A crucial new lens on repentance, atonement, forgiveness, and
repair from harm--from personal transgressions to our culture's most
painful and unresolved issues
American culture focuses on letting go of grudges and redemption
narratives instead of the perpetrator's obligations or recompense for
harmed parties. As survivor communities have pointed out, these
emphases have too often only caused more harm. But Danya Ruttenberg
knew there was a better model, rooted in the work of the medieval
philosopher Maimonides.
For Maimonides, upon whose work Ruttenberg elaborates, forgiveness is
much less important than the repair work to which the person who
caused harm is obligated. The word traditionally translated as
repentance really means something more like return, and in this book,
returning is a restoration, as much as is possible, to the victim,
and, for the perpetrator of harm, a coming back, in humility and
intentionality, to behaving as the person we might like to believe we
are.
Maimonides laid out five steps: naming and owning harm; starting to
change/transformation; restitution and accepting consequences;
apology; and making different choices. Applying this lens to both our
personal relationships and some of the most significant and painful
issues of our day, including systemic racism and the legacy of
enslavement, sexual violence and harassment in the wake of #MeToo,
and Native American land rights, On Repentance and Repair
helps us envision a way forward.
Rooted in traditional Jewish concepts while doggedly accessible and
available to people from any, or no, religious background, On
Repentance and Repair is a book for anyone who cares about
creating a country and culture that is more whole than the one in
which we live, and for anyone who has been hurt or who is struggling
to take responsibility for their mistakes.