Forgiveness Prayer

Rabbi Elazar lived in the age of the Tannaim (scholars of the Mishnah) in Eretz Yisrael during the Roman period, after the destruction of the Second Temple. Rabbi Elazar participated with his father in the authorship of the Zohar, and a considerable number of teachings are ascribed to him.

After his father’s death, Rabbi Elazar, under compulsion, accepted a position in the Roman administration as an official responsible for the apprehension of thieves. This aroused the opposition of the sages, including Rabbi Yehudah ben Karcha, his teacher who begged him to stop “handing over the people of G-d to be killed”. Rabbi Elazar was worried that he was turning over innocent individuals to the government, so he prayed that he should be inflicted with suffering. Every evening he called for afflictions, "Come unto me my brothers and friends," and in the morning he sent them away so that he would be able to study Torah.



Before he died he told his wife: "I know that the sages are angry with me [for turning over many of their relatives] and they may not attend my funeral. You shall leave me in the attic. For 20 years, the sages refused to bury his body claiming he was not worthy of burial. The tradition tells that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Elazar's father, appeared to the sages in a dream and asked that his son be buried. When the sages went to bury him, the people of Achbarin refused to give them the body because as long as his body was in the attic no wild beast had ever come to the city. On Yom Kippur’s eve, when the townspeople were busy, the sages removed R' Elazar's body and brought him to his father's cave in Meron to be buried. "Yom Kippur" means "Day of Atonement", a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the past year.


If you are also interested in:

• Being forgiven for past wrongdoings,
• Asking for the Lord’s mercy,
• Redeeming your soul,
• Solve previous quarrels and disputes,
• Apologizing for your sins,
• Being forgiven by your partner/spouse.