(ג) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ חָטָֽאנוּ לְפָנֶֽיךָ:
(ד) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ אֵין לָֽנוּ מֶֽלֶךְ אֶלָּא אָֽתָּה:
(ה) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה עִמָּֽנוּ לְמַֽעַן שְׁמֶֽךָ:
(ו) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ חַדֵּשׁ עָלֵֽינוּ שָׁנָה טוֹבָה:
(ז) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ בַּטֵּל מֵעָלֵֽינוּ כָּל גְּזֵרוֹת קָשׁוֹת:
(ח) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ בַּטֵּל מַחְשְׁבוֹת שׂוֹנְאֵֽינוּ:
(ט) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ הָפֵר עֲצַת אוֹיְבֵֽינוּ:
(י) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כַּלֵּה כָּל צַר וּמַשְׂטִין מֵעָלֵֽינוּ:
(יא) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ סְתוֹם פִּיּוֹת מַשְׂטִינֵֽנוּ וּמְקַטְרִיגֵֽנוּ:
(יב) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כַּלֵּה דֶּֽבֶר וְחֶֽרֶב וְרָעָב וּשְׁבִי וּמַשְׁחִית וְעָוֹן מִבְּנֵי בְרִיתֶֽךָ:
(יג) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ מְנַע מַגֵּפָה מִנַּחֲלָתֶֽךָ:
(יד) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ סְלַח וּמְחַל לְכָל עֲוֹנוֹתֵֽינוּ:
(טו) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ מְחֵה וְהַעֲבֵר פְּשָׁעֵֽינוּ וְחַטֹּאתֵֽינוּ מִנֶּֽגֶד עֵינֶֽיךָ:
(טז) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ מְחוֹק בְּרַחֲמֶֽיךָ הָרַבִּים כָּל שִׁטְרֵי חוֹבוֹתֵֽינוּ:
(יז) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ הַחֲזִירֵֽנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶֽיךָ:
(יח) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ שְׁלַח רְפוּאָה שְׁלֵמָה לְחוֹלֵי עַמֶּֽךָ:
(יט) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ קְרַע רֹֽעַ גְּזַר דִּינֵֽנוּ:
(כ) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ בְּזִכָּרוֹן טוֹב לְפָנֶֽיךָ:
(כא) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כָּתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר חַיִּים טוֹבִים:
(כב) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כָּתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר גְּאֻלָּה וִישׁוּעָה:
(כג) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כָּתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר פַּרְנָסָה וְכַלְכָּלָה:
(כד) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כָּתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר זְכֻיּוֹת:
(כה) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ כָּתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר סְלִיחָה וּמְחִילָה:
(כו) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ הַצְמַח לָֽנוּ יְשׁוּעָה בְּקָרוֹב:
(כז) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ הָרֵם קֶֽרֶן יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמֶּֽךָ:
(כח) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ הָרֵם קֶֽרֶן מְשִׁיחֶֽךָ:
(כט) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ מַלֵּא יָדֵֽינוּ מִבִּרְכוֹתֶֽיךָ:
(ל) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ מַלֵּא אֲסָמֵֽינוּ שָׂבָע:
(לא) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ שְׁמַע קוֹלֵֽנוּ חוּס וְרַחֵם עָלֵֽינוּ:
(לב) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ קַבֵּל בְּרַחֲמִים וּבְרָצוֹן אֶת תְּפִלָּתֵֽנוּ:
(לג) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ פְּתַח שַׁעֲרֵי שָׁמַֽיִם לִתְפִלָּתֵֽנוּ:
(לד) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכוֹר כִּי עָפָר אֲנָֽחְנוּ:
(לה) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ נָא אַל תְּשִׁיבֵֽנוּ רֵיקָם מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ:
(לו) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ תְּהֵא הַשָּׁעָה הַזֹּאת שְׁעַת רַחֲמִים וְעֵת רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ:
(לז) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ חֲמוֹל עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל עוֹלָלֵֽינוּ וְטַפֵּֽנוּ:
(לח) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַֽעַן הֲרוּגִים עַל שֵׁם קָדְשֶֽׁךָ:
(לט) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַֽעַן טְבוּחִים עַל יִחוּדֶֽךָ:
(מ) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַֽעַן בָּאֵי בָאֵשׁ וּבַמַּֽיִם עַל קִדּוּשׁ שְׁמֶֽךָ:
(מא) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ נְקוֹם נִקְמַת דַּם עֲבָדֶֽיךָ הַשָּׁפוּךְ:
(מב) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַעַנְךָ אִם לֹא לְמַעֲנֵֽנוּ:
(מג) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַעַנְךָ וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ:
(מד) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַֽעַן רַחֲמֶֽיךָ הָרַבִּים:
(מה) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ עֲשֵׂה לְמַֽעַן שִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּוֹרָא שֶׁנִּקְרָא עָלֵֽינוּ:
(מו) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ חָנֵּֽנוּ וַעֲנֵֽנוּ כִּי אֵין בָּֽנוּ מַעֲשִׂים עֲשֵׂה עִמָּֽנוּ צְדָקָה וָחֶֽסֶד וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ:
(3) Our Father, our King! we have sinned before You.
