על חטא | For the Sin of Torture: A Communal Confession by Rabbi Ed Feld

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T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and Rabbi Edward Feld

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19 September 2012 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness

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על חטא Al Ḥeyt, communal confession, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, וידוי vidui, North America, torture, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., confession

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּעַלִימַת עַיִן.‏	For the sin which we have committed before You for averting our eyes.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּסְטִימַת אוֹזֶן.‏	For the sin which have committed before You for closing our ears.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּפַּחְדָנוּת יְתֵירָה.‏	For the sin which we have committed before you through excessive fear.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָֽאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּהַקְטָנַת צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים.‏	For the sin which we have committed before You through diminishing the image of God.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּיִסוּרים וְעִנוּיִים שֶׁגָמַלְנוּ לַזוּלַת.‏	For the sin which we have committed before You for the suffering and torture committed on others.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּאַלִימוּת שֶׁנַעַשָׂה בִּשְׁמֵנוּ.‏	For the sin which we have committed before You with the violence done in our name.
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ בְּיוֹדְעִים וּבְלֹא יוֹדְעִים.‏	For the sin which we have committed before You with our full knowledge or without our knowledge.
וְעַל כֻּלָּם, אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת, סְלַח לָנוּ, מְחַל לָנוּ, כַּפֶּר-לָנוּ.‏	For all these sins, forgiving God, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement. V’al kulam eloah s’liḥot, s’laḥ lanu, m’ḥal lanu, kaper lanu.

רבנים למען זכויות האדם-צפון אמריקה, ימים נוראים תשס”ח (5768/2008)‏

This liturgy is based on the traditional public confession of sins on Yom Kippur and is meant to complement the existing al ḥet found in the maḥzor. This prayer written by Rabbi Ed Feld in 2007 for Yom Kippur 5768 was first published at the website of RHR-NA (now T’ruah).

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“על חטא | For the Sin of Torture: A Communal Confession by Rabbi Ed Feld” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Founded 2002, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, (formerly Rabbis for Human Rights - North America) is a multi-denominational rabbinical organization dedicated to giving voice to the tradition of human rights in Judaism.

Rabbi Edward Feld

Rabbi Edward Feld has published widely on Jewish theology, prayer, the Hebrew Bible, and on halakhic and ethical issues. He is the author of Joy, Despair and Hope: Reading Psalms (Cascade Books) and The Spirit of Renewal: Faith After the Holocaust (Jewish Lights). He is the senior editor of the new Mahzor Lev Shalem, published by the Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, for which he was listed as one of the Forward 50 – the 50 outstanding American Jews of 2010. Currently, Rabbi Feld is at work on a companion Siddur Lev Shalem for Shabbat and Festivals. In his distinguished career, Rabbi Feld has served as Rabbi-in-Residence at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America functioning as an advisor and mentor to rabbinical students, Rabbi of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, and Hillel Director of Princeton University. He is a noted teacher, lecturing throughout North America. He is married to Merle Feld, a poet and playwright and Director of the Rabbinic Writing Institute.

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1 comment to על חטא | For the Sin of Torture: A Communal Confession by Rabbi Ed Feld

Jarrod
2012-10-21 at 7:40 am · Reply.
How beautiful a soul and heart and mind to create such a prayer. Let us all keep our eyes and ears open and live the words ” Never again!” But mean for all people of the world.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17