Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Rav Kook's Positive Viduy Confession?




You may have seen the above "viduy of Rav Kook". The fact is, that not only is it falsely attributed to an idea of Rav Kook, it is misleadingly implying that it is his actual text. When this happens, it is upsetting to say the least. And the attribution points to his commentary to Maaser Sheni "7:10", even though Maaser Sheni only has 5 chapters to it, making it all the more difficult to look it up.

Someone translated the viduy here 
Ahavnu - We have loved, Bachinu - we have cried, Gamalnu - we have given back, Dibarnu Yofi - we have spoken great things! He’emanu - We have believed, V’hishtadalnu - and we have given our best effort, Zacharnu - we have remembered, Chibaknu - we have embraced, Ta’amnu sefer - we have chanted Your book! Yatzarnu - We have created, Kamanu - we have yearned, Lachamnu avur hatzedek - we have fought for justice! Mitzinu et hatov - We have done all the good we could do, Nisinu - we have tried, Sarnu lirot - we have turned aside to see, Asinu asher tzvitanu - we have done as You have commanded us! Peirashu - We have learned interpretations of Torah, Tzadaknu lifamim - sometimes we have even been righteous, Karanu b’shimcha - we have called out Your Name! Ratzinu - We have been steadfast in our will, Samachnu - we have rejoiced, Tamachnu - we have been there to support one another.
What a beautiful thought! But if you look at what Rav Kook actually writes, it's the opposite of this meme. He does write that it is important to have positive confessions to recognize when we do the right thing, and that's why we mention how we did the commandments in our confession for various tithes. 

However (and this is a big however), he writes, we do it so few times, because it's important to not get too much haughtiness of our own worth. It's really important, he believes, to knock ourselves down a peg or two every so often, for the sake of our religious worship. He says, indeed, that that is what Yom Kippur is for! It's actually the opposite of what the above message is trying to say! For Rav Kook, a High Holiday confession of accomplishments is counter to the religious sense of humility and balance. Don't do it on Yom Kippur! Do it some other time!

See it here:

The people here do a good job of summarizing this balance:

If we seek to continually improve ourselves, we need to be aware of the full extent of our moral and spiritual responsibilities, whether this involves helping others, refining our character traits, or performing acts of holiness. Even when we are dedicated to pursuing the path of goodness, we will still be far from completely fulfilling our obligations. This is the attitude of the truly righteous. They see themselves as lacking in good deeds and thoughtfulness. This critical self-image prevents them from becoming pretentious and arrogant, and graces them with a sincere modesty.
However, we must be careful not to be overly self-critical. We should not let this attitude deny us a sense of joy and satisfaction in our accomplishments. For this reason, the Torah teaches that we should rejoice in our good deeds. In the proper measure, this contentment bolsters our resolve to serve God, to perform mitzvot and acts of kindness. It is proper to feel a measure of satisfaction and well-being, and not always regard our actions as flawed and inadequate when we have acted correctly.
In short: we need set times for regular viduy, to admit our mistakes and faults, so that we may refine our character traits and improve our actions. But we also need set times for a positive viduy, to express our awareness that we have discharged our obligations and attained some of our spiritual goals.
This positive declaration, however, should be less frequent than our periodic soul-searching. We must avoid the sense of self-satisfaction that can lead to smugness and complacency. Thus Viduy Ma’aser is performed only twice in seven years.

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