Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
, confession ( he, וִדּוּי, vīddūy) is a step in the process of
atonement
Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ...
during which a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
. In sins between a Jew and God, the confession must be done without others present (The
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
calls confession in front of another a show of disrespect). On the other hand, confession pertaining to sins done to another person are permitted to be done publicly, and in fact
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
calls such confession "immensely praiseworthy".
The confession of a sin in itself does not bring immediate forgiveness, but rather it marks a point in time after which a person's demonstration of the recognition and avoidance of similar future transgressions show whether they have truly recovered from the sin and therefore whether they deserve forgiveness for it.
yadah
Yadah is the third person singular qal form of the Hebrew language verbal root ''ydh''. Depending on its conjugation, it carries a range of meanings involving throwing or praising.
*In the qal form, it describes the "shooting" of arrows in J ...
'' (ידה) – from which ''vidui'' is derived – are found, such as "Then they shall confess (הִתְוַדּוּ) their sin which they have done" (
Numbers
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
5:7), and seems to fall into the category of speech actions.
On Yom Kippur the
High Priest
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rev ...
confessed his sins and those of Israel onto a goat. Moses is instructed by God in Leviticus 16:21 to speak to Aaron:
:
: "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the living goat, and confess upon it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, for all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of an appointed man into the wilderness."
He is to "confess upon it" (). In modernity this is part of the Torah Reading for Yom Kippur morning and referenced in the recitation of the Avodah Service during Musaf.
The structure of a confession
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
, in his book
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law ('' ...
writes in Hebrew:
"How does one confess? ysaying: 'Please God! I have intentionally sinned, I have sinned out of lust and emotion, and I have sinned unintentionally. I have done uch-and-suchand I regret it, and I am ashamed of my deeds, and I shall never return to such a deed.' That is the essence of confession, and all who are frequent in confessing and take great value in this matter, indeed is praiseworthy."
In prayer
In addition to each person's own personal confessions, in many communities a form of confession has been added to the
daily prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
. There are two accepted structures of confession, the abbreviated confession (וידוי הקטן) and the elongated confession (וידוי הגדול), with both including a list of sins that a person confesses to in the order of the '' alephbet''; the abbreviated confession lists one sin per letter and the elongated lists two.
''Ashamnu'', the short confession
The abbreviated confession is said by
Nusach Sefard
Nusach Sefard, Nusach Sepharad, or Nusach Sfard is the name for various forms of the Jewish ''siddurim'', designed to reconcile Ashkenazi customs ( he, מנהג "Custom", pl. ''minhagim'') with the kabbalistic customs of Isaac Luria. To this end ...
and most Sephardic communities (except Spanish and Portuguese) as a portion of
Tachanun
''Tachanun'' or ''Taḥanun'' ( he, תחנון "Supplication"), also called ''nefilat apayim'' ( he, נפילת אפיים "falling on the face"), is part of Judaism's morning (''Shacharit'') and afternoon (''Mincha'') services, after the recitati ...
(daily supplications) immediately following the
Amidah
The ''Amidah Amuhduh'' ( he, תפילת העמידה, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' at each ...
, and by all communities on Yom Kippur and during the recitation of
Selichot
Selichot ( he, סְלִיחוֹת, səlīḥōt, singular: , ''səlīḥā'') are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy ar ...
. It is recited standing and quietly except on
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...
when it is customary to recite it aloud. In many congregations, (mainly
Ashkenaz
Ashkenaz ( he, ''ʾAškənāz'') in the Hebrew Bible is one of the descendants of Noah.
Ashkenaz is the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. In rabbinic literature, the descendants of Ashkenaz were first associa ...
ic ones) it is even customarily sung on this date. This form first appeared in the prayerbook of the
Amram Gaon
Amram Gaon ( he, עמרם גאון, or Amram bar Sheshna, Hebrew: עמרם בר רב ששנא, or sometimes: Amram ben Sheshna or Amram b. Sheshna; died 875) was a '' gaon'', head of the Jewish Talmud Academy of Sura during the 9th century.
He ...
(8th century).
This formula begins "We have incurred guilt, we have betrayed, we have stolen, we have spoken falsely, etc." (""). It is commonly known by its first word, ''Ashamnu'' (also transliterated ''Oshamnu''). An early form of this confession is found most directly in ; see especially verses 5, 9, 18–19, where the supplicant acknowledges himself merit-less, and entreats for God's forgiveness based only on God's own merit, and that God's name should not be tarnished among the nations.
''Ashamnu'' is an alphabetic acrostic, consisting of 24 lines (the last letter of the alphabet, (''tav''), used three times). Each sin is usually expressed as one word (a few are two words), a verb in the past tense, first person plural. The last two sins (repetitions of the letter ) are "" (''taw'inu, titawnu'') are usually translated as: "We went astray, We led others astray". Occasionally the last word is translated as "You (= G-D) allowed us to go astray"—the widely used
ArtScroll
ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Rahway, New Jersey. Rabbi Nosson Scherman is the general editor.
