Reconciliation

7 april 2011

The Second World War seems like yesterday. German soldiers enter the kitchen of sixteen year old Misha. Right in front of his eyes the soldiers shoot his aunt. “Take the dead outside,” they say to him. Misha and his sister are the only survivors in the house.  

Misha ends up in a ghetto and is later taken to a camp where 12.000 Jews are killed in one day. Misha manages to escape, but he knows that his sister is still being held captive. It's horrible in there. Through a toilet Misha breaks his sister out of the camp. For three days they are in the dirt, but they are both free! Misha brings his sister to safety with Russian partisans. He himself joins a group of Jewish partisans. The Russian group soon discovers that Misha's sister is Jewish and the leader kills her. When Misha finds the group, he immediately knows who has done it.  

Misha cannot forgive himself for failing to avenge his sister; he feels guilty towards her. Even after living in Israel for a long time, this thought still torments him.  

Here in Israel Misha reads an old Jewish book that says that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Puzzled he asks himself what this means for his life. This is how he comes to know the 'Forgiver'. A different light shines over Misha's life. He has even forgiven the man who murdered his sister. God has set him free from revenge. Misha, free from bitterness and hatred and reconciled to God and men.