(4) Our Father our King! we have no King except You.
(5) Our Father, our King! deal with us [kindly] for the sake of Your Name.
(6) Our Father, our King! renew for us a good year.
(7) Our Father, our King! annul all harsh decrees concerning us.
(8) Our Father, our King! annul the designs of those who hate us.
(9) Our Father, our King! thwart the plans of our enemies.
(10) Our Father, our King! rid us of every oppressor and adversary.
(11) Our Father, our King! close the mouths of our adversaries and our accusers.
(12) Our Father, our King! remove pestilence, sword, famine, captivity, destruction and [the burden of] iniquity from the members of Your covenant.
(13) Our Father, our King! withhold the plague from Your inheritance.
(14) Our Father, our King! forgive and pardon all our iniquities.
(15) Our Father, our King! blot out and remove our transgressions and sins from before Your eyes.
(16) Our Father, our King! erase in Your abundant mercy all records of our liabilities.
(17) Our Father, our King! bring us back in wholehearted repentance before You.
(18) Our Father, our King! send complete healing to the sick among Your people.
(19) Our Father, our King! tear up the evil [parts] of our sentence.
(20) Our Father, our King! remember us favorably before You.
(21) Our Father, our King! inscribe us in the Book of Good Life.
(22) Our Father, our King! inscribe us in the Book of Redemption and Deliverance.
(23) Our Father, our King! inscribe us in the Book of Maintenance and Sustenance.
(24) Our Father, our King! inscribe us in the Book of Merits.
(25) Our Father, our King! inscribe us in the Book of Pardon and Forgiveness.
(26) Our Father, our King! cause deliverance to spring forth for us soon.
(27) Our Father, our King! raise up the might of Yisrael Your people.
(28) Our Father, our King! raise up the might of Your anointed.
(29) Our Father, our King! fill our hands with Your blessings.
(30) Our Father, our King! fill our storehouses with abundance.
(31) Our Father, our King! hear our voice, spare us and have compassion upon us.
(32) Our Father, our King! accept our prayer with compassion and favor.
(33) Our Father, our King! open the gates of heaven to our prayer.
(34) Our Father, our King! remember, that we are dust.
(35) Our Father, our King! please do not turn us away empty-handed from You.
(36) Our Father, our King! let this hour be an hour of compassion and a time of favor before You.
(37) Our Father, our King! have compassion upon us, and upon our children and infants.
(38) Our Father, our King! do it for the sake of those who were slain for Your Holy Name.
(39) Our Father, our King! do it for the sake of those who were slaughtered for [proclaiming] Your Unity.
(40) Our Father, our King! do it for the sake of those who went through fire and water for the sanctification of Your Name.
(41) Our Father, our King! avenge the spilled blood of Your servants.
(42) Our Father, our King! do it for Your sake if not for ours.
(43) Our Father, our King! do it for Your sake and deliver us.
(44) Our Father, our King! do it for the sake of Your great mercy.
(45) Our Father, our King! do it for the sake of Your great, mighty, and awesome Name which is proclaimed upon us.
(46) Our Father, our King! favor us and answer us for we have no accomplishments; deal with us charitably and kindly and deliver us.
Avinu Malkenu is perhaps the best known and loved prayer of the High Holiday liturgy, certainly one of the most evocative melodies of the season. The simple phrase "avinu, malkenu" describes the complexity of our relationship with God.
