Erika Kirk’s Unbelievable Statement Marks a Big Difference Between Judaism & Christianity!

[00:00] So recently at the funeral of Charlie

[00:02] Kirk, something extraordinary happened.

[00:04] His widow, Erica Kirk, stood before

[00:07] nearly 90,000 people and forgave her

[00:11] husband's killer just days after Charlie

[00:14] was assassinated.

[00:15] >> I forgive him.

[00:17] >> And she said she was following Jesus's

[00:19] words on the cross. Quote, "Father,

[00:22] forgive them for they know not what they

[00:24] do." She said, "The answer to hate is

[00:26] not hate. The answer is love." And

[00:29] people found it moving, noble,

[00:32] inspiring.

[00:33] Imagine that kind of strength to forgive

[00:35] the man who murdered your husband. But

[00:37] does Judaism agree with this approach?

[00:40] The answer is a firm no. And the

[00:44] difference tells us something profound

[00:46] about what Judaism, what the Torah

[00:48] thinks life is really all about. In

[00:51] Christianity, as far as I can

[00:53] understand, forgiveness is

[00:56] unconditional. Why? because it flows

[00:58] from this idea of grace. That no matter

[01:01] what you've done, if you accept God's

[01:03] grace, you're forgiven. CS Lewis once

[01:06] said, "To be a Christian means to

[01:08] forgive the inexcusable because God has

[01:10] forgiven the inexcusable in you." And

[01:13] this explains why Erica's funeral wasn't

[01:15] just mourning. It was uplifting. There

[01:17] was music. There was celebration.

[01:19] Because if you believe Charlie Kirk is

[01:21] in a better place in heaven, then his

[01:23] death is not a tragedy, but a

[01:25] transition. It's consistent. If

[01:27] salvation is guaranteed by grace and

[01:29] heaven is the real goal, then

[01:31] forgiveness is automatic, death is

[01:34] victory, and love is unconditional even

[01:37] for enemies. And yet, I think there's

[01:40] something in all of us, if we're honest

[01:41] with ourselves, that recoils in this

[01:44] music at a funeral, celebrating death,

[01:47] forgiving a murderer who hasn't even

[01:48] repented. Something feels wrong.

[01:51] Something jars. Why?

[01:54] Well, Judaism sees it very differently.

[01:57] In Judaism, forgiveness is not

[01:59] unconditional. It's not automatic.

[02:02] It's not even mine to give unless the

[02:05] wrongdoer repents. Unless he admits what

[02:07] he did, unless he regrets it, unless he

[02:10] asks for forgiveness. Because otherwise,

[02:14] what exactly am I forgiving? The murder

[02:16] itself, the pain it caused, the defiance

[02:20] of God's will. And what about justice?

[02:23] If forgiveness comes automatically

[02:25] without accountability, then evil is

[02:28] left unchallenged.

[02:30] In Judaism, forgiveness without

[02:31] repentance is not mercy. It's confusion.

[02:36] Worse, it's cruelty. Because it tells

[02:38] the sinner, "You don't have to change.

[02:41] You don't have to take responsibility."

[02:44] That's not good for me, and it's

[02:45] certainly not good for him. Think about

[02:47] this. If forgiveness is automatic, if

[02:51] God will forgive anything, no matter

[02:53] what, then life becomes meaningless.

[02:58] Imagine in your marriage, you can betray

[03:00] your spouse, lie, cheat, wound them, and

[03:02] they'll forgive you no matter what. What

[03:05] does that mean? It means your marriage

[03:08] doesn't matter. Your relationship

[03:10] doesn't matter. Your actions don't

[03:11] matter. You don't matter. That is the

[03:15] danger of unconditional forgiveness. It

[03:18] removes the meaning from our

[03:19] relationships. It makes a mockery of

[03:21] human choice.

[03:23] You can't love someone the whole time

[03:25] and feel that same emotion chronically.

[03:27] Otherwise, it's just a static

[03:29] relationship.

[03:31] It's not a real living one.

[03:33] And this is exactly what the prophet

[03:35] Jonah was afraid of. When God told Jonah

[03:38] to go to Nineve to warn the people to

[03:40] repent, Jonah ran the other way. Why?

