וידוי vidui

וידוי הגדול | Vidui HaGadol: The Great Confession, an Al Ḥeyt litany by Michal Talya

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Shared on 2018-11-22 – 14 Kislev 5779.
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This vidui (confession), based on the traditional pattern of Yom Kipur confession, was written around 2011by Michal Talya and is used by several liberal communities in Israel. . . .

עַל חֵטְא | Interpretive Al Ḥeyt for Yom Kippur, by Rabbi Emily Aviva Kapor-Mater

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Shared on 2018-09-17 – 9 Tishri 5779.
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The Al Cheyt (literally meaning “For the sin…”) is a confessional litany recited on Yom Kippur. It is an alphabetical acrostic; each one of its verses starting with a successive letter of the aleph-beit, to represent not only the moral failings that are specifically enumerated there, but the fullness of every way in which we missed the mark in the previous year. . . .

וידוי לראש השנה לבהמות | Meat and Feathers: We Confess for Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, by Trisha Arlin

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Shared on 2017-08-25 – 3 Elul 5777.
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Trisha Arlin first published this prayer for a communal confession on Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot on her liturgy site, here. Elements of this vidui (confession) are derived from the Kavvanah before Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul for Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot (New Year’s Day for Domesticated Animals). . . .

רבון העולמים | Ribon HaOlamim from the Seder Tefilot of the RaMBaM in M.S. Constantinople 1509 (trans. Aharon Varady)

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Shared on 2017-08-10 – 18 Av 5777.
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Loading Source (Hebrew) Translation (English) לְעוֹלָם יְהֵא אָדָם יְרֵא שָׁמַֽיִם בַּסֵּתֶר וּמוֹדֶה עַל הָאֱמֶת, וְדוֹבֵר אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבוֹ, וְיַשְׁכֵּם וְיאֹמַר: Always may a person revere Heaven in solitude,[1]lit. seclusion jQuery(“#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1”).tooltip({ tip: “#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1”, tipClass: “footnote_tooltip”, effect: “fade”, fadeOutSpeed: 100, predelay: 400, position: “center right”, relative: true, offset: [0, 0] }); to contemplate Truth and articulate truth in . . .

ודוי | Vidui meditation, by Danny Cohen

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Shared on 2016-10-09 – 7 Tishri 5777.
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Vidui means acknowledgment. It is not about self-flagellation or blame, but about honesty, coming into contact with our lives, our patterns and experiences, and ultimately about teshuva and learning. In contacting the pain and suffering which our modes of being have given rise to, our regret can help us to willfully divest ourselves of them and awaken the yearning for those modes of being which are life-affirming, supportive of wholeness, connection, integrity, and flourishing. With each one we tap on our heart, touching the pain and closed-heartedness we have caused, and simultaneously knocking on the door that it may open again. . . .

ודוי חיובית | Positive Vidui, by Rabbi Avi Weiss

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Shared on 2016-09-29 – 27 Elul 5776.
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Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez writes, “Rav Avi spoke to us a few times as he was working through [composing] this [vidui] and I am truly moved by it. Let us not only remember and confess our wrong doings, but also what we did right this year.” . . .

הַוִּדּוּי הַמַּשְׁלִים | HaVidui Ha-Mashlim :: Complementary Confession, by Rabbi Binyamin Holtzman

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Shared on 2014-10-03 – 9 Tishri 5775.
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Ahavnu – We have loved, Bakhinu – we have cried, Gamalnu – we have given back, Dibarnu yofi – we have spoken great things! He’emanu – We have believed, v’Hish’tadalnu – and we tried to give our best effort, Zakharnu – we have remembered, Chibaknu – we have embraced, Ta’amnu Sefer – we have chanted Your book! . . .

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

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Shared on 2012-09-19 – 4 Tishri 5773.
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For the sin which we have committed before You through diminishing the image of God. . . .

על חטא | For the Sin of Destroying God’s Creation by Rabbi Danny Nevins, adapted by Rabbi David Seidenberg (2007)

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Shared on 2011-10-07 – 10 Tishri 5772.
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Eternal God, You created earth and heavens with mercy, and blew the breath of life into animals and human beings. We were created amidst a world of wholeness, a world called “very good,” pure and beautiful, but now your many works are being erased by us from the book of life. . . .

Prayer in a Time of Serious Illness by Rabbi Gilah Langner

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Shared on 2011-08-17 – 18 Av 5771.
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Traditional Judaism offers a confessional prayer, or vidui, to be recited during a time of serious illness or near death. If the patient is unable to recite the prayer, others may do so on his or her behalf. This modern adaptation [of vidui] places less emphasis on atonement for sins, and more on the bonds connecting the patient to his or her loved ones. It can be recited by a friend, family member, or chaplain on behalf of a person who is very ill, especially when life and death are hanging in the balance. . . .


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