Background to the tefilla

This is the first section of the Viduy (confession), said at every service over the day, from Minḥa on Erev Yom Kippur until Ne’ila at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Confession is the primary expression of repentance, the central theme of Yom Kippur. According to Rambam, it is the biblical source of the command of teshuva: “Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord, is guilty. They must confess the sin they have committed” (Bemidbar 5:6–7). It follows that “with regard to all the commandments of the Torah, positive or negative, if a person transgressed any of them, wilfully or in error, and repents, turning away from his sin, he is under a duty to confess before God” (Rambam, Hilkhot Teshuva 1:1). Although repentance is a matter of thought and emotion, it must be given verbal expression in the form of confession.

Confession is more than remorse, though this must also be part of the process. Remorse is a state of mind. Confession is a formal act. It is like the difference between feeling guilty at breaking the law and pleading guilty in a court of law. The former is an emotion, the latter a declaration. In the case of teshuva, it is a declaration to God. As well as involving remorse, confession assumes there is a commitment not to repeat the sin.

Analysis

Originally, the form of confession was simple: “Please, Lord, I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have rebelled before You.” It then specified the particular act you were confessing. Over time, there developed the broader form of confession that we say ten times on Yom Kippur.

This is different from the original in three respects. First, it is said in the plural: not “I have sinned” but “We have sinned.” This is because on Yom Kippur we stand before God not only as individuals but as members of a people, and because we hold that “kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh,” “all Israel are responsible for one another.” As R. Shimon bar Yoḥai put it: If a person drills a hole under his seat in a boat, when the water enters, not only he but everyone is in danger. We accept collective responsibility, especially for the wrongs we could have protested but did not.

The second difference is that we do not publicly specify particular sins. Instead, we read an alphabetical list. This is to avoid public humiliation and to make it easier to confess. It prompts us systematically to examine our conscience and reflect on whether we have done wrong, and if so, how and to whom. It is a way of saying that we have sinned with all the letters, as if the alphabet itself were testifying against us.

The third difference is that we now have two forms of confession, one brief (reproduced at the bottom of the previous page, “We have sinned, we have acted treacherously…”), the other longer (“For the sin we have sinned before You”). The former is closer to the original biblical form of confession and is more general: it articulates the general defects of character that lead us to do wrong. The latter goes deeper into specifics.

Confession is said standing, bowed in a gesture of humility. The custom is to beat one’s breast lightly at each mentioned sin in the spirit of Yirmeyahu (31:18): “After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast.”

Public confession, however, is not enough. As we recite the long checklist of sins, we must be asking ourselves: Did I commit a sin of this kind? Did I do something similar? If so, we must acknowledge that sin inwardly to God and resolve to put it right. Public confession is a mere prelude to the private admission which is the real act of teshuva, in which we examine our consciences, abandoning our usual defences in the knowledge that God forgives those who truly admit their wrongs, and that teshuva is the single greatest act of self-transformation any of us can undertake.

❖ Points to Ponder 1.Why dwell on our sins? Why not just focus on being better in the future?

2. Why do you think theViduy is written in alphabetical order (see the story below for a connected idea)?

3.If this public Viduyis more symbolic rather than an actual confession of our sins, when do we consider our actual sins and mistakes on Yom Kippur?