{"id":51125,"date":"2019-10-04T16:01:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=51125"},"modified":"2019-10-04T16:01:09","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T22:01:09","slug":"we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/we\/","title":{"rendered":"“We”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n

Like much of Jewish prayer, the confession of sins recited on Yom Kippur is conspicuous for its use of first person plural: Ashamnu, Bagadnu, Gazalnu<\/em> \u2013 \u201cWe<\/em> have sinned, We<\/em> have trespassed, We<\/em> have robbed\u2026.\u201d Al Cheit She-Chatanu<\/em> \u2013 \u201cFor the sin which We<\/em> have committed\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u201d also reminds us of our shared responsibility to create a just, morally sensitive society\u2026 a spiritually sound community.<\/p>\n

It would be morally obtuse to maintain that an individual\u2019s sins are entirely a private matter. Our actions have an impact on our families, loved ones, associates, community. We ought not live \u201cfirst person singular\u201d lives. Through the Yom Kippur confessional, we acknowledge our various relationships, our interconnectedness. \u201cWe\u201d is central to the goals and meaning of Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

The plural approach to confession offers us a vision of how most productively to navigate the new year ahead. Yom Kippur thus has a \u201cwe\u201d bit of wisdom in common with Helen Keller, who wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cAlone we can do so little; together we can do so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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