LETTERS FROM PALESTINE

Yom Kippur, Jewish Day of Atonement

Pamela Olson
30 September 2004

Here is a heartfelt Yom Kippur message from Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun.org which resonated with me, and I hope you can find something healing in it. Happily, my involvement with the Palestinian issue has caused me to come in contact with a lot of great Jewish and Israeli people and organizations as well.

I hope it goes without saying, but when I criticize "Israel" or "America" I'm really criticizing the nutters all over the world who keep peace and justice perpetually at arms' length for the sake of personal gain or outdated ideologies. I have nothing but admiration for Israelis, Americans, or anyone else who works toward respect, understanding, and community. I hope we can all come to our senses before things get too much worse. Shalom.

For the Sins... A supplement to the Yom Kippur Prayers

Sept. 24, 2004

On the Jewish High Holidays we take collective responsibility for our own lives and for the activities of the community and society of which we are a part. We affirm our fundamental interdependence and interconnectedness. We have allowed others to be victims of incredible suffering, have turned our backs on others and their well-being, and yet today we acknowledge that this world is cocreated by all of us, and so we atone for all of it. While the struggle to change ourselves and our world may be long and painful, it is our struggle; no one else can do it for us. To the extent that we have failed to do all that we could to make ourselves or our community all that we ought to be, we ask God and each other for forgiveness - and we now commit ourselves to transformation this coming year...

Hebrew: Ve-al kulam, Eloha selichot, selach lanu, mechal lanu, kaper lanu. For all our sins, may the Force that makes forgiveness possible forgive us, pardon us, and make atonement possible.

Al Cheyt (For the Ways that We Missed the Mark, Strayed from Our Highest Possible Being as Manifestations of the God Energy of the Universe):

For the sins we have committed before you and in our communities by being so preoccupied with ourselves that we ignore the larger problems of the world in which we live;

And for the sins we have committed by being so directed toward outward realities that we have ignored our spiritual development;

For the sins committed in the name of the American people through our invasion of Iraq and the violence we used to achieve our ends;

And for the sin of not rebuilding what we have destroyed in Iraq;

For the sin of Abu Ghraib and the humiliation of prisoners, And for the sin of not providing basic human rights to those imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay;

For the sin of hoarding the world's wealth and not sharing with the 2 billion people who live on less than $2 day;

And for the sin of supporting forms of globalization that are destructive to nature and to the economic well-being of the powerless;

For the sin of electing leaders who undermine ecological safeguards and accelerate the destruction of our natural environment;

And for the sin of not caring enough to get involved in social change movements or electoral activity;

For the sin of allowing civil liberties to be undermined;

And for the sins of blaming all Muslims for the extremism of a few and ignoring the extremism and violence emanating from our own society;

For the sin of being cynical about the possibility of building a world based on love;

And for the sin of dulling our outrage at the continuation of poverty, oppression, and violence in this world;

For the sin of not doing enough to save the environment;

And for the sins we have committed by allowing our food and our air to be poisoned;

For the sin of allowing the water resources of the world to be bought up by private companies for private profit;

And for the sin of failing to be stewards of the planet;

For the sin of not doing enough to challenge sexist and homophobic institutions and practices;

And for the sin of turning our backs on the world's refugees and on the homeless in our own society;

And for the sin of allowing media indoctrination to convince us that others are motivated solely by money, power, or narrow self-interest;

For the sin of accepting a world in which the "bottom line" is money and power, and not fighting for a new bottom line of love and caring;

For the sin of being so concerned about our own personal tax benefits that we failed to oppose tax cuts that would bankrupt social services;

For the sin of not opening the emails of those who tried to inform us of what was going on in the world that required our moral attention;

For the sin of spreading negative stories about people we know;

And for the sin of being passive recipients of negativity or listening and allowing others to spread hurtful stories;

For the sin of being "realistic" when our tradition calls upon us to transform reality;

And for the sin of attachment to our own picture of how our lives should be-and never taking the risks that could bring us a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

For these sins we ask the Force of Healing and Transformation to give us the strength to forgive ourselves and each other.

