THINK Vayehi - Ba’alei Selicha? Yosef, Yehuda & The Possibility Of Forgiveness

THIS EPISODE IS OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE PODCAST - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS LISTENED, SHARED AND COMMENTED! In this week's THINK we examine the long and heroic journeys of both Yosef and Yehuda as they arrive at an acceptance of the wrongs that have been done to them - Yosef towards brothers and Yehuda towards his father. From this vantage point we then consider the intriguing concept of the ba'al selicha - not one who asks for forgiveness, but the person who does the actual forgiving and is able to find the ability within themselves to accept whatever evil was done to them and move on. Why is the ba'al selicha so much less prominent in our tradition than the ba'al teshuva? Is it because to forgive should be so obvious that it shouldn't be named as a loft value? Or could it be the opposite - that true forgiveness is such a challenging concept as to be almost impossible for humans, and that the best we can hope for is the chance to move on and not be defined by the wrongs done to us Source sheet here