[03:42] Because he was terrified of a world

[03:44] without justice and mercy alone. He

[03:47] said, "If God just forgives

[03:48] automatically, then our actions don't

[03:50] matter. Our choices don't matter. Life

[03:53] itself loses meaning. Jonah would rather

[03:56] run away than live in a world of cheap

[03:58] forgiveness for a group of people that

[04:00] had committed terrible crimes." And that

[04:03] fear, that deep human fear that our

[04:06] actions don't matter, is what Judaism

[04:08] insists must never happen. Mymones, the

[04:11] Rambam, says it clearly. If someone

[04:13] wrongs you and then sincerely asks for

[04:16] forgiveness, don't be cruel. Don't hold

[04:18] out. Forgive them with a full heart.

[04:20] That's the Jewish way. But if they don't

[04:22] repent, if they don't care, if they

[04:25] don't resolve never to do it again, then

[04:27] you're not required to forgive. In fact,

[04:29] the says it's a mitzvah. It's a

[04:32] commandment to hate persistent

[04:34] evildoers. King David said, "Do I not

[04:37] hate those who hate you, oh Lord?" So

[04:39] yes, Judaism believes in forgiveness,

[04:41] but forgiveness must be earned. It must

[04:43] come after justice, after repentance.

[04:46] Otherwise, it's not holy. It's a lie.

[04:50] Now, let's be clear. There are many

[04:52] evildoers today who don't even realize

[04:53] they're e doing evil, who are ignorant,

[04:56] uninformed, or maybe they just don't

[04:58] have the awareness of the consequences

[05:00] of their actions. So how we define what

[05:04] someone is evil is proportionate to the

[05:06] extent to which they understand that

[05:08] which they're doing and the extent of

[05:10] the evil they're doing. So it requires

[05:12] some context taking these verses into

[05:15] consideration. But nonetheless at the

[05:18] same time we're not meant to have this

[05:19] kind of static we love everything love

[05:21] grace grace for all actions and all

[05:24] people.

[05:26] God has preferences. Now let me be

[05:28] clear. Judaism does not say, "Sit in

[05:31] your anger forever. Carry grudges. Live

[05:34] with bitterness." No. The Torah

[05:36] commands, "Do not hate your brother in

[05:38] your heart." You should let go of

[05:40] resentment. You should not let hate

[05:42] poison you. But that's not the same as

[05:44] forgiving someone who has not repented.

[05:47] You can release your bitterness. You can

[05:49] pray that your enemy changes. You can

[05:52] hope that they turn from evil. But you

[05:54] cannot forgive what they did until they

[05:57] repent. Because forgiveness is not just

[05:59] about your feelings. Forgiveness is

[06:01] about truth. It's about justice. It's

[06:05] about repairing what was broken. And

[06:08] that requires the other person's

[06:09] participation. And this difference

[06:11] between Christianity and Judaism also

[06:13] explains why our funerals can look quite

[06:16] different. At Charlie Kirk's memorial,

[06:19] just days after he was killed,

[06:21] assassinated,

[06:23] they had music, joy, and uplift. And I'd

[06:26] imagine that in part that's because if

[06:28] you think death means heaven and heaven

[06:30] is the real goal, then it makes sense to

[06:33] celebrate. But in Judaism, death is not

[06:36] a celebration. Death is tragedy. Death

[06:39] is considered unnatural. Death is an

[06:42] intruder in God's world. That's why we

[06:45] mourn. That's why we sit shiver, which

[06:48] means we have a week of of mourning in

[06:51] the uh immediate family's life. And

[06:54] that's why we have schlushim a month of

[06:55] mourning. That's why we mark a whole

[06:57] year of mourning as well because grief

[07:01] is essential. If you try to skip it, if

[07:03] you try to plaster it over with

[07:05] celebration, you will fill that void

[07:07] later with something possibly more

[07:09] destructive. And that's why Judaism says

[07:13] no music at a funeral, no music in

[07:15] mourning. Music is about harmony, about

[07:18] different notes blending into one. But

[07:21] when someone dies, the world is broken.

[07:23] It is fragmented. It is not the time for

[07:26] harmony.

[07:28] There's a time for laughter and joy, and

[07:29] there's a time for weeping and crying.

[07:32] And most of all, that's why we don't say

[07:34] the dead are in a better place. Yes,

[07:37] heaven may be more comfortable, but it's

[07:39] not better because Judaism is not about

[07:42] escaping this world to get to heaven.

