Yom Kippur has nearly arrived, and with it the opportunity to seek forgiveness. This is a day to listen - to the words and melodies of ancient tefillot / prayers, to the silent meditations of sanctuaries full of people in pursuit of teshuvah / repentance, to the whisperings of the spirit.
This is a day when our motivations come into focus, a day of transforming ourselves, when we put it all out there along with our fellow Jews for all to see. We confess together, in plural, in public: Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu - we are guilty, we cheat, we steal - because we are all guilty. There is no point in hiding from yourself what you might have done wrong. Today is a day of truth, of listening to the confession of your soul.
Be honest with yourself! Prepare to be cleansed, and have a meaningful fast.
Showing posts with label confession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confession. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Elul 9: Vidui and The "Jewish Science"
Some of us pay professionals to listen to us because it helps us get in touch with ourselves and find ways to change our behavior. However, this is how Jews have approached teshuvah for hundreds of years.
Some have referred to psychoanalysis as "the Jewish science." And there is a good, historical reason for this, independent of the fact that it was pioneered by a Jewish doctor from Vienna, Sigmund Freud.
One of the things that we do, beginning with the recitation of the Selihot prayers during the week before Rosh Hashanah and most notably on Yom Kippur, is to confess our transgressions in public, aloud, together, with the words of the Vidui confessional prayer. Since I was very young, I have always been fascinated by this - beating our breasts, reciting out loud in public a litany of sins that few of us can claim to have personally committed (while assuming that SOMEBODY in the room has) in first-person plural forms: we have been guilty, we have cheated, we have stolen, etc. My Catholic friends might do this in private, but not the Jews! We're a community that runs on collective admission of guilt.
Freud himself was a secular Jew, but there is no question in my mind that having the patient speak to an unseen analyst echoes the Vidui experience. It is the oldest form of psychotherapy.
Some have referred to psychoanalysis as "the Jewish science." And there is a good, historical reason for this, independent of the fact that it was pioneered by a Jewish doctor from Vienna, Sigmund Freud.
One of the things that we do, beginning with the recitation of the Selihot prayers during the week before Rosh Hashanah and most notably on Yom Kippur, is to confess our transgressions in public, aloud, together, with the words of the Vidui confessional prayer. Since I was very young, I have always been fascinated by this - beating our breasts, reciting out loud in public a litany of sins that few of us can claim to have personally committed (while assuming that SOMEBODY in the room has) in first-person plural forms: we have been guilty, we have cheated, we have stolen, etc. My Catholic friends might do this in private, but not the Jews! We're a community that runs on collective admission of guilt.
Freud himself was a secular Jew, but there is no question in my mind that having the patient speak to an unseen analyst echoes the Vidui experience. It is the oldest form of psychotherapy.
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