For the sins we have committed by not forgiving our parents for the wrongs they committed against us when we were children;

And for the sin of having too little compassion or too little respect for our parents or for our children;

For the sin of cooperating with self-destructive behavior in others or in ourselves;

And for the sin of not supporting each other as we attempt to change;

For the sin of being jealous and trying to possess and control those we love;

And for the sin of being judgmental;

For the sin of withholding love and support;

And for the sin of doubting our ability to love and get love from others;

For the sin of insisting that everything we do have a payoff;

And for the sin of not allowing ourselves to play;

For the sin of not giving our partners and friends the love and support they need to feel safe and to flourish;

And for the sin of being manipulative or hurting others to protect our own egos;

Ve-al kulam, Eloha selichot, selach lanu, mechal lanu, kaper lanu.

For the sins we have committed by not publicly supporting the Jewish people and Israel when they are being criticized or treated unfairly;

or for not challenging unfair singling out of Israel for criticism by our allies in the anti-war movement;

And for the sins we have committed by not publicly criticizing Israel or the Jewish people when they are acting in opposition to the highest principles of the Jewish tradition;

For the sin of not taking anti-Semitism seriously when it manifests around the world or among our friends or in our community;

And for the sin of seeing anti-Semitism everywhere, and using the charge of anti-Semitism to silence those who raise legitimate (though painful to hear) criticisms of Israeli policies;

For the sin of allowing the Jewish community to portray itself as the innocent victim and for allowing Holocaust trauma to legitimate oppressive treatment of others;

And for the sin of being so disheartened that we stopped paying attention to the details of what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza;

For the sin of blaming the entire Palestinian people for (inexcusable and murderous) acts of violence by a handful of terrorists-and then cutting off water, food, and access to medical care to over a million people;

And for the sin of bulldozing Palestinian homes, killing Palestinian children, torturing, assassinating, and oppressing the Palestinian people;

For the sins that Israel committed in Jenin, Beit Jalla, in Ramallah and in Hebron, in Tulkarem and in Gaza;

And for the sins that Israel committed by the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, And for the sins we have committed by not wanting to hear the details or denying that they happened;

For the sin of teaching hatred about Palestinians and then claiming that it was only they who teach hatred;

And for the sin of portraying every Palestinian as a hater;

For the sin of condemning their extremists while "understanding" our own;

And for the sin of tolerating our own teaching of hatred and ignoring the ways that our communities too frequently teach our young to demean Palestinians, Arabs, and sometimes even all non-Jews;

For the sin of denying that most Palestinians have the same desires to live in peace and pursue their own lives that most Israelis have;

For the sin of insisting that there is no "moral equivalence" between the deaths of innocent Israeli civilians and the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians;

And for the sins of tribalism, chauvinism, and thinking our pain is more important than anyone else's pain;

For the sin of allowing Jewish institutions to be governed by those with the most money rather than those with the most spiritual and ethical sensitivity;

And for the sin of not putting our money and our time behind our highest ideals;

For the sin of not learning the Jewish tradition and not studying Jewish history, literature, and holy texts and not learning the depth and wisdom and meaning for our lives that can be found in Jewish spirituality, prayer, and in a Jewish path;

And for the sin of thinking that our path is the only path to spiritual truth;

For the sin of allowing conservative or insensitive leaders to speak on behalf of all American Jews;

And for the sin of not showing up when TIKKUN and other progressive Jewish groups offered us an opportunity to amplify the voice of Jews who care for social justice and peace;

For the sin of not providing public support and financial backing to the few Jewish leaders, organizations, and publications that do actually speak our values;

And for the sin of being passive when the courageous among us get publicly attacked;

For the sin of saying we want to be "spiritual" but not "political" as a way of hiding from painful realities-thereby distorting the fundamental Jewish insistence that spirituality without tikkun olam, healing the world, is actually another form of idolatry;

And for the sin of not recognizing and celebrating the beauty and grandeur of the universe that surrounds us;

For the sin of not seeing the spirit of God in others;

And for the sin of not recognizing and nurturing the spirit of God within ourselves;

For the sin of not praying, not meditating, and not giving adequate attention to the needs of our soul, And for the sins of focusing only on our sins and not our strengths and beauties;

For the sin of not adequately rejoicing and celebrating the beauty and grandeur of God's creation;

And for the sin of not transcending ego so we could see ourselves as we are: manifestations of God's loving energy on earth. Ve'al kulam Elohai Selichot, selach lanu, mechal lanu, kaper lanu. For all these, Lord of Forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement.

These "sins" are a jumping off point for a contemplation of the ways that we may wish to change ourselves and our society.

May you be sealed in the Book of Life for a year of peace, spiritual fulfillment, loving relationships, joy, service to God and to humanity, and pleasure!

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Beyt Tikkun

Next: Stones and the Scandal in Ireland

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