On forgiveness

Forgiveness is something that you can’t – you can’t tell other people to forgive something. In Judaism they have a very good principle, they say only the person who has been damaged or wronged can forgive. A rabbi friend of mine was asked could she forgive the Nazis and she said she could not forgive the Nazis because she was not the person … she had not personally, nor had her family suffered from the Nazis. Therefore she was not in a position to forgive. Forgiveness is a long and difficult journey, and we have no right to demand that people forgive. It’s better if we can, but it’s a very, very difficult road to tread. And we all have … also have to bear in mind as we denounce the pain that others have inflicted on us the pain that we, day by day, inflict in minor ways, perhaps, on other people.