by Amalek – a nation which the Torah instructs must be eternally recalled and opposed. In his commentary on the Torah, Rabbi S. R. Hirsch understands the Amalekite ideology and ethos to be the antithesis of Jewish morality. When the nation who embodies the Torah’s moral and spiritual values took its first step in history, Amalek rushed to “massacre your stragglers, all those who trailed after you when you were faint and weary”.
We are tragically only too aware of the evil of an ideology which takes delight in torturing and massacring those who are weak and defenseless. As opposed to the Pope, and nations who have absorbed the Christian value of forgiving and reconciling with evil, Judaism maintains powerfully that “ohavei Hashem sinu ra - those who love God despise evil”.
Parashat Zachor, which we will mark this coming Shabbat, reinforces the message that the ideal society which God wishes us to build will only be possible once the “memory of Amalek” – with its values of death, destruction and oppression – are removed from humanity
First posted on Facebook 17 March 2024, here.
