Join via Zoom HERE
CBI’s Friday Noon Study Group is on Recess until Friday, December 4
Last week, our group concluded its discussions of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair with a look at the book’s last chapter, “Atonement; or What is Effected.” Ruttenberg begins her chapter drawing upon Leviticus 16, which describes the High Priest’s rituals performed on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). These include a purgation of the impurities from the Temple’s Holy of Holies and placing the community’s sins on the head of a goat that is sent off into the wilderness. Ruttenberg then goes on to suggest that such rituals, which atone for transgressions between humankind and God, are, in the Jewish tradition, not really part of the repentance and repair process that her book has been addressing. Transgressions between individuals and their neighbors cannot be absolved by God or a proxy or intermediary (e.g., a priest in a confessional). Such transgressions can only be rectified by making things right with the injured party. Making things right, as her book has advocated, can be achieved through naming one’s transgression and expressing an understanding of the harm caused, making amends that appease the harmed individual, and transforming one’s behavior to ensure that the transgression will not be repeated in the future.
We ended our discussion by acknowledging ways in which Ruttenberg’s book affected our personal behaviors and attitudes–especially in light of current events in an unapologetic culture where genuine repentance is quite absent.
The Friday Noon Study Group will Resume on December 4
(check CBI’s web site or weekly announcements for updates and a link)
Our informal discussion group meets via Zoom every Friday from 12-1 . All are welcome to attend. If you have questions, contact Jay Jacoby at jbjacoby@charlotte.edu