We relate to God, first of all, as Avinu, as our Parent. Just as our parents want the best for us, offering us unconditional love and forgiveness, so, too, do we experience God as being on our side and constantly rooting for us. Paralleling our relationship with God, we may question our parents' decisions, but we do cede to them ultimate authority. It is part of Judaism's uniqueness and greatness that the attempt to understand God's will has been raised to the level of a spiritual value, as our holy books recall the generations of teachers who have struggled to interpret God's word. Even when our response is less than enthusiastic, we firmly believe that God will hear our pleas for atonement and reconciliation.
However, at the High Holiday season, we see God more in the aspect of sovereign, as our Ruler, Malkenu. As a Ruler, God has the right to demand unquestioning obedience to the Divine will. It was Rabbi Akiva who first employed this phrase while officiating at a special service to intercede for rain during a period of drought. He was so successful in his mission, that the people locked on to the formula "Avinu, Malkenu" as especially efficacious.
The rest, as they say, is history. In typical Jewish fashion, the prayer has taken on a life of its own. While Rabbi Akiva's version contained only five lines, the prayer has been expanded by numerous hazzanim articulating the particular needs of their own communities. The Seardic version has 29 lines, the Ashkenazi 38, and a Polish rite contains 44. The great nineteenth-century liturgist Seligman Isaac Baer testifies to having seen as many as 53 variants in the texts he reviewed.
(ו) בתענית ציבור: אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ בָּרֵךְ עָלֵֽינוּ שָׁנָה טוֹבָה:
(כז) בתענית ציבור
(כח) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים:
(כט) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ לִגְאֻלָּה וִישׁוּעָה:
(ל) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ לְפַרְנָסָה וְכַלְכָּלָה:
(לא) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ לִזְכֻיּוֹת:
(לב) אָבִֽינוּ מַלְכֵּֽנוּ זָכְרֵֽנוּ לִסְלִיחָה וּמְחִילָה:
:
(6) On public fast-days, say: Our Father, our King! bless us with a good year.
(27) The following five prayers are said on public fast-days.
(28) Our Father, Our King! remember us for a good life.
(29) Our Father, Our King! remember us for redemption and deliverance.
(30) Our Father, Our King! remember us for maintenance and sustenance.
(31) Our Father, Our King! remember us for merit.
(32) Our Father, Our King! remember us for pardon and forgiveness.
6) Do you thus requite יהוה,
O dull and witless people?
Is not this the Father who created you—Fashioned you and made you endure!
(16) Happy is the people who know the joyful shout; O Eternal, they walk in the light of Your presence. (17) They rejoice in Your name all day long; they are exalted through Your righteousness. (18) For You are their strength in which they glory; our horn is exalted through Your favor. (19) Truly our shield is of the Eternal, our king, of the Holy One of Israel.
(20) Then You spoke to Your faithful ones in a vision and said, “I have conferred power upon a warrior;I have exalted one chosen out of the people. (21) I have found David, My servant; anointed him with My sacred oil. (22) My hand shall be constantly with him, and My arm shall strengthen him. (23) No enemy shall oppress him, no vile man afflict him. (24) I will crush his adversaries before him; I will strike down those who hate him. (25) My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him; his horn shall be exalted through My name. (26) I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers. (27) He shall say to Me, ‘You are my father, my God, the rock of my deliverance.’ (28) I will appoint him first-born, highest of the kings of the earth. (29) I will maintain My steadfast love for him always; My covenant with him shall endure. (30) I will establish his line forever, his throne, as long as the heavens last.
(15) Look down from heaven and see,
From Your holy and glorious height!
Where is Your zeal, Your power? Your yearning and Your love
Are being withheld from us! (16) Surely You are our Father:
Though Abraham regard us not,
And Israel recognize us not,
You, O ETERNAL One, are our Father;
From of old, Your name is “Our Redeemer.” (17) Why, ETERNAL One, do You make us stray from Your ways,
And turn our hearts away from revering You?
Relent for the sake of Your servants,
The tribes that are Your very own!
(5) We have all become like an impure thing, And all our virtues like a filthy rag.
We are all withering like leaves,
And our iniquities, like a wind, carry us off. (6) Yet no one invokes Your name,
Rouses themselves to cling to You.
