Our Sins of Omission and Commission

In honor of Yom Kippur, we talk about two kinds of sins we commit. Sins of omissionand sins of commission. Sins of omission are the things we should have done and didn’t, and almost nobody puts those on their list of things to repent for because, well, we may not have known we committed them. Sins of commission are the things we were aware did: the thing we said, the thing we took, the person we hurt. In this episode, we get into:Sins of omission: the Noda B’Yehuda, the widow at the edge of town, Bilaam’s “I have sinned, for I did not know,” and John Wooden coaching only the mistakes his players didn’t noticeSins of commission: why we ask forgiveness for traits God gave us, and the filter of Daat that is supposed to run passion, anger, and speech (a 25-year friendship can be destroyed in two minutes of talking)Whether your community owes you a correction, why nobody in America wants to give one, and the art of the well-timed apology (do not bring the flowers on Friday afternoon)Hannah, the mother of Samuel, what it means to pray “on” God instead of “to” Him, and why hope is not a planAvinu Malkeinu: whether we want God as a king or a father, praying for money, and what fear does to free willShifra and Puah, the Righteous Among the Nations, “please don’t test me,” and why Teshuva means return, not repentanceIf you are heading into Yom Kippur with a list of things you did wrong, this episode might convince you to add a second list: the things you didn’t do at all. Listen before the fast, and may we all be sealed for a good yearPast Yom Kippur episode