RHR Vidui 5773 ›

cc: flickr | Confessions of a troubled mind…  By Arry_B

To download as “word” file: RHR Vidui 5773

The vidui (recounting of our sins) during the High Holidays is intended to make us feel uncomfortable, to confront us with the wrongs we have done. This vidui relates to our society today, to the way in which we treat the unemployed and disadvantaged, immigrants, migrant workers, single mothers, the elderly, the exploited women, the Arab citizens of the State and the Palestinians, and those we disagree with politically. The vidui asks us to take individual responsibility also for the collective sins of our society.  In many cases the first line is from the traditional vidui., another traditional source, or well known phrase or concept.  You can check this by reading the Hebrew or looking at the transliterations and references appearing here after the vidui.

 

Just as the High Priest in ancient times had to recite his own vidui before saying a vidui for others, we in the human rights community need to look at our own sins before we recount the sins of the society we are part of. For those using this English version, it is particularly important to personalize this section.  Yom Kippur is not a time merely to point a finger at somebody else. For some the sin they must confess is always assuming the worst about Israel, while others must confess defending Israel, no matter what….

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For the sin we have sinned against You by harshly judging others

               Lacking faith in You, in ourselves, and in our society.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through offensive talk,

               Disparaging those whose concept of justice is different than ours.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through faint heartedness and succumbing to dismay,

When we said that Tikun Olam (Repairing the World) is “In the heavens” or “Across the Sea,” and thus beyond our capability.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through short sightedness

Ignoring education and long term change, believing we could repair the world instantly.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by throwing off the yoke,

              When we gave up and said “Let others repair the world.”

And for the sin we have sinned against You by foolish talk,

              When we preferred complaining to acting.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by scoffing

              At those who yet believe that they can bring about a better world.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You saying knowingly and deceiving ourselves,

              “Everything will be fine,” in order to justify inaction.

And for the sin we have sinned against You saying “We didn’t know”

              But, we knew.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through justification.

               Allowing deportation to South Sudan because there is “only” hunger and malaria.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You saying “If I am not for myself who will be for me,”

              To justify caring only about Jews

And for the sin we have sinned against You saying “If I am only for myself, who am I,”

              Caring only about non-Jews.

And for the sin we have sinned against You ignoring “If not now, when,”

              Allowing the government to quiet the social protest movement.

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by indulging in food and drink

              While people freeze to death in Levinsky Park and immolate themselves in despair

              On the streets of Tel Aviv.

And for for the sin we have sinned against You by sitting and not taking action (Shev v’al ta’aseh)

              In our comfortable homes, even as others are being evicted from theirs.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through the words we have mouthed,

            As if we truly cared about the weakest and poorest among us.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through quieting our conscience

               By giving charity without dealing with the roots of poverty.

 

For the sin which we have sinned against You by hardening our hearts

              To poverty, hunger and despair.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through Lashon HaRa (slander)

               Claiming that the unemployed are “faking it” and “parasites.”

 

For the sin we have sinned against You saying “What is mine is mine, what is yours is mine,”

              Justifying the unequal distribution of resources.

And for the sin we have sinned against You saying “What is mine is mine, what is yours is yours,”

              Justifying the unequal distribution of resources.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by breach of trust,

Preferring short term profits for ourselves over long term investment in education, living wage jobs and dignity.

And for the sin we have sinned against you by putting up blocks

Such as lack of investment in public housing and unfair eligibility requirements, denying a home to many.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by leaving buildings empty,

            Even as others lack a home.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by casting aside the weak,

Neglecting medicines for the sick and the health system.

And for the sin which we have sinned against You by abandoning your Torah

              When we ceased to be a society responsible for one another.

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through the desecration of Your Name

Fulfilling the commandments how to treat our fellow human beings only with regards to Jews

And for the sin which we have sinned against You through insolence -

            Saying that only Jews have rights to the Land.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through drunken vision

               Not seeing Israeli Arabs as fellow citizens.

And for the sin we have sinned against You consciously or unconsciously,

Not giving equal opportunity to study, work or be full members of  society

 

For the sin we have sinned against you by misusing our minds,

              Believing that Bedouin are trespassers and criminals taking over the Negev.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by running to do evil,

              Hurrying to take their lands without waiting for the courts to determine ownership.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through selfish envy,

              By not honoring Bedouin claims to 5.4% of the Negev

And for the sin we have sinned against You through abuse of power,

Demolishing homes and scheming to expel tens of thousands from their homes.

And for the sin we have sinned against You knowingly and deceitfully,

As the JNF hides from it’s donors its role in “Judaizing” the Negev.

               

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by plotting against our neighbors,

               The Palestinians

And for the sin we have sinned against You knowingly or unknowingly,

Allowing successive governments to steal, demolish, uproot, and humiliate.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by ruling high handedly,

              While Palestinians are unrepresented among the lawmakers, judges and planners

              Determining their fate.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through double standards,

Expelling families from Sheikh Jarakh on the basis of pre ’48 claims, even as the law prevents them from reclaiming their pre ’48 homes.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through the abuse of power

Exploiting State power to prevent Palestinians from building legally.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through hard heartedness,

               Ignoring children’s tears when we demolished their “illegal” homes

 

For the sin we have sinned against you because we were seduced

By Jerusalem’s magic to steal in Silwan, Issawiyah and throughout East Jerusalem.

For the sin we have sinned against You through disrespect shown to parents, teachers and children

            By not building needed classrooms.

 

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement..

