#ashamnu

As we approach Yom Kippur, the culmination of this period of self-reflection on the past year and where we may have gone astray, it is worth remembering that this is more than a time of regret and fear and self-censure: it is also a time of growth, and joy, and love,.

A Discussion Relating to the Ashamnu Prayer, Yom Kippur 5778

But in the “Ashamnu” we don’t express our own sins, or if we do, it is done within the framework of a communal confession in which the individual Jew takes responsibility for the sins of the collective, whether or not they are things which the individual feels that he or she has done themself. Why on earth would an individual confess sins which he or she has not performed? – because of the idea that communal responsibility, responsibility for the collective, rests with the individual. The Biblical idea that God judges the collective, seeing the collective as an entity which either does right or does wrong and calling down reward or punishment on the collective according to the behavior of the individuals inside it, is here affirmed. In the previous text we saw how the individual is expected to take responsibility for the collective: here we see that the collective will be judged by the deeds of its individuals and the whole collective will carry the responsibility and will be rewarded or punished accordingly. Thus, from a theological point of view, the whole community will rise or fall together, held accountable for the actions of its constituent members. In the traditional Jewish outlook, the fate of the individual is inextricably tied up with the fate of the collective of which he or she is a part.

i miss our old sheet music

Political silences speaks: a reflection on Yom Kippur