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September 07, 2006
Ellul 14: For the sake of my family and friends
Teshuva contemplations every day until Yom Kippur here. You can also find the link on the sidebar under "Yamim Noraim." Rabbi Amy Scheinerman's guide to teshuvah focuses this week on "Regret." She points out, in her remarks on the verses for this section, that the term "House of God" (Beit Hashem) named in Psalm 27 only occurs twice more in Psalms, one being Psalm 122.
The Shira Hadasha minyan sings L'ma'an Achai V'reyai
a very popular song by Reb Shlomo Carlebach using the last 2 verses of Psalm 122.
For the sake of my brethren and friends,
I shall speak of peace in your midst.
For the sake of HaShem our God,
I will request good for you.
Rabbi Sheinerman relates the text of this psalm to the communal teshuvah of the High Holy Days:
. . . . We stand before the Throne of Judgment in the hope and prayerful expectation of receiving a judgment of peace and well-being in our lives. Teshuvah, our repentance that derives from our judgment of ourselves, brings peace of mind and soul. Psalm 122 expresses these ideas in a communal setting -- the background being a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The communal aspect of the High Holy Days is a significant part of the experience. Taken together with the individual, personal tone of Psalm 116, these passages reflect the spectrum of the High Holy Day experience: it is a deeply personal time and our teshuvah is private and individual, yet it is done in the embrace of the community.I have always been struck by the manner in which the confessions in the machzor (High Holy Day prayerbook) Yom Kippur liturgy are couched in the plural: We have sinned... and listed are a litany of crimes that no one person could have committed in their entirety. Yet we all confess to each and every one. Here the individual and communal elements merge: As a member of the community, I recite the full confessional, supporting those people who actually committed sins I have not committed. Likewise, they confess to sins they have not committed as I confess to ones I have. We support one another in the confessional; we are one people. At the same time, I know in my heart which sins apply to me, and for me the confessional is also a very private matter. Hence, both the personal and communal aspects of teshuvah come together.
Judith | 09/07/06 at 10:22 PM | Categories: - Yamim Noraim
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A Prayer After Psalm 122:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem;
May those who love you find peace.
May there be peace within your walls
And serenity within your palaces.
For the sake of my family and my friends, I will speak of peace in your midst.
For the sake of the House of God, I will pray for your prosperity.
Baruch atah [haShem], ha’poreis sukat shalom aleinu, v’al-kol-amo-yisrael v’al yrushalayim
Blessed is the Lord, who spreads his shelter of peace over us, the whole people Israel, and Jerusalem.
Robert Schwartz ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keshertalk.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| September 8, 2006 10:50 PM
