Community and the Individual Jew, Ronald Aigen
If modernity has taught us to say, ‘I,’ Judaism still asks us to say, ‘we.’
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
In a free society, only some are guilty, but all are responsible.
(מז) אָשַֽׁמְנוּ. בָּגַֽדְנוּ. גָּזַֽלְנוּ. דִּבַּֽרְנוּ דֹּֽפִי. הֶעֱוִֽינוּ. וְהִרְשַֽׁעְנוּ. זַֽדְנוּ. חָמַֽסְנוּ. טָפַֽלְנוּ שֶֽׁקֶר. יָעַֽצְנוּ רָע. כִּזַּֽבְנוּ. לַֽצְנוּ. מָרַֽדְנוּ. נִאַֽצְנוּ. סָרַֽרְנוּ. עָוִֽינוּ. פָּשַֽׁעְנוּ. צָרַֽרְנוּ. קִשִּֽׁינוּ עֹֽרֶף. רָשַֽׁעְנוּ. שִׁחַֽתְנוּ. תִּעַֽבְנוּ. תָּעִֽינוּ. תִּעְתָּֽעְנוּ:
(47) We have trespassed; We have betrayed ; We have stolen; We have slandered. We have caused others to sin; We have caused others to become wicked; We have sinned with malicious intent; We have committed violence; We have added falsehood upon falsehood; We have joined with evil individuals or groups; We have given harmful advice; We have deceived; we have mocked; We have rebelled; We have caused God to be angry with us; We have turned away from goodness; We have sinned deliberately; We have been negligent; We have caused our friends grief; We have been stiff-necked. We have been wicked. We have committed sins of moral corruption; We have committed abominations; We have gone astray; We have led others astray.
Questions:
Why does Aigen claim that Judaism teaches us to say "we" and what are the examples of what this means in Jewish life and values?
What does Heschel mean? Is he correct?
Why is the confession prayer on Yom Kippur written in the plural and what can we learn from that?
(א) כָּל מִצְוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה בֵּין עֲשֵׂה בֵּין לֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה אִם עָבַר אָדָם עַל אַחַת מֵהֶן בֵּין בְּזָדוֹן בֵּין בִּשְׁגָגָה כְּשֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה וְיָשׁוּב מֵחֶטְאוֹ חַיָּב לְהִתְוַדּוֹת לִפְנֵי הָאֵל בָּרוּךְ הוּא ... זֶה וִדּוּי דְּבָרִים. וְכֵן בַּעֲלֵי חַטָּאוֹת וַאֲשָׁמוֹת בְּעֵת שֶׁמְּבִיאִין קָרְבְּנוֹתֵיהֶן עַל שִׁגְגָתָן אוֹ עַל זְדוֹנָן אֵין מִתְכַּפֵּר לָהֶן בְּקָרְבָּנָם עַד שֶׁיַּעֲשׂוּ תְּשׁוּבָה וְיִתְוַדּוּ וִדּוּי דְּבָרִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ויקרא ה ה) "וְהִתְוַדָּה אֲשֶׁר חָטָא עָלֶיהָ".... וְכֵן הַחוֹבֵל בַּחֲבֵרוֹ וְהַמַּזִּיק מָמוֹנוֹ אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁשִּׁלֵּם לוֹ מַה שֶּׁהוּא חַיָּב לוֹ אֵינוֹ מִתְכַּפֵּר עַד שֶׁיִּתְוַדֶּה וְיָשׁוּב מִלַּעֲשׂוֹת כָּזֶה לְעוֹלָם
(1) If a person transgresses any of the mitzvot of the Torah, whether a positive command or a negative command - whether willingly or inadvertently - when he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess before God...
This refers to a verbal confession. ...
...sacrifices will not atone for their sins until they repent and make a verbal confession as [Leviticus 5:5] states: "He shall confess the sin he has committed upon it."
... someone who injures a colleague or damages his property, does not attain atonement, even though he pays him what he owes, until he confesses and makes a commitment never to do such a thing again ...
(א) אֵי זוֹ הִיא תְּשׁוּבָה גְּמוּרָה. זֶה שֶׁבָּא לְיָדוֹ דָּבָר שֶׁעָבַר בּוֹ וְאֶפְשָׁר בְּיָדוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ וּפֵרַשׁ וְלֹא עָשָׂה מִפְּנֵי הַתְּשׁוּבָה. לֹא מִיִּרְאָה וְלֹא מִכִּשְׁלוֹן כֹּחַ.
(1) [Who has reached] complete Teshuvah? A person who confronts the same situation in which he sinned when he has the potential to commit [the sin again], and, nevertheless, abstains and does not commit it because of his Teshuvah alone and not because of fear or a lack of strength...
1st Session January 2021
To address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.
From On Repentance and Repair by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
1 - …the person doing this work has to actually comprehend the harm that they have caused. A person can’t repent if they don’t understand why the thing that happened is actually a big deal – why the person who has been hurt is actually hurt… so there is work to be done even before taking that first step in Maimonides’ stages of repentance: understanding the harm caused. And to get there, there must be a willingness to face it. (26-27)
2 - …Harm must be named in as public a space as is warranted…a public confession needs to be proportionate to the harm…
3 - Even just this first confession step can be incredibly hard and painful. For so many people this work can trigger defensiveness – the desire to justify one’s actions in order to stave off shame, guilt, humiliation, or loss of reputation or power. It tarnishes our cherished belief that we are always doing good, always helpful…And of course, acknowledging and taking responsibility for harm is not only ethically uncomfortable; there are sometimes significant legal and monetary consequences as well… (28-29)
4 - …A confession of harm is only regarded as part of the repentance process when someone actually intends to do the work…
5 - The larger the scale of harm -- and the greater the number of people obligated to address and repair that harm -- the more critical the first step of repentance is. In every situation, major or minor, intimate or public, the work of confession forces the penitent to acknowledge fully the harm that they caused.
6 - ... In the case of national repentance work, confession - the public telling of the truth, the naming of an atrocity committed by a government on its own people, or on others - becomes absolutely critical. It may be that some people were heretofore unaware of the nature or extent of harm, and the confession serves to alert them. It may be that those who did indeed know wished to elide, ignore, or discount what had happened, to deny their own complicity or to focus on their own experiences of pain. It becomes much easier to avoid real accountability, to sidestep the critical work of change, if the full truth is not told. Addressing what happened may challenge those who hold power in critical, necessary, and just ways
7 - ... Confession empowers those who were harmed by validating the truth of their experience, and also empowers those who were unaware, by giving them the opportunity to demand change from their government and society. Confession also, I believe, empowers those who caused harm, by inviting them to grapple with their actions, do the work of repentance, to whatever extent possible. How can we change if we don't know who we are? If we can't face what we've done?
(116)
8 - ... Telling the truth -- as Maimonides would frame it, confession – is a critical first step for every nation that seeks to address the harm that it has caused. But without the other pieces of the puzzle - the reparations, the apology, and the work to become different in deep, systemic ways, to set up structures that necessarily create a new kind of reality -- it is not enough.
We must also find meaningful ways to deal with the truth after the telling.
(123)