Precious Suffering: A Shabbat-exploration of forgiveness, resentment, and grief.
Past SessionsSaturday, January 24, 2015 • 4 Sh'vat 5775 - 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM - Wrap up: Forgiveness and Healing
Saturday, January 24, 2015 • 4 Sh'vat 5775 - 11:00 AM - D'var
Saturday, January 24, 2015 • 4 Sh'vat 5775 - 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Class: Jewish and non-Jewish sources for successful and failed models of forgiveness
Friday, January 23, 2015 • 3 Sh'vat 5775 - 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM - Introduction: Forgiveness: What is it, Why is it, What’s at stake and Why in the world don’t we ever talk about it?
Precious Suffering: A Shabbat-exploration of forgiveness, resentment, and grief.
Rabbi E. Noach Shapiro, LCSW
Is forgiveness a Jewish value?
We take it for granted that forgiveness and teshuvah (repentance) are inextricably linked. According to Jewish tradition, if someone expresses genuine remorse then we, the wounded, should extend our forgiveness. But is that our only spiritual mechanism for forgiveness or healing? What happens if the perpetrator is NOT sorry? What if they are dead? What if he/she is a stranger to us? What if we are experiencing corrosive anger and resentment, even as we are seeking to move towards ‘healing’? Is there a Jewish model for forgiveness and closure available to us that does not leave us-- in a dark irony-- dependent on the spiritual progress of the perpetrator (i.e. that he or she becomes “sorry”)?
In this Shabbat residency of forgiveness exploration, using Jewish sources as well personally conducted interviews with perpetrators and victims, we will explore multiple dimensions and dynamics of forgiveness, the challenge of being ‘stuck’ in corrosive resentment and anger, as well as how we can move forward toward healing.
Join us Friday night at 7:30 pm for Maariv followed at 8PM by a nosh, drinks and discussion entitled:
Forgiveness: What is it, Why is it, What’s at stake and Why in the world don’t we ever talk about it?
On Shabbat morning at 9 AM, Rabbi Noach will broaden the conversation by mining Jewish and non-Jewish sources for successful and failed models of forgiveness that address the shadow-side of forgiveness and healing: corrosive resentment and anger. We will also formulate a sense of what our tradition might actually want from us, and for us, in wrestling with intractable anger and unforgiveness.
During the service, come hear a D'var Torah: Forgiveness Stories: biblical (and modern) spiritual train wrecks and the power of hope within them.
In the final workshop at 12:30-2PM (after Kiddush) in both conceptual and practical terms, we will bring everything together to create a clearer picture of forgiveness in all its aspects and establish for ourselves what can move us toward forgiveness and healing, what may block us from it, and why the conversation is so important.
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