Yom Kippur UnJews

And their sanctimonious "Teshuvah"

Yom Kippur is a time for repentance, for confessing all the wrongs that we have committed against others, and seeking to change our behavior towards them. Are the dozens of sins listed in the Al Cheits sufficiently encompassing? The text has been canonized for centuries. Still, a penitent person should certainly add repentance for further sins if he feels that he has not been sufficiently remorseful for them. Actually adding to the canonized text is a little less Orthodox, yet still understandable.

But what kind of sins should be added to the long list? The website of Smol Emuni US, which describes itself as “a community of Orthodox and observant Jews committed to justice, equality, and dignity for Jews and Palestinians,” has a text created by Dr. David Myers, professor of Jewish History at UCLA, former president of the Center for Jewish History and currently president of the New Israel Fund, along with Rabbi Dr. Chaim Seidler-Feller, director emeritus of Hillel at UCLA. On his Facebook page, Myers presents these “for anyone interested in addressing Gaza in the work of contrition that is part of Yom Kippur davening”:

1. Al Chet for the sin of sullying the name of God and Judaism.

2. Al Chet for the sin of abandoning the mitzvah of redeeming the captive.

3. Al Chet for the sin of bringing death and devastation upon our neighbor.

4. Al Chet for the sin of imposing our own suffering on the other.

5. Al Chet for the sin of denying our neighbor’s right to live.

6. Al Chet for the sin of violating the dignity of other human beings.

7. Al Chet for the sin of waging a war of revenge.

8. Al Chet for the sin of starving people, especially innocent children.

9. Al Chet for the sin of stealing another’s land.

10. Al Chet for the sin of mastery and supremacy over others.

11. Al Chet for the sin of indifference and blindness.

Now, I’m certainly open to the legitimacy of a diversity of opinions regarding the Gaza war. How do you balance the importance of destroying Hamas with the importance of getting the hostages out? How many civilian casualties are justifed? I don’t think that an objectively correct answer to these questions even exists. As a fan of Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind, I readily accept that there can be different ways of weighing up conflicting moral values.

But the list above goes far, far beyond a moral position of giving greater weight to getting the hostages out and minimizing civilian casualties. It doesn’t give any acknowledgement to the moral imperative of neutralizing the ability of Hamas to harm innocents (both Jewish and Arab). It presents the war as solely being a war of “revenge” and does not acknowledge that it was started by a horrific attack by Gaza which they pledged to do again and again until Israel is destroyed. It doesn’t acknowledge the moral justification for causing damage and some degree of harm to innocents in pursuit of the imperative to neutralize Hamas.

The list is not contrition for going too far in a justified war. It’s just a list of horrible crimes, as though entirely without cause. And ten out of eleven of which are committed by Jews against the Palestinians, with one committed by Jews against Jews, and not a hint that there might be crimes committed by Palestinians against Jews.

And what on earth is number 9, “Al Chet for the sin of stealing another’s land”? Which land are they referring to? Judea and Samaria, the ancient Jewish homeland home to many Arabs and some Jews in the early 20th century, won in a defensive war against unprovoked attacks launched from that very territory? Was that really an act of theft? Or are they referring to that which the vast majority of Palestinians and their supporters consider to be stolen land - the entirety of 1948 Israel? (Myers has claimed that Jews are guilty for creating the Palestinian refugee situation, contrary to historians such as Benny Morris.) Or perhaps these California residents are referring to California itself, stolen from the Mexicans, who in turn took it over from the original indigenous tribes? Surely they should specify!

And how come these college professors, so concerned about Jewish crimes towards Arabs, are not at all concerned about Jewish crimes towards Jews (aside from the crime of not agreeing to keep Hamas in power in order to get some of the hostages back)? How come there isn’t an Al Chet for not doing more to help all the Jews under attack, whether by joining the IDF to protect Israel from the Iranian axis, rallying for political support of Israel and against antisemitic attacks on Israel, or by supporting Jewish students on college campuses instead of trying to downplay the attacks on them?

There is one more offensive absurdity in the professors’ prayer additions. We all have our own beliefs about the various wrongs that we believe other groups are committing. But we don’t expect those groups to agree!

For example, I am furious about the charedi community freeloading off the security and economic benefits that Israel provides without helping contribute towards it or even caring, which I believe to be thoroughly against Torah values. But I would never compose a list of Al Cheits for these and publicize them “for anyone interested in addressing them in the work of contrition that is part of Yom Kippur davening.” Because who on earth would I profess to be speaking to? Obviously charedim don’t believe that they are doing anything wrong. And non-charedim don’t need to recite them!

Likewise, the people who are committing the acts that these professors describe as sins obviously believe that these acts are necessary in order to defend the Jewish People, so they wouldn’t be reciting these Al Cheits. And the devotees of these professors’ guidance are not in the IDF or voters for the Israeli government, and thus wouldn’t need to express contrition. In fact, if these professors are claiming that Jewish Americans are guilty for Israel’s crimes even if they don’t support Israel’s actions in any way, that precisely meets the definition of antisemitism!

So what on earth is this text about? The answer appears to be that it’s a social performance masked as a religious act. It’s not about “contrition,” as Myers claims - it’s about condemnation, but presented under the guise of contrition. They don’t believe that they themselves are “sullying the name of God and Judaism” - they believe that everyone else is. It’s about posturing with moral superiority, and showing oneself to be unlike those Jews who actually dare to exert power in order to defend themselves rather than being the good type of Jews who are only ever victims. It’s indeed about seeking redemption, but contrition has nothing to do with it.

There are certainly Jews who don’t sufficiently care about the lives and wellbeing of non-Jews. But it’s a greater sin not to sufficiently care about the lives and wellbeing of your own people. To do this under the banner of Judaism is particularly egregious. And I, for one, don’t forgive them for it.

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