Lawrence A. Hoffman 
We Have Sinned 
Sin and Confession in Judaism—Ashamnu and Al Chet (Prayers of Awe)

Acknowledgments ix

Part I Sin and Confessi on in Judais m:
From the Bible to Today
The Liturgy of Confession: What It Is and Why We Say It 3
Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph D
From Penitence to Nobility: Modes of Jewish Piety 13
Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph D
Sin, Sanction, and Confession in the Bible 32
Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler
The Problem of Repentance: A Dilemma in Late Medieval
Sephardic Preaching 39
Rabbi Marc Saperstein, Ph D
Six Understandings of Confession for Our Time 46
Dr. Annette M. Boeckler
Al Chet in Israeli Culture: Israeli Confessions over Everything 60
Rabbi Dalia Marx, Ph D

Part II Ashamnu and Al Chet:
The Yom Kippur Liturgy of Confessi on
Editor’s Introduction 91
Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph D
Translator’s Introduction 92
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
Annotated Translation 94
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
A. Preamble to Confession
(Ki Anu Amekha, ‘For We Are Your People’) 94
B. Vidui Zuta: The Short Confession
(Ashamnu, ‘We Have Been Guilty …’) 96
C. Vidui Rabbah: The Long Confession
(Al Chet, ‘For the Sin …’) 98

Part III Ashamnu and Al Chet:
As Prayer Book Editors See Them
Finding Ourselves in God 111
Rabbi Elyse D. Frishman
Multiplying the Sins 115
Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, Ph D
For the Sin of “Unattempted Loveliness” 119
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg
Manifesting as Jews 123
Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, Ph D
From Staid Sins of Yesteryear to Wrongdoings of Today 128
Rabbi Charles H. Middleburgh, Ph D
“Our Sins? They’re Not All Mine!” 134
Rabbi David A. Teutsch, Ph D

Part IV Ashamnu and Al Chet:
Interpretations for Today
We Are All Unrepentant Humanists 141
Rabbi Tony Bayfield, CBE, DD
Forgiving God 146
Rabbi Will Berkovitz
For the Sin of … Poor Leadership 150
Dr. Erica Brown
We Can’t Really Be That Evil! 155
Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, DHL
We Have Sinned: T’shuvah in a Globalized World 160
Lisa Exler and Ruth Messinger
The Power of Words: Radical Creation, Radical Atonement 164
Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand
What We Learn from Having So Many Sins 168
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
From First Confession to Perfection of Character 171
Rabbi Walter Homolka, Ph D, DHL
The Jewish “ABC Song” 176
Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur
Aval Chatanu (“But / In Truth, We Have Sinned”):
A Literary Investigation 181
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
Confession and Its Discontents 186
Rabbi Reuven Kimelman, Ph D
On Hitting Yourself 191
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
What We Do Not Know 196
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Vidui and Its Halakhic Contexts 199
Rabbi Daniel Landes
Putting the Performance of the Vidui in Its Context 205
Rabbi Ruth Langer, Ph D
Back to Zero 210
Catherine Madsen
Secrets and Silence:
The Hidden Power of the Un-confessional Vidui 214
Rabbi Jay Henry Moses
The Remembrance of Things Past (and Future),
Private (and Public) 218
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph D
Can “Sin” Be Redeemed? New Metaphors for an Old Problem 222
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, DMin
“Later He Realizes His Guilt” 227
Rabbi Jonathan P. Slater, DMin
Some Are Guilty, All Are Responsible 232
Dr. Ellen M. Umansky
Sin, Confession, and … Forgiveness? 235
Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig, DD
Percussing the Heart 240
Dr. Ron Wolfson
Al Chet Shechatanu: Collectively We Own Them All 242
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel
Trying to Say Something, Something:
Magnolia and Confession 246
Dr. Wendy Zierler
Appendix A: The Personal Prayers of the Rabbis
(Talmud, Berakhot 16b–17a) 251
Appendix B: Confessions of the Rabbis (Talmud, Yoma 87b) 254
Notes 256
Glossary 270