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Off the Pulpit

Older and Wiser?


When I was young I made an astonishing discovery about Jewish daily prayer. Each morning service had a confessional. I remember wondering, do we really sin each day?

When I paid attention to my own conduct and that of my classmates, I realized the prescience of the tradition. We hit each other, hurt each other and often said cruel things. We were kids. The confessional gave us a moment in each service to think about what we had done and to face up to it before God.

But I do remember thinking – surely when I get older I will get better at this! I did not like all my teachers equally but I could not imagine that they would do the sorts of things I did, so I assumed that the confessional when you got older would be pro forma – something one did because it was part of the service, but not as essential as when one was young.

Now I am the same age, and in some cases older, than the teachers I had back then. The daily confession is still in the service – and once more I tip my hat (or unclip my kippah) to the tradition, which was far wiser than I.