Sunday, October 5, 2008

Tefillah, Teshuvah, Tashlich,

As we continue on our journey through the High Holidays, the twentieth letter of the English alphabet continues to have a strong presence in our daily discussions.

In Tefillah, we talked about our connection to the community and the Viduy, the confessional. When chanting this part of the Yom Kippur liturgy, each of us takes responsibility for our own sins and the sins committed by others, symbolizing our regret that we were unable to prevent others from sinning.

We also continued our discussion on Teshuva, deciding that saying "I am Sorry," is indeed very difficult, but something we must do. G-D will not, and cannot forgive us for sins commited against others, as this is something we must take care of on our own. Judaism does have a unique take on teshuvah however. If we sincerely ask for forgiveness three times, and are rebuked each time, then and only then, will G-D intervene and grant forgiveness.

Finally, to end our morning, we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and joined together on the banks of the Rouge River to "cast away" our sins. Standing together in a circle, we read the Tashlich service together and then symbolically tossed our sins into the water.

Time to Think... Please bring at least 18 cents for tzedakah.

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