Each year, Jews throughout the world recite a part of the liturgy that has become known by its first words, which repeat throughout the text: Al Chet. Some prayer texts have updated the list of sins that a person may have committed, and that certainly someone in one’s prayer community has committed. In reflecting on my year and on the year of our community and our world, I offer the following Al Chet:
For these sins…
- For not demonstrating what Rav Kook spoke of as ahavat chinam, unconditional love
- For not adequately using the thinking skills God has given us:
- Da’at – Intelligence, knowledge
- Bina – Understanding
- Haskel – Insight, critical thinking
- Chochmah – Wisdom
- For forgetting to show respect for those with whom we disagree
- For not being Godlike by balancing strict justice with mercy, and not teaching that balance to the world
- For not holding personal integrity as the primary prerequisite for leadership
- For not being supportive enough of Israel and guaranteeing its security
- For not expressing the value that Israel must hold itself to a different and higher standard
- For not being a patriotic enough citizen of our country to demonstrate allegiance and to demand that it be a beacon of liberty and freedom
- For allowing bullying and insulting behavior in communications and allowing people to confuse it with strength
- For not stepping forward to strongly condemn all hatred and rooting it out immediately, especially as we still live in the shadow of the Shoah
- For not doing the small, individual things that demonstrate our partnership with God in protecting the environment
- For putting obstacles in the way of individuals who wish to be part of our synagogues, our schools, our Jewish community
- For using Judaism as a tool to punish rather than as a tool to repair the world
- For performing rote prayer and ritual, forgetting that they are there to speak to us
For all these, Lord of Forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement.
