Al Cheyt

Tomorrow night I, and Jews around the world, will beat our chests over our hearts, in confession. Confession is not done in a quiet booth with an emissary. Confession is done publicly and communally. For the sin we have committed before you. For the sin WE have committed. For the sins we have committed before YOU. We say them over and over, ten times over twenty-five hours. The prayer is an alphabetical acrostic, implying the the vastness of our misdeeds.

It's seemed to me that, in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street protests, those of us on the left side of the political spectrum have been unusual introspective. With friends, I've discussed how I'm feeling energized and terrified and angry and anxious and eager all at once. And they feel it too. So, during this apt time of introspection, I decided to write my Al Cheyt of activism. Feel free to add yours. Like the prayer, these are not all intended to be descriptive of me in particular or any one activist. These are communal confessions. And, even if we feel that we haven't committed this one or that one, I think that it's important to recognize the ways that we, as members of a community, have some responsibility for the actions of others in that community, at least if we intend to be cohesive in any way. That's the way of the Al Cheyt prayer. Though I haven't murdered anyone in the past year (or, um, ever), there are people within the greater Jewish community who have. What circumstances led them to that situation? How could their actions have been curtailed by outside intervention? How can we root out corruption from our community, even if we, personally, are not corrupt? Especially if we, personally aren't corrupt? Anyways, I'm getting long-winded.

Al cheyt shechatanu l'fanecha...

For the sin we have sinned before you with unnecessary antagonism.

For the sin we have sinned before you with beliefs that others will do the work for us.

For the sin we have sinned before you with condescension.

For the sin we have sinned before you with defensiveness.

For the sin we have sinned before you with erasure of marginalized voices.

For the sin we have sinned before you with fear of the realities of human bodies.

For the sin we have sinned before you with greed.

For the sin we have sinned before you with baseless hatred.

For the sin we have sinned before you with willful ignorance.

For the sin we have sinned before you with judging harshly and unjustly.

For the sin we have sinned before you with maintaining kyriarchy.

For the sin we have sinned before you with leaving others behind.

For the sin we have sinned before you with making excuses.

For the sin we have sinned before you with neglect.

For the sin we have sinned before you with objecting too quickly.

For the sin we have sinned before you with pity.

For the sin we have sinned before you with queerphobia.

For the sin we have sinned before you with religious bigotry.

For the sin we have sinned before you with scape-goating.

For the sin we have sinned before you with tyranny of the majority.

For the sin we have sinned before you with using people, then casting them aside.

For the sin we have sinned before you with violence.

For the sin we have sinned before you with words.

For the sin we have sinned before you with xenophobia.

For the sin we have sinned before you with yelling before listening.

For the sin we have sinned before you with zealotry.