Of course one might have done it earlier, or be in the process of doing it
already, but the point is that unless one apologizes for wrongs between
human being and human being, there is no real repentance possible, and
therefore no forgiveness.

Jews believe that human beings have to forgive
other human beings- God can only forgive what humans do wrong in their
relationship with Him. That relationship may have suffered or been
broken because of how people have behaved to other people- but there is no
putting the relationship with God right before the relationship with
people has been sorted out.

So when people say it is time for the Jews
to forgive those who committed the horrors of Nazi Germany, say, the reply
has to be that we cannot forgive because we are not the ones who were
wronged- those that were wronged are mostly dead, and therefore not in a
position to forgive. This is hugely important.

The order of events runs
apology, true repentance, forgiveness- and the forgiveness comes from
the person who has been wronged.

In this light, those whom Paul Wolfowitz
has wronged- colleagues and staff- are the ones to forgive him, apart from
those who put him in position. Similarly with Don Imus, or the Pope.

Apology is only the first step. It is also, in my view, an easy one- we
should all be more willing to apologize if we have done wrong. But the
real effort needs to be made after the initial apology, with true
repentance, and making amends.

Most of us find that much harder, and
that is where God tests us- have we truly repented, over the Day of
Atonement? Do we really mean it? Are we sufficiently spiritually cleansed to go for
another year? Have we made amends to those whom
hurt/harmed in the previous year?

The test is whether we have made good
where we could and acknowledged how wrong we were where we could not
make good. On that count, those public figures cited still have a long way to
go.