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through justifying,

               Arguing that anything is permissible in the name of our defense.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through foolish talk

              Excusing collective punishment and harming civilians.

For the sin which we have sinned against You through dulling the mind,

              Claiming that the State discriminates against Jews in the Occupied Territories.

And through the sin we have sinned against You through obfuscation,

Planning mass expulsion from the South Hebron Hills while speaking of an “Enlightened Occupaton” and a “Moral army.”

For the sin we have sinned against You through hypocrisy,

Doing little to stop the rising violence against Palestinians, but

Lamenting when the same criminals attack soldiers.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by rushing to do wrongly,

            Abandoning alternatives and turning to force.

           

And for the sin we have sinned against You by causeless hatred

Towards those daring to ask questions or present facts contradicting our beliefs.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by breaking the yoke,

            Trampling the foundations of democracy and justice because we were the majority

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by closing our borders

              To refugees fleeing for their lives.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through imposing borders

              So that refuges would live somewhere in South Tel Aviv, but not next to us.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by running to do wrongly,

               Rushing to beat, burn and demonstrate against refugees

And for the sin we have sinned against You through the words of our lips,

               Inciting and sowing fear.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through abuse of power,

               Jailing and expelling.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by eating and drinking

               Even as we denied refugees permits to work and put bread on their tables.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through forgetting

               The many times borders were closed for us.

And for the sin we have sinned against You for forgetting

That we were strangers in the land of Egypt

 

For the sin we have sinned against You in doing business 

               Making guest workers into modern slaves to be bought and sold.

And for the sin we have sinned against You through hard heartedness,

               Expelling their children.

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You through tolerating human trafficking

               Rather than fighting the traffickers and pimps.

And for the sin we have sinned against You by desecrating Your Name

Abandoning the “agunot” (Women not granted a Jewish divorce) and ignoring the solutions that exist in the Halacha.

 

For the sin we have sinned against You by educating

                           Our children with stereotypes and prejudice.

And for the sin which we have sinned against You by scoffing,

Denigrating new immigrants and failing to honor their traditions and cultures.

 

For sin we have sinned against You through spiritual blindness,

               Not seeing You in all the “others” who live among us.

And for the sin which we have sinned against You by thinking to ourselves and whispering in closed rooms,     

That which we should have cried out loud, raising our voices as a shofar.

 

For all these and more, God of forgiveness, we ask forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.

.

 

May the meditations of our hearts and the words and intentions of our prayer bring us to true teshuva, and lead us forward to acts of righteousness and tzedaka, in order to make our world a place in which the Shekhina can dwell.

References:

Harshly judging others – plilut

Offensive talk – dibur peh

Faint heartedness and succumbing to dismay-timahon levav

Short sightedness – tzarut ayin

Throwing off the yoke – frikat ohl

Foolish talk-tipshut peh

Scoffing – latzon

Saying knowingly and deceiving ourselves B’da’at u’v'mirmah

“We didn’t know” lo yodim (Actual phrase is B’yodim u’v'lo yodim)

Justification-tziduk ha’din

“If I am not for myself who will be for me,” Im eyn ani li, mi li –All three of these phrases are a well known quote from Hillel in Pirkei Avot

If I am only for myself, who am I – c’sh’ani l’atzmi, mah ani

If not now, when – Im eyn akshav, ei-matai

Food and drink makhal u’mishteh

Sitting and not taking action (Shev v’al ta’aseh)

The words we have mouthed – bitui sfatayim

Hardening our hearts – Imutz HaLev

Lashon HaRa (slander)

“What is mine is mine, what is yours is mine,” Sheli sheli, shelkha sheli (Pirkei Avot)

What is mine is mine, what is yours is yours,” Sheli sheli, shelkha shelka (Pirkei Avot)

Breach of trust  tzomet yad

Casting aside the weak, based on Al taskhlikeinu …k;khlot kokheinu -prayer recited on Yom Kippur,

Desecration of Your Name –khilul HaShem

Insolence – Azut Metzakh

Drunken vision – Shikur Ayin

Consciously or unconsciously-b’Zadon u’v'shgaga

Misusing our minds, b’vli da’at

Running to do evil-ritzat reglayim le’ha’ra

Selfish envy-Tzarut Ayin

Abuse of power-khozek yad

Knowingly and deceitfully- B’da’at u’v'mirmah

Plotting against our neighbors, tzidiyat reah

Knowingly or unknowingly- B’yodim u’v'lo yodim

High handedly – yad ramah

Double standards, Eifah v’eifah

Abuse of power – khozek yad

Hard heartedness – eimutz HaLev

Seduced – shikur ayin

Disrespect shown to parents, teachers and children zilzul l’horim v’morim original is only parents and teachers.

Justifying-Tziduk HaDdin

Foolish talk – tipshut peh

Dulling the mind timtum ha’da’at

Obfuscation, Eynayim ramot

Hypocrisy, vidui peh

Rushing to do wrongly,

Causeless hatred – sinat khinam

Breaking the yoke – frikat ohl

Running to do wrongly – Ritzat ragleinu l’ha’ra

Words of our lips – siakh sifateinu

               Inciting and sowing fear.

Abuse of power-khozek yad

Makhal u’eating and drinking – makhal u’mishteh

Doing business  - Masa U’Matan

Hard heartedness – Imutz HaLev

Human trafficking V’I'dat znut

Desecrating Your Name – Khilul HaShem

Scoffing-Latzon

Cried out loud, raising our voices as a shofar (Adopted rom Yom Kippur Morning Haftarah, Isaiah 58).

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