Vidui

[cellio]

(The Yom Kippur stuff will probably come in dribs and drabs this year. Lots of stuff is still swirling around in my head.)

From the morning service:

For transgressions against God, the Day of Atonement atones; but for transgressions of one human being against another, the Day of Atonement does not atone until they have made peace with one another.

I hereby forgive all who have hurt me, all who have wronged me, whether deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed. May no one be punished on my account.

As I forgive and pardon those who have wronged me, may those whom I have wronged forgive and pardon me, whether whether I acted deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed.

The first time I was faced with those words I argued with them. Write a blank check? Are you kidding? It wasn't that I had a particular grievance in mind; it's just that it felt wrong somehow. After all, we're told that we have to ask forgiveness and make amends; just feeling sorry doesn't cut it.

The next time I reasoned that there was a quid pro quo involved, and I wanted to say "I forgive and pardon anyone else who is making this declaration today". I don't now remember if that's what I actually said. I know that for a while I've been mentally inserting "those Jews" rather than just anyone, because while not all Jews keep Yom Kippur, it seemed a reasonable compromise.

This year I was able to say it as written. I was able to realize that yeah, there are people who've wronged me who will never apologize (perhaps because they don't even realize it), and I've surely done such things to other people, and it's just not important enough to hang onto. For wrongs that are known and more serious, well, there's a difference between forgiveness and forgetfulness -- I might not rely on certain people in the future, but I don't have to carry the weight of their misdeeds around on a mental scorecard either. I can inform my future behavior without holding out on forgiveness.

This would be much harder, perhaps impossible, if there were a major outstanding wrong against me. I am blessed to not have suffered the kinds of wrongdoing (abuse, major betrayal, etc) that some people have. The small stuff just isn't worth getting worked up about.

As I said, it wasn't so much that I had specific grievances I wanted to hold onto; it was more that I had trouble making the blanket statement. I don't know what's changed, but I don't seem to have that trouble now. I'm happy about this.

I'm glad I'm a Jew -- the annual introspection and sanity check is helpful. And, quite demonstrably, when it wasn't required of me I didn't do it. (Maybe others are more dilligent in such things.) In all seriousness, I would recommend something like the high holy days to my thoughtful gentile friends.

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

It's interesting: from my former schul (Ortho -> Conserv), I'm familiar with the statement "For transgressions against God...", but I don't recall the explicit declaration of forgiveness. I'd skeeve against that, too. Frankly, it strikes me as, well, Christian. Had John Paul been Jewish, I really don't think he would have forgiven Mehmet Ali Acga, and I don't think he would have been expected to. Okay, so that's supposed to be a way in which Christianity is superior. But I don't think so. I think it's unnatural to be that forgiving in the face of such a wrong. I think that such a declaration would necessarily be insincere, to some degree. Does God really want and expect us to defy His design of our natures to that degree? Did the Pope really hold nothing back, no resentment at all, towards Acga? He was, after all, a mortal like the rest of us, even if one does consider him "saintly". There's saying "I forgive" and there's meaning the forgiveness. Does God require that of us? Because I don't think I could get that far. Are we to forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust? Osama for 9-11? Haman? For that matter, are we to forgive the Amalekites? I don't think so.

[cellio]

Yeah, that's why I would have trouble with this if I had personally been the victim of something egregious -- it doesn't even have to be Osama or Amalek; willful assault would be enough. I understand it to mean (that is, what's in my heart when I read it) personal interactions -- things directed at me, as opposed to things directed at us. It's not about Osama; it's about the rude committee chair, the insulting coworker, the thoughtless family member, or whatever.

It still gives me pause, but since everything that's been directed at me has been petty enough to not warrant carrying a grudge (and we're not to carry grudges anyway), I found I was able to do it. This does not mean the past won't inform my future actions, just that I'm going to write off past insults.

Is this text a Reform change, I wonder? (While I have many siddurim, I only have the one machzor.)

forgot one thing

[cellio]

You make an excellent point about this declaration circumventing the rules God put in place. I need to think more on that.