Ethics During and After the Holocaust: The Ethics of Forgiveness: John K. Roth

To Roth, forgiveness means "to be merciful, to pardon an offense or an offender, to give up a claim against another individual, to set aside a debt, to relinquish anger or resentment, however justifiable those feelings may be, to free a person from the burden of guilt." This makes forgiveness both an after-word and a wounded word.

Who needs forgiveness? Everyone, Roth says - human kind needs forgiveness - but this question can be asked in two ways. "Who needs forgiveness?" and "Who needs forgiveness?" The first places doubt about everyone having a need for it, while the latter questions the virtue of forgiveness. The latter leads to indifference, condoning, or trivialization instead of justice.

Using history, of the bible, Roth notes that God's anger is powerful, but that his mercy and forgiveness are more present despite the tension between the two. As beings made in his image, Roth believes that we should show mercy and forgiveness to liken that image. The holocaust complicated this, and now Roth thinks that advocacy for forgiveness needs to come from other sources such as ethics. Many holocaust survivors haven't even been able to discuss forgiveness. We are duped though if we assume that forgiveness is the same in every instance.

Writer Primo Levi wrote that forgiveness requires the other party to have an earnest will to be forgiven, otherwise it does no good. It also shows that forgiveness is voluntary. For genuine repentance requires condemning and rooting out the wrong done as well as acting to do so as soon as possible - the sooner the better. Deathbed confessions maybe sincere, but they do little good as the person will soon die. The dead can also not forgive.

Like love, forgiveness must be given freely; or it is not real.

That said it is also important to grant forgiveness if it is sincerely and constantly sought. Not doing so come dangerously close to mercilessness, which removes humanity from the world.

Heschel writes that "only sins committed against God can be forgiven by God." The holocaust was a sin against God, and is forgivable by him - but does he forgive is the question. Elie Wiesel did not believe that God should, as that would suppress the feelings of guilt that the offenders had.

Roth points to six ethics of forgiveness

1. Forgiveness is needed to stop unnecessary suffering from continuing.
2. Although needed, forgiveness can lead to less accountability and reduce the condemnation of injustice 
3. Sincere repentance must be required with efforts to right wrongs
4. Forgiveness can not be spoken for another person
5. Many deeds are unforgivable because the dead can't forgive
6. Forgiveness is a gift and can only be freely given

Discussion Questions/Comments

Do Jews believe that children don't go to Heaven if they aren't "confirmed" (bar mitzvah?)?

Is there a reason that God needs to forgive all the Jewish children who died in the holocaust?

I almost had an issue with deeds being unforgivable, but the dead part makes sense. It begs the question, can't the dead, if you believe in an afterlife, forgive those that sinned against them? You can be forgiven and not know it.