To: To my mother, who hit me
Teshuvah (Jewish)
January 12, 2026
I forgive you and I do not forget. The Teshuvah tradition is clear that pardon from the wronged is required before pardon from God — Maimonides in Hilchot Teshuvah. You never asked. I am pardoning anyway, because the alternative is carrying it into another decade. The forgetting is not on offer.