Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, rabbi of Tel Aviv and former Chief Rabbi of Israel, spoke Thursday, Holocaust Memorial Day, about his story. Regarding the possibility of forgiveness, he said, “I am unable to forget, and it is not my place to forgive.”
“In whose name could I forgive? In the name of my father, who died in Treblinka when he was 50 years old with my 13-year-old brother at his side?” Rabbi Lau asked. He added, “My mother died at the end of the war. She was shot to death on the last day of the war. She was 44 years old.”
“Did they give me their authorization, to be their representative to forgive?”