The Hebrew word cheit / חטא, is typically translated as “sin” but, more precisely, it means “to miss the mark.” While our intent is to aim true, we can easily — either incrementally or instantaneously — veer off course. With practice and attention, we can improve our aim. Yom Kippur invites us to assess ourselves. Have we hit the mark or missed it? By taking an inventory of our souls we seek to discover ways to improve, sharpen, and correct our aim in the future.

Our custom at Chochmat HaLev is to invite and include community voices in our final “על חטא / Al Cheit” — the Yom Kippur liturgy that lists the ways in which we have collectively “missed the mark” in the past year. During the Neilah service, we select and read anonymously from these moving confessions to represent the range of missteps which we, as a community, have made. We acknowledge that each of us is in constant relationship with other living beings, the natural world, and the Divine, and that we do not always navigate those relationships perfectly. We open to our desire to do better, go deeper and become stronger. As a community, we are better able to greet the new year with renewed positive vision for ourselves and the world.

This year, we invite you to go deeper into this process. Perhaps by examining your self more fully, you are better able to find a generative path forward. Perhaps by opening to a keener awareness, you find space to forgive and restore what has become out of balance. We hope this is a meaningful process for you and ask you to please submit your replies by 5pm on Wednesday, October 9. Thank you, and Shanah Tovah (a good new year)!