c. 2000 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the Senior Interreligious Adviser of the American Jewish

Committee.)

(UNDATED) Whatever happened to good old-fashioned sin?

Fewer and fewer Americans currently use the dreaded “s word” to describe their personal behavior. Indeed, when we ethically stray in our actions, we deliberately employ euphemisms like “mental lapse,” “mislead,” or “aberration” instead of the harsher and judgmental “sin.”

But then mushy language of disguise and avoidance is an integral part of contemporary culture. People pass away, but do not die. Political leaders with mental problems seek the help of family facilitators, but not psychotherapists. Describing some one with a low substance tolerance means never having to say drug addict, and lawbreakers always serve time in correctional institutions, not prisons.

So it’s no surprise that sin, both the word and concept, are out in today’s relentlessly upbeat benign America. But it was not always this way.

For generations youthful students memorized the seven deadly sins. My guess is that few people today can name them all. But just in case you are ever a contestant on a TV quiz show, here they are in alphabetical order: anger, covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, pride and sloth.

The same students carefully studied “Paradise Lost,” John Milton’s classic poem about sin, and painters like Hieronymos Bosch created frightening images of the big seven. But now it appears that sin is off our radar screens.

Well, not quite. …

Each autumn the biblically based Jewish High Holidays compel millions of Jews to confront sin in all its aspects. It’s an extraordinary religious experience to participate in an annual “Heshbon HaNefesh,” a spiritual check up. Surprisingly, neither Rosh Hashana, the holiday ushering in the New Year 5761, nor Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, commemorate great historical events that are the basis for other Jewish holidays.

Jews in large numbers absent themselves from work or school and flock to synagogues at this season not to remember the exodus from Egypt or the battle to preserve religious freedom. Rather they focus on sin and hold up a mirror of judgment to themselves.

Rosh Hashana which begins on Friday evening Sept. 29 and concludes two days later, and Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and abstinence from daily activities, which starts on Sunday night, Oct. 8 and ends with Monday’s sunset, have an amazing mystical hold on Jews throughout the world.

The High Holidays ask three vital ethical questions. God gave us the past year, but how well did we use it? Where are we now vis-a-vis our family, friends and community? How will we use the New Year that lies ahead? Easy questions to ask, but difficult to answer with honesty.

One reason for the High Holidays’ continuing appeal is the traditional Jewish concept of sin. The Hebrew word for sin, “het,” is an archery term that means missing the target. We shoot our figurative arrows of behavior toward ethical targets every day of our lives. Frequently we fail, only to try again.

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur offer the realistic hope that after authentic prayers of repentance, confession to God and restitution, both physical and psychological, to those whom we have wronged, we can achieve purposeful change in our lives.

The High Holiday synagogue liturgy names many specific sins more numerous than seven. Some sins are overt like disrespect for parents and deceitful acts. Others are covert known only to God and ourselves. The High Holidays remind me of boxing great, Joe Louis, who said of his ring opponents: “They can run, but they can’t hide.”

So, too, during the year we can run from God and ourselves, but not on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

The High Holidays teach that people have the power to redeem themselves by sincerely changing their ways and turning to God. A 15th century Spanish rabbi, Joseph Albo, believed a “human being’s power to commit sin cannot be greater than God’s power to forgive.” Adults are required to fast on the Day of Atonement so they will abandon any arrogant defensive pride. Fasting is not a punishment, but a means to achieve the proper mood for intensive, sometimes painful prayers of confession.

When I was an Air Force chaplain in Japan, I became friendly with a Shinto priest who correctly noted that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have the same message each year. I agreed with my Shinto friend, but pointed out that I am not ethically and morally the same person each time the High Holidays arrive. That is why I always need the New Year and the Day of Atonement.

DEA END RUDIN