Extracts from Limmud Chavruta series ‘T’filah’
Avinu Malkeinu…
We have made some massive mistakes. Instead of it being written in the singular (I), it’s plural so WE are responsible…as a community. Maybe some of the errors don’t apply to us, yet we acknowledge that they affect us. (Maybe I didn’t lie, but I was lied to by another.) We ask forgiveness from each other before we ask it from the Holy One; this is a powerful way to reconnect with each other before we are hopefully inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
Repentance is an individual process: we made a mistake and we admit, accept, confront it. It’s internal and can be a beginning of the healing process.
An apology requires another person: we make contact with another and explain our wrongdoing and hope for forgiveness, which is not always guaranteed. However, the attempt at making amends is important, so we can pray with an open and clear heart that we tried our best to patch things up. Sometimes (hopefully, most of the time) our apologies are accepted and relationships can be repaired and restarted. On those rare occasions where it is not accepted, we must learn from our errors, and not make the same mistakes again.
We have tried, we have recognized our faults and we are taking responsibility. Please hear our prayers and grant us the comfort of mind so we can begin the new year with a clean slate and a pure heart.
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