In Honor of Yom Kippur - Post Your Sins!

Post your sins for which you will repent!

Gossip
Hurting people
Hurting myself
Sexual thoughts (Did I just post that?)

How about you all?

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Updated On: 10/8/05 at 07:40 PM

Squeezing people's tushies!

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I'm sure I'll come up with more, but the biggest one is absolutely that I've caused pain to people I love.

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My list, as always, is a depressing doozy. And this year I can't go to temple because of school.

I eat too much.

I got mad at my Jewish mother when she thought she was just doing the right thing.

I eat too much.

I'm not Jewish.

I eat too much.

I have impure thoughts about a certain Broadway star.

I eat too much.

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Updated On: 10/9/05 at 08:15 PM

I'm not Jewish so I have to ask, is that what you do in Temple on Yom Kippur--announce your individual sins to the rest of the congregation?

Jose~ It's more that everyone recites communal sins and we ound our hearts, and then there is time for individual meditation. It's really quite moving.

Hmmm, my sins? I guess they would have to be:
Being disrespectful to my parents
Being mean to my sister sometimes
Spending too much time on this site...
Not giving enough tzedakah
*sigh* There's more, I'm just too lazy too post them.


Oh yeah, laziness.

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I have no sins. I'm perfect.

Carnal thoughts about CM2.

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Too many. I'm a horrible person.

I have impure thoughts about Broadway Boys a-plenty. Every member of ABz, and Adam Pascal, and just ... the list continues.

Gossiping.

Keeping a Christian girl as a chotchke. Or however it's spelled.

Wanting too much Gefilte fish for my own well being.

Looking forward to Yom Kippur so I can have challah french toast.

Jose'--in answer to your question, the "Kol Nidre" prayer, which is sung the night before Yom Kippur, is an extraordinary piece of liturgical music. The title means "All Vows" and the prayer asks God for forgiveness for failing to fulfill promises made to Him. But it came to be misconstrued as absolving all responsibility in all vows, which is not the case.

The prayer took on great meaning during the Inquisition, when Spanish Jews were forced to convert to Christianity but maintained their Jewish faith secretly. These "Conversos" had much in common with contemporary lesbian and gay Jews, who often have to hide their true identites from their families and religious communities. The "Kol Nidre" prayer released the Conversos from whatever vows they had made to Christian authorities, and it has come to have great significance for gay and lesbian Jews dealing with the closet.

The composer Max Bruch (who was not Jewish) created the most famous setting, for cello and orchestra, but Arnold Schoenberg completed a haunting version in 1938, just a few weeks before Kristallnacht.

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Updated On: 10/9/05 at 12:22 AM

We read a series of prayers called Al Chet several times during the Yom Kippur service. It lists every possible sin. Sometimes I like to add some of my own such as deystroying our environment , etc. The sins are fairly common: gluttony, excessive pride, scorning one's parents, disobeying a teacher, etc. We all read everyone of them out loud as a community. We then ask G-d for forgiveness and atonement.

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