Let's Confess: The Ashamnu
The traditional confessional prayer, the Vidui, is composed of two parts, the Ashamnu and the Al Chet, that we read aloud on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Ashamnu (translated as “we have trespassed” or “we are guilty”) is an abbreviated confession, an alphabetic acrostic, and written in first person plural. We recite this confessional in the plural to represent our shared responsibility and culpability in all of our lives and missteps. We also share this confessional as a reminder that forgiveness is also shared.
Use the modern interpretation of the Ashamnu below (or by downloading this PDF) using the English alphabet and add in your missteps for each letter of the alphabet:
We have behaved arrogantly, _____________________________________
We have betrayed ourselves and our families, _____________________________________
We have acted out of contempt, _____________________________________
We have been dishonest, _____________________________________
We have erred out of ignorance, _____________________________________
We have forgotten who we are, _____________________________________
We have gossiped, _____________________________________
We have been hypocritical, _____________________________________
We have been insensitive, _____________________________________
We have justified bad decisions, _____________________________________
We have killed our impulse to do good, _____________________________________
We have looked the other way, _____________________________________
We have been mean, _____________________________________
We have been neglectful, _____________________________________
We have acted out of fear instead of love, _____________________________________
We have pushed too much, _____________________________________
We have been quiet when we should have spoken up, _____________________________________
We have been rageful, _____________________________________
We have stolen, _____________________________________
We have tried to teach when we should have tried to learn, _____________________________________
We have been untrue, _____________________________________
We have behaved violently, _____________________________________
We have withheld that which could have been given freely, _____________________________________
We have held others to unrealistic expectations, _____________________________________
We have yielded instead of moving forward, _____________________________________
We have zoomed too narrowly into challenges, _____________________________________