ArtScroll ...
siddur
A siddur ( he, סִדּוּר ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.'
Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, '' ...
uses both possibilities, the point being that the last word is an unusual form (not found in the Bible) that suggests a positive determination to go astray, the misuse of free will. However, the translation of "You let us go astray" has been criticized as an error, and it has been suggested that the last word means "we have scoffed" or "we have mocked" or "we tricked" or "we misled others".
The congregant stands, with head bowed in regret or shame, and with each confessed sin, thumps his fist over his heart. Some individuals, who are fluent in Hebrew, might quickly add (silently or in a whisper) additional sins, not in the traditional list, beginning with the same letters.
There are spiritual explanations for the alphabetic arrangement, but the most obviously practical explanation is to make it much easier to memorize -- and also provide an end point for the list of sins, as ''Ashamnu'' is recited frequently and is supposed to be recited in the face of death. Additionally, by including every letter, the individual will be facilitated in recalling and repenting every sin, so that, when the end of the alphabet is reached, the individual presumably has repented of a complete catalogue of his sins.
''Al Cheyt'', the long confession
The elongated confession which includes the ''Al Cheyt'' (or ''Al Hayt'') (""), ("For the sin ..."), a double
acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the F ...
in the Ashkenaz liturgy (a single acrostic in Sefardic and Italian liturgy), is said only on Yom Kippur.
''Al Cheyt'' is the
Ashkenazic Hebrew
Ashkenazi Hebrew ( he, הגייה אשכנזית, Hagiyya Ashkenazit, yi, אַשכּנזישע הבֿרה, Ashkenazishe Havara) is the pronunciation system for Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew favored for Jewish liturgical use and Torah study by Ashk ...
reading of ''Al Chet'' ( ).
Each line begins "For the sin we committed before You through ..." (על חטא שחטאנוּ לפניך בּ־); the prefix בּ־ meaning "through" or "by means of", and the rest of that word is in alphabetic sequence; בּאנס (compulsion), בּבלי דעת (ignorance), בּגלױ (publicly), בדעת וּבמרמה (knowingly and deceitfully), etc. and ends with בּתמהון לבב ("through confusion of the heart"). This is then followed by a non-acrostic list whose lines begin "And for the sin for which we are"—here naming the temple offering or the punishment (including lashing and death) that might be imposed. And concluding with a brief categorization of sins (such as the violation of a positive commandment, or of a negative commandment, or whether the sin can or cannot be remedied, as well as those we do not remember committing). Although the text varies among the different liturgical traditions, it follows this general pattern.
With reference to the Ashkenaz text, it has been said, "Classifying the sins specified herein, we are struck by the fact that out of the 44 statements that make up the ''Al Cheyt'', twelve deal with sins rooted in speech (five in ''Ashamnu''). Only four statements relate to transgressions committed by man against God in the strict sense (only two in the ''Ashamnu'' text). Dominating both confessional texts are general expressions of sin (fifteen in ''Al Cheyt'' and seventeen in ''Ashamnu'')."
Musical treatment
It is traditional that both ''Ashamnu'' and ''Al Cheyt'' are chanted in a somewhat upbeat melody, in the Ashkenaz tradition similar to one associated with the triumphant Song at the Red Sea. This may seem unusual, as one might have expected a confession of sins to be chanted as a dirge. But an uplifting melody is common in all Jewish traditions. One explanation is that by this confession, "the worshipper is stimulated to a mood of victory and a sense of hopeful living in the face of an unknown and unpredictable future." Or that, by making this confession and repenting, "our sins are transformed into merits."
Deathbed confession
The
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
teaches that “if one falls sick and his life is in danger, he is told: “Make confession, for all who are sentenced to death make confession.”” Masechet Semachot adds that “When someone is approaching death, we tell him to confess before he dies, adding that on the one hand, many people confessed and did not die, whilst on the other, there are many who did not confess and died, and there are many who walk in the street and confess; because on the merit of confession you will live.” Similar language is employed in the Shulchan Aruch's codification where it is ruled that the following text should be recited to the terminally ill: “Many have confessed but have not died; and many who have not confessed died. And many who are walking outside in the marketplace confess. By the merit of your confession, you shall live. And all who confess have a place in the World-to-Come.”
The patient is then to recite the deathbed Viduy. There is an abbreviated form intended for those in a severely weakened state and an elongated form, “obviously if the sick person wishes to add more to his confession—even the Viduy of Yom Kippur—he is permitted to do so”.Aruch HaShulchan 338 Afterwards it is also encouraged for the patient to recite the
Shema
''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...