Q:
Will Gehenom be mechaper for a sin bein adam lachaveiro that his chaver wasn’t mochel?
A:
It is a big rachmanus. If he needs Gehenom instead of his fellow man’s mechilah, it is a very big rachmanus on him. A tremendous rachmanus.
I will tell you a story, many years ago on Yom Kippur I reminded myself, a man was once in my shul and I criticized him for a certain thing that he did. At the time I thought I was right. Later I thought, maybe I shouldn’t have done it.
It’s Yom Kippur! But he’s not in my shul anymore; he’s someplace else. I went out of shul in the middle of davening, walked all the way across the neighborhood to where he davened.
I said to someone, “Can you call out Mr. So and So.”
He called him out.
I said, “Will you forgive me?”
He said “Yes.”
And I walked back to my shul to daven.
That’s what you have to do. I was a lucky man—he was still around. In many cases people have passed away, ooh it is a problem. You have to do something about that. Don’t rely on Gehenom. Oh no! It’s a big rachmanus on you if you’ll get your kaparah in Gehenom.
(October 5, 2000)
