A regular part of the weekday liturgy is a
confession of sins. It contains a one word rhyming list of 24 sins that is
according to the aleph beis with the last letter tripled. It is often general:
“We have trespassed, we have been faithless, we have robbed, we have scoffed,
we have rebelled, we have been malicious, we have erred, we have caused others
to err”.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement
therefore another list is added which is much longer and detailed. It is 44 lines broken into three groups each ending
with the refrain, “For all of them G-d of Pardons, pardon us, forgive us, atone
us”. Each of the lines is in the form, “For the sin we committed against You in
such and such”. For example, “For the sin we committed before You by the
meditation in our heart”. “For the sin we have committed against you by the
desecration of Your name”. “For the sin we have committed against You in eating
and drinking”. “For the sin we have committed against You by casting off the
yoke of the commandments”. These sins are easy to understand as sins against
G-d.
However, there are sins, which seem to be
substantially against one’s fellow man, for example, “For the sin we have
committed against You by wronging our neighbor”. “For the sin we have committed
against You by contempt of parents and teachers”. “For the sin we have
committed against You by slander”. “For the sin we have committed against You
by being cheap”. “For the sin we have committed against You by violence”. One
can understand how the victim of these sins would be offended. However, why are
they reckoned as sins against G-d to the extent we need to ask heaven for
forgiveness? If the victim is conciliated that should be enough.
The biblical phrase “he will bear his
iniquity” (שא עונו) gives some insight. It
is used five times in the Chumash. One of them is in connection with the
mitzvah of a peace offering. The basic idea of a peace offering is that it is a
religious banquet. As such meat, which has been sanctified as a sacrifice,
should be eaten at the banquet itself. Left overs are permitted but must be
eaten the next day. To eat the meat on the third day or after is like using a
celebration to do grocery shopping. There the Chumash brands it as an
abomination and one who does it will bear his iniquity.
There are similar condemnations for those
that eat blood, brother sister incest, remaining silent when one has relevant
testimony, and ascending the Temple Mount in a state of ritual impurity. These
can be viewed as victimless crimes or at least one where the injured party
remains ignorant. However, the violator knows he did a bad thing. A sense of
guilt comes from the violation of the faith. The person has become vile in the
eyes of heaven. Similarly with crimes
where there is a victim, for repentance to be complete, the perpetrator must
admit to his soul that the behavior was wrong. Certainly amends must be made to
the damaged party, but it is not enough. One must recognize that there is a G-d
in heaven, who is the master of the world, and who has been offended because he
misbehaved at His party. In the עַל הֵטא
(Ahl Chayt) we apologize to the Holy One blessed be He and in doing so make
peace with the religion.
לע"נ הדוד מאיר בן חיים ז"ל
נלב"ע כה בתשרי תשנ"ב
http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.ilניתן בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
Blogger English http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2015/09/haazinu-yom-kippur-for-sin-we-committed.html
Blogger Hebrew http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2015/09/140.html
YouTube https://youtu.be/hTFGDLkjeV4
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