[07:45] Judaism, the Torah, is about bringing

[07:47] God down into this world. The Torah is

[07:50] not about God saving us. It's about us

[07:53] serving him. And this is a fundamental

[07:56] difference. Other religions say life is

[07:59] about salvation, about grace, about

[08:01] heaven. So when someone dies, you

[08:03] celebrate because they've reached the

[08:05] goal. The Torah says life is about your

[08:09] responsibility, about what you can do

[08:11] for God. It's about action. It's about

[08:13] mitzvah, commandment, divine

[08:15] commandment, about bringing heaven down

[08:17] to earth.

[08:19] So when someone dies, we don't celebrate

[08:21] because this world is where the action

[08:23] is. This world is where we can serve

[08:26] God. Heaven is a temporary retirement

[08:28] home. Earth is the arena. That's why

[08:31] Jews say to life to this world because

[08:34] it's here, not there, that we can do

[08:37] God's will. And that's why death is not

[08:40] considered natural. It's not holy. It's

[08:42] a necessary evil of a broken world that

[08:45] needs fixing. And one day when the world

[08:47] is repaired, death will disappear

[08:50] because God's goal is not to take us to

[08:52] heaven. It's for him to dwell here with

[08:54] us on earth. And we believe that in the

[08:57] end, earth will become the eternal abode

[09:00] of God. And all the souls will be

[09:02] resuscitated and brought back down to

[09:04] earth. And now you see how it all fits

[09:06] together. If you believe heaven is the

[09:08] goal, then yes, forgive everyone. Be

[09:10] joyous in death because none of this

[09:13] world really matters. But if you believe

[09:14] as Judaism does that this world matters,

[09:17] that our choices matter, that God is

[09:20] affected by what we do, it's a real

[09:23] living relationship with him, then

[09:26] forgiveness cannot be automatic because

[09:28] then our actions don't matter. In the

[09:31] Torah, forgiveness is real. It's

[09:34] powerful. But it only comes after

[09:37] justice, after repentance, after truth.

[09:40] Otherwise, forgiveness isn't

[09:42] forgiveness. It's denial. This isn't to

[09:44] say we shouldn't take great comfort at

[09:46] times of distress and grief that God has

[09:48] some great master plan which we believe

[09:50] he truly does.

[09:52] But it also means that we are realistic

[09:55] about the pain and challenge of this

[09:57] world and we feel it and we lean into

[09:59] it. So let's be clear. We admire Erica

[10:02] Kirk's courage, her refusal to be

[10:04] consumed by hate. It's noble. But

[10:07] Judaism would say forgiveness must be

[10:09] earned. Otherwise, life itself loses

[10:12] meaning. Judaism says, "Let go of

[10:15] hatred." Yes. Trust in God. Yes. Pray

[10:18] for your enemies to change. Sure. But

[10:21] don't forgive evil until it has

[10:23] repented. Because forgiveness without

[10:25] justice is not holy. It's confusion. And

[10:29] forgiveness with justice, that's the

[10:32] most beautiful thing in the world.

[10:34] That's when relationships are restored.

