In a 2020 interview, Dolly Parton spoke about the importance of extending forgiveness to others rather than allowing bitterness and anger to take root. She said, “There’s a lot to be said about forgiveness; it cleans you for other good stuff to come in,” she said. “If you go around with a bunch of hate and anger and bottled-up stuff in you, you can’t blossom. As a person, you’re not doing yourself any favors or anyone else. It’s just so much better to forgive.”
This is a concept that is not foreign to us, especially at this time of year. How do we follow the path of return during this time? How do we find ways to come back to ourselves, each other, to God? How do we find forgiveness?
For Dolly, “forgiving someone did not mean pretending the hurt never happened; [she said] it requires humility on both sides.”
Many of you might know the story about how Dolly famously wrote the song “I Will Always Love You” in 1974 for Porter Wagoner. Her decision to leave his show and start a solo career had led to hurt and tension, between them and they argued as he struggled to accept her decision. She wrote the song overnight and sang it to him the next day.
As she sang to him, tears flowed down from his face as he began to accept her decision. This beautiful moment of teshuva – of returning – of making space for understanding, allowed them to reconcile and both find forgiveness.
Dolly later said, “I really think that that’s so important to cleanse your own heart and your own soul, to be able to forgive and to ask forgiveness. You never should be too proud to ask for forgiveness.”
While most of us not are not singer-song writers, she found a way to communicate her feelings in her own way so that they could go through this process of teshuva. She could have just walked away, but with strength and vulnerability she made space for them to acknowledge the hurt they both felt and to find a way forward.
As we enter this Shabbat Tshuva and Yom Kippur, I invite you to think about the personal work you might need to do around forgiveness. It will likely not be easy. It will likely be uncomfortable. You might tap into your own creative expression or use our liturgy or Dolly’s words to help you say want needs to be said. And hopefully, what can come from it is healing and growth, and room in your heart to blossom.
Dolly Parton quotes were excerpted from this article from August 26, 2026.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Sarah Tasman
