Isaac Stern plays the “Vidui” .. Ernest Bloch’s composition for the prayer Vidui .. the prayer of teshuvah.
Rabbenu Yonah of Gerona taught that anyone who someone commits a sin can make restoration by apology and by acts to repair the harm done.
Tuesday night, instead of going to Drinking Liberally, Barb and I will go to services and there, with the other Jews of our congregation, we will beat our chests for every bad thing we have done or may do and declare our intentions to do better next year. This confession and declaration of repair is called TESHUVAH.
- regretting/acknowledging the sin;
- forsaking the sin (see below);
- worrying about the future consequences of the sin;
- acting and speaking with humility;
- acting in a way opposite to that of the sin (for example, for the sin of lying, one should speak the truth);
- understanding the magnitude of the sin;
- refraining from lesser sins for the purpose of safeguarding oneself against committing greater sins;
- confessing the sin (see below);
- praying for atonement;
- correcting the sin however possible (for example, if one stole an object, the stolen item must be returned or if one slanders another, the slanderer must ask the injured party for forgiveness);
- pursuing works of chesed and truth;
- remembering the sin for the rest of one’s life;
- refraining from committing the same sin if the opportunity presents itself again;
- teaching others not to sin.
According to the Talmud, repentance was among the first things God created; even before God created the physical universe (Nedarim 39b).[2]