[10:36] That's when lives are repaired. That's

[10:38] when the world itself becomes whole

[10:40] again. And this brings us right to Yam

[10:44] Kapor which is coming up soon. On Yam

[10:47] Kapor, God doesn't say to us, I forgive

[10:49] you automatically no matter what. He

[10:52] doesn't say, "Don't worry, nothing

[10:54] matters." No, on Yamapore, God says,

[10:58] "Show me you care. Show me you take your

[11:01] actions seriously. That you take our

[11:03] relationship seriously. Show me what you

[11:06] did matters enough to regret, to repair,

[11:09] to change. That's why Yam Kapor is the

[11:11] holiest day of the year. Because it's

[11:14] not about cheap grace. It's about real

[11:17] grace. Grace that comes after

[11:20] responsibility,

[11:21] forgiveness that comes after repentance,

[11:24] mercy that comes after justice. And

[11:27] that's why we read the book of Jonah on

[11:29] Yamapore. Because Jonah ran away from

[11:31] Ninve. He didn't want to live in a world

[11:33] where forgiveness is automatic, where

[11:35] actions don't matter. And God shows him,

[11:38] no, forgiveness is real, but only when

[11:41] people repent, when they change, when

[11:43] they transform their lives. That's the

[11:46] lesson of Jonah. And God says, even if

[11:49] they have done so much wrong, if they're

[11:51] going to take some responsibility,

[11:53] shouldn't I then show them grace? That

[11:56] is the lesson of Yamapore. And that's

[11:58] why it's so powerful. Because when

[12:00] you've done the work, when you've faced

[12:02] your mistakes, when you've admitted your

[12:04] wrongs and asked for forgiveness, then

[12:07] you discover that God's love is endless,

[12:11] that his mercy is real, but that also

[12:14] your life and your decisions truly

[12:17] matter to him. In fact, if you think

[12:19] about it, if you love someone, that

[12:22] means they can hurt you. If I say, "I

[12:25] love you so much, but if you don't love

[12:27] me, then I don't care. You can go to

[12:29] hell. literally, then that's not love.

[12:33] That's abuse. Love means if you're not

[12:36] in relationship with me, I'm going to

[12:39] miss you. I'm going to suffer. There is

[12:42] no love without vulnerability.

[12:45] If God truly loves us, then he's

[12:48] vulnerable to our choices. How's that

[12:51] for an idea? It's not that God's love is

[12:53] unconditional. It's that our

[12:55] relationship with him is unconditional.

[12:58] So as we enter Yamipur, remember Judaism

[13:01] doesn't ask us to pretend evil never

[13:03] happened. It asks us to face it honestly

[13:07] to repent and only then to forgive.

[13:11] That's not weakness. That's not

[13:13] confusion. That is justice and mercy

[13:16] together. That is what makes forgiveness

[13:18] holy. And that's why at the end of

[13:20] Yamapore, we don't celebrate death. We

[13:23] celebrate life. We say to life in this

[13:27] world where our choices matter, where

[13:29] our actions matter, and where

[13:31] forgiveness, when it's real, has the

[13:33] power to transform the world. I'm Ollie

[13:36] Anisfeld and you're watching JTV. Before

[13:39] we finish, I just want to share with you

[13:40] something really important. We are told

[13:43] that Israel's actions are the cause of

[13:45] the Israeli Arab conflict. But we've

[13:47] just released a groundbreaking

[13:49] documentary proving that Arab Islamic

[13:52] Jew hatred far predates Israel's

[13:54] Reestablishment. This is a critical fact

[13:58] that everyone needs to learn about. Have

[14:00] a watch of our trailer for our new JTV

[14:02] Plus documentary entitled Arab

[14:04] Anti-semitism Before Israel's

[14:07] Reestablishment. Picture yourself. It's

[14:10] 1834 and you're a Jew living in Svat,

[14:13] which is a northern city in Israel, then

[14:16] under the Ottoman Empire. Your family is

[14:18] part of this ancient city's spiritual

[14:20] heart for generations. You study Torah.

[14:23] You trade in the market and live quietly

[14:25] among your Arab neighbors. But one day,

[14:28] a mob storms your street, shouting,

[14:30] "Kill the Jews." Your home is looted,

[14:33] your synagogue burned, your loved ones

[14:35] beaten. This isn't about Israel. Israel

[14:37] won't exist for 114 years. This isn't

[14:40] about settlements, the IDF, or the 1948

[14:43] displacements. This is raw, violent

[14:46] hatred aimed at you for being a Jew. And

[14:50] it's not just in Palestine. It's part of

[14:52] a centuries old story of anti-semitism

[14:55] woven into Arab and Islamic history from

[14:58] the dawn of Islam to the streets of

[15:00] Hebrron.

[15:02] The claim that this conflict began with

[15:04] Israel's creation, the Nakba, or modern

[15:07] policies, is a farce. A distortion that

[15:10] collapses under history's magnifying

[15:12] glass. Welcome to JTV Plus. I'm Olly

[15:15] Anisfeld, and today we're uncovering a

[15:17] history too often buried. The relentless

[15:20] anti-semitism among Arabs in Palestine

[15:22] before 1948, rooted in a broader Arab

[15:26] and Muslim hostility that began with

[15:28] Islam's inception in the 7th century.

[15:35] To watch this JTV Plus documentary and

[15:38] access much more premium content, click

[15:41] on the link in the video description.