A Confession of Communal Complicity, an Al Ḥet supplement for Yom Kippur by Rabbi Brant Rosen • the Open Siddur Project

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), supplemental vidui, וידוי vidui, על חטא Al Ḥeyt

Content:

Contribute a translation	Transliteration (Romanized Hebrew)	Source (English)
		We say together:
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for forgetting that we were all once strangers in a strange land;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for preferring militarized fences to open borders.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for supporting trade policies and murderous regimes that uproot people, families and communities;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for drawing lines and turning away those who come to our country seeking a better life.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for demonizing migrants as threats to be feared;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for labeling human beings as “illegal.”
וְעַל כֻּלָּם אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת סְלַח לָנוּ, מְחַל לָנוּ כַּפֶּר לַנוּ	v’Al kulam Elo’ah seliḥot selaḥ lanu, meḥal lanu, kaper lanu.	For all these, Source of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, receive our atonement.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for internalizing and assenting to racist ideologies;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for allowing oppressive systems to continue unchecked.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for our complicity in regularly profiling, incarcerating and murdering people of color;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for denying fair housing, public schools and greater opportunity to our black and brown communities.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for dehumanizing, excluding and murdering gay, lesbian, trans and queer people;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for shaming and stigmatizing the infirm, the mentally and physically disabled, and the elderly.
וְעַל כֻּלָּם אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת סְלַח לָנוּ, מְחַל לָנוּ כַּפֶּר לַנוּ	v’Al kulam Elo’ah seliḥot selaḥ lanu, meḥal lanu, kaper lanu.	For all these, Source of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, receive our atonement.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for buying into and promoting the ideology of American exceptionalism;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for oppressing other peoples and nations in the name of American power and influence;
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for profiting off of weapons of death and destruction;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for contributing to the increased militarization of our nation and our world.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for expanding our military budget while we cut essential services here at home;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for believing that militarism and violence will ensure our collective security.
וְעַל כֻּלָּם אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת סְלַח לָנוּ, מְחַל לָנוּ כַּפֶּר לַנוּ	v’Al kulam Elo’ah seliḥot selaḥ lanu, meḥal lanu, kaper lanu.	For all these, Source of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, receive our atonement.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for the destruction of homes, expropriation of land, and warehousing of humanity;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for a brutal and crushing military occupation.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for blockading 1.8 million Gazans inside an open air prison;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for repeatedly unleashing devastating military firepower on a population trapped in a tiny strip of land.
עַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	For the wrong we have done before you for wedding sacred Jewish spiritual tradition to political nationalism and militarism;
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָאנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ	v’Al ḥet she’ḥatanu lifanekha	And for the wrong we have done before you for rationalizing away Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people.
וְעַל כֻּלָּם אֱלוֹהַּ סְלִיחוֹת סְלַח לָנוּ, מְחַל לָנוּ כַּפֶּר לַנוּ	v’Al kulam Elo’ah seliḥot selaḥ lanu, meḥal lanu, kaper lanu.	For all these, Source of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, receive our atonement.

Rabbi Brant Rosen’s “A Confession of Communal Complicity: A New Al Ḥet For Yom Kippur” was first published on his blog on 17 September 2015.