The-Ave.US

I received an email from my sister yesterday, calling me to use the upcoming Yom Kippur to resolve a family conflict associated with my Dad’s estate.  In appealing to his memory, she made a mistake … I had to remind her that my Dad was a militant atheist as I am. I am sure that invoking the name of the Deity or asking for divine forgiveness is not an answer my father would have understood.

The internet may have a better answer, an answer I will talk about below.  But to understand that web based act of atonement,  I need to explain some Jewish history.  On Yom Kippur two millennia ago . before the fall of the Temple and the Jewish rebellion against Rome,  Jews could cast away their sins once a year by having a temple priest sacrifice a a goat.

This image of meaningless sacrifice is one place where the Christan bible is correct.  The priests of Jesus’ time served a corrupt Temple.  The Temple built by Herod the Great,  was run by a Roman appointed priesthood and there is no doubt that the cost of the goat served Herod and Rome more than its sacrifice served the needs of any wronged person.  Centuries later,  Martin Luther led a similar campaign against Rome’s paid indulgences.

Just as Luther’s Reformation led to great wars, a good part of the Jewish rebellion against

 * 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
* understanding the magnitude of the sin;
* 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;
* refraining from committing the same sin if the opportunity presents itself again;
teaching others not to sin.

(Credit: Screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET)

With the Temple gone, Hillel’s successors  taught that rather than a goat , Jews should atone by study of Torah.  At Yom Kippur  rather than a purchasing a sacrificial goat,  atonement required a personal sacrifice in the form of correcting wrongs the Jew has done.  During the synagogue service this meant ritualistic  self criticism.  Put another way, the scapegoat was to be replaced by admitting bad deeds and repairing the harm.   This combination of acts is called  Teshuvah.  On Yom Kippur, synagogue attending Jews beat their chests as they confess in a ritual fashion .. reciting a long pre written list of possible sins called the Viduy.  Ironically, this is a ritual once done by the high priests.

So, f we want an inspirati9on form Judaism, my family needs to seek Teshuvha not atonement.  Atonement is cheap.  tHow does buying a scapegoat please anyone but Herod’s priests?   The internet has an answer … “Atone with the eScapegoat,”

Here is the story from CNET’s Crave:   G-dcast, a Jewish San Francisco-based media production company aims to raise  Jewish literacy through interactive technology, eScapegoat collects anonymous confessions submitted by digital visitors. It then broadcasts them on the site, along with entertaining illustrations, passing some along to the @sinfulgoat Twitter feed. Think of it as a PostSecret for the Yom Kippur set.

“The eScapegoat is roaming the Internet collecting sins before Yom Kippur,” reads the home of the blinking goat with brown and blue horns. To the tune of thousands, in fact.Some of the confessions are amusing (“I still have 3 percent of my brain that sincerely believes I have a chance to live a long, happy life with Ryan Gosling”), but just as many touch on the more serious side of things (“I’m sorry that I harbor so much hatred,” “I ended my marriage in a way that I shouldn’t have,” “I purposely abandoned my friend in her time of need”).

While confession may be good for ones own feelings, this seems to me to be too much like the Roman confessional where you . admit to rape and get told you can clean your guilt with a number of Hail Mary’s.  Ritualistic chest beating, as in the Viduy, does not force you to tell the details of your bad acts to another person who might ask you why you did these deeds.  You feel better, but how does that help those you have wronged?  Helping the wronged is the only way to repair the hurt you have done yourself.

Confessing to God seems to me to be an especially bad idea.  As my father would have said,  God would have a lot more to atone for to us than most of us could have to to do for each other.  I  think being honest to those you have hurt and working with them to repair the harm are a far better goals than confessing sin on a web app or paying for a sacrifice.

In the meantime, this video is fun!