Please answer the following questions in an essay format.
What are your thoughts of this article? Please provide evidence and elaboration.
What is the main idea of the
passage?
Choose a statement that best captures the
underlying central idea?
Which quote(s) is an example
of how the theme recurs (is developed) in the
text?
What are the pros and cons or
inconsistencies of the theme/message...?
The main idea about the passage was "Can the Nazis be forgive?". You can see throughout the passage the ideas and debates of the concept of 'forgiveness'. One thing that caught my eye was "...not asking why, but what do we do now." The fact that they even asked that question shows a deep scar. They were so badly hurt they don't know how to get back to life. It's hard to really pick a theme. Though I think that its 'To forgive is to grow.'. There is more to the passage about forgiving than not, even though they answered the main idea with no. The pro in this passage is that I was able to get some insight about the Jewish culture, religion and tradition. Cons were that it turns out in their ideology the Nazis can not be forgiven. This con shows some inconsistencies, because in the beginning they were showing that the Nazis had a chance to achieve "teshuva" (forgiveness). Later on in the passage we learn they can't though, even though they say that to forgive creates happiness and healing. So they say it is impossible for the scars to heal. It was a very insightful passage with a twist ending. Thank you for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteThe main idea of the article is being able to forgive. "For while granting earned forgiveness is an act of grace that may be emotionally restorative, uplifting, and inspiring, nevertheless, to grant unearned forgiveness is not kind but callous" captures the main point of this article which is to forgive, not for the then but for you. You can only truly be forgiven if you have achieve certain level of teshuvah which is needed to right the monstrous crime that the Nazi have committed. Teshuvah is a form of internal cleaning that will allow you to recieve the forgiveness. God made you imperfect so that you could learn to be more like him and forgiving someones wrongs are a way of getting closer to God. I believe most thing are forgivable but some aren't how can you really forgive someone who killed people for being something that you are. Forgiveness should be earned, not through teshuvah but though actually trying to mend the wrong you have committed. I don't think the Nazi should be forgiven because there is no was you can apologize for something you believe and the Nazi believe that the only way to have a better Earth is by killing off the Jews.
ReplyDeleteI think this article truly told expressed the meaning of forgiveness. The main idea of this passage was a question we have to ask ourselves- "Can we forgive the Nazis?" and also "What is forgiveness?". I think in the passage "Can the Nazis be forgiven?" captures the central idea. the quote "Forgiveness was divinely designed from the very outset of creation, the reason why God deliberately created us imperfect is because through the process of sin and reconciliation, the forgiver and forgiven can experience religious and persona growth". This really developed the theme of this poem because it basically says you have the choice to forgive someone or not but if you choose to it allows you to grow. The inconsistencies of the passage was when that said being able to forgive someone allows you to experience growth and a closer connection with the forgiven, but then it stated "since we are human beings who still have a conscience to discern f=good from evil, the only conclusion we must come to is that we can't in any way forgive the Nazi's. Basically the pros to forgiveness is allowing yourself to grow from the situation and being able to tolerate them, but the cons to forgiveness is having the option to not forgive someone.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the International Holocaust Remembrance day article" the topic of forgiveness of the Nazis for performing such brutal acts would not be a hard decision for me but then again I'm not in the victims position. The definition the article gave for forgiveness is "the forgiver allows for his relationship with the forgiven to be healed". I know if I was to be in the same situation of holocaust survivors or the families of those who have lost someone due to it, it would be a very hard decision to say if I really forgive them or not. From a religious stand point, forgiving them would be the absolute right thing to do. In the article it says "just as he (God) is kind, merciful and forgiving, so too must we strive to conduct our lives in the same manner towards others", this means since God is always forgiven and merciful towards our sins and we must be that way towards others. The article mentions that the Jewish believes that in order to be forgiven you must earn repentance, i don't agree with that because 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us from all our unrighteousness." This means that you don't have to work off your sins, you can just ask for forgiveness but then again we have two different stand points on religion. So with that being said personally I think it would be very possible for the Nazi's to be forgiven, it might take a while to feel that way for the people who actually experienced that affects of the Holocaust but it can be done.
ReplyDeleteI think that the article's depiction of the Jewish way of forgiveness is accurate in this situation. The reason I think this is because there should always be a way to forgive someone even if you personally feel they don't deserve forgiveness. The main idea of this article was, should the Nazi's be given forgiveness. When reading this article I learned a couple of things, one thing I learned was that not a single Jewish person has forgiven a Nazi, this is not because the Jewish people don't want to forgive them but because the Nazi's have not attempted to be forgiven. In Jewish law "a person may not expect forgiveness unless he undergoes a sincere effort to perform "Teshuvah" meaning "repentance" or "return"." This law allows people unworthy of forgiveness a chance for remorse. Depending on the size of the mistake or evil one has enacted the more one has to perform the "teshuva" in order to redeem themselves. A quote that captures the theme of this article is the Jewish people "not asking why, but what do we do now." This quote to me shows that the Jewish people don't want to hate but want to rebuild and restore something that was destroyed, this makes me believe that the theme of the article is, forgiveness may not be the easiest choice but it is the choice that sets one apart from another and distinguishes the darkness from the light.
ReplyDelete