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Atoning for Our Environmental Sins |
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by Dan Brook
The Al Cheyt is a traditional part of the Yom Kippur-Day of Atonement liturgy, in which Jews publicly confess our individual and communal sins, our going astray, literally our missing the mark, each of us alone and all of us together. We are not necessarily personally at fault for each sin, yet we are all responsible for all the sins. There are 36 sins listed below divided into two sections of 18. In Judaism, the number 18 is associated with life, 36 with justice; a sin means missing the mark; and it is a mitzvah-holy deed in Judaism to both “remember” and “not forget”. Please feel free to adopt or adapt this Al Cheyt, which is neither comprehensive nor perfect, for your personal, professional, spiritual, or religious practice. For the sins we have committed against You, against ourselves, against other living beings, and against the Earth, we ask for forgiveness for missing the mark and for strength to improve our ways: For the sin of destroying gardens of Eden For the sin of chopping down trees For the sin of not planting trees For the sin of mining mountains for coal For the sin of spilling oil For the sin of burning fossil fuels For the sin of not using renewable fuels For the sin of throwing away when we could reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost For the sin of throwing away and thinking it’s really gone For the sin of wasting water on our farms, lawns, and golf courses For the sin of wasting water in our kitchens and bathrooms For the sin of thinking it’s only water For the sin of putting chemicals into the air, water, soil, and ourselves For the sin of polluting the lakes, rivers, oceans, and our bloodstreams For the sin of passing litter and saying it isn’t mine For the sin of not remembering that paper comes from trees For the sin of not remembering that plastic comes from oil For the sin of loving nature yet not protecting it more For the sins we have committed against You, against ourselves, against other living beings, and against the Earth, we ask for forgiveness for missing the mark and for strength to improve our ways: For the sin of smoking, befouling our inner and outer environments For the sin of contributing to global warming For the sin of denying global warming For the sin of saying there is nothing we can do about global warming For the sin of supporting factory farms For the sin of saying they’re only animals For the sin of putting chemicals on our crops For the sin of not thinking about where our food and other purchases come from For the sin of thinking finite resources are infinite For the sin of over-production and over-consumption For the sin of wasting resources, “even a mustard seed” For the sin of thinking that whatever we do is enough For the sin of thinking that whatever we do is not enough For the sin of not considering sustainability when we shop, eat, and work For the sin of placing convenience ahead of sustainability For the sin of not teaching our children environmental ethics For the sin of not learning the environmental ethics of our children and parents For the sin of losing hope For the sins we have committed against You, against ourselves, against other living beings, and against the Earth, we ask for forgiveness for missing the mark and for strength to improve our ways. Originally published in Tikkun Daily, on October 6, 2011
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