Reply To: Anti-Isreal Goyim Yemach Shemom and Anti-Isreal Jews

“MT: Saying that Chataim V’lo Chot’im means “sins and not sinners” is a mistranslation.”

Well, let’s see: Chatoim – pl chait, which means sin, so chatoim means sins; V’lo – i don’t think there’s any debate as to what that means (and not); Chot’im – pl chotei, which means sinner, so then chot’im means sinners. Now if we put this together, we get “sins and not sinners”. The drasha, by the way, is <i>precisely</i> that – that we should daven for the sinners to do teshuva and thus their sins will be wiped out and not that they should be exterminated like amalekites; see the gemara that tells us the heartwarming story of Mrs. R’ Meir, who dissuaded her husband from davening for his protagonists death and instead pray for his repentance.