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And made us melt because of our iniquities.
(7) But now, O ETERNAL One, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You are the Potter,
We are all the work of Your hands. (8) Be not implacably angry, O ETERNAL One,
Do not remember iniquity forever.
Oh, look down to Your people, to us all!
GOD shall be our monarch,
GOD shall be our sovereign
And shall deliver us.
(1) For the leader. Of the Korahites. A psalm. (2) All you peoples, clap your hands, raise a joyous shout for God. (3) For the Eternal Most High is awesome, great king over all the earth; (4) He subjects peoples to us, sets nations at our feet. (5) He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom He loved. Selah. (6) God ascends midst acclamation; the Eternal, to the blasts of the horn. (7) Sing, O sing to God; sing, O sing to our king; (8) for God is king over all the earth; sing a hymn. (9) God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne. (10) The great of the peoples are gathered together, the retinue of Abraham’s God; for the guardians of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.
There was another incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who descended before the ark on a fast day. And he recited twenty-four blessings, but he was not answered. Rabbi Akiva descended before the ark and said: Our Father, our King, we have no king other than You. Our Father, our King, for Your sake, have mercy on us. And rain fell.
The Sages were whispering.
A Divine Voice emerged and said: It is not because this one is greater than that one, but that this one is forgiving, and that one is not forgiving.
Avinu malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) is a penitential prayer that originated on fast days as a plea for rain. It has been included in an expanded version in the services during the period from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur with the exception of the Sabbath, when such penitential prayers are never recited. They are inappropriate for the Sabbath, a day of joy. It is recited standing, before the open Ark, following the repetition of the Amidah.
The Talmud ascribes the origin of this prayer to Rabbi Akiba. It ascribes the efficacy of the prayer to the forgiving nature of Rabbi Akiba. The formula is a unique one, combining what are usually seen as two contradictory features, that of a parent who is loving and accepting, and that of a sovereign who is usually seen as stern and demanding. God, however, is both. God is our ruler, but also our parent. Therefore we can appeal to Him for love, understanding, and forgiveness. It is as if we say to God, “We acknowledge you as sovereign, as all powerful, but we also know that we are your children and can depend upon Your love and forgiveness.” The specific list of prayers that now appears has undergone many changes over the centuries, but it retains its core, the beautiful formula devised by Akiba for addressing God.
(ט) בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם. (קדושין לו) ר' יהודה אומר, אם נוהגים אתם כבנים הרי אתם בנים, ואם לאו אין אתם בנים. ר' מאיר אומר, בין כך ובין כך בנים אתם לה' א-להיכם, וכן הוא אומר: והיה מספר בני ישראל כחול הים, [והיה במקום אשר יאמר להם לא עמי אתם, יאמר להם בני אל חי].
(9) (Deut. 14:1) "Children are you to the Eternal your God": Rabbi Yehudah says: When you deport yourselves as children, you are called "children"; when you do not deport yourselves as children, you are not called "children." Rabbi Meir says: In either instance you are called "children," as it is written (Jeremiah 4:22) "They are foolish children," and (Ibid. 32:30) "children without faith," and (Isaiah 1:4) "seed of evildoers, perverse children," and (Hoshea 2:1) "Instead of being said of them, 'You are not My people,' it will be said of them 'children of the living God.'"
In this midrash, R. Yehudah claims that the metaphor describing Israel as the children of God is limited. It is entirely conditional on Israel’s behavior. If we are acting in accordance with the role of God’s children, then we are considered God’s children. But if we sin and behave badly, then the relationship is broken; we are no longer God’s children.
R. Meir, by contrast, says that no matter what, the people of Israel are always God’s children. We call upon God as a Father to forgive us, as a Parent who is bound to us forever. It is exactly in the moment of our failure that this metaphor is needed. We are not behaving in the ways we should, and yet we still can call God, “Father.” Our blessing (following the opinion of R. Meir) emphasizes a relationship that, while attenuated by our sinning actions, is not completely destroyed, because it never can be terminated; God’s love is unbreakable.
(13) As a father has compassion for his children, so the Eternal has compassion for those who fear Him.
... א"ר שמואל דרכו של אב לרחם, כרחם אב על בנים (תהלים קג:יג). ודרכה של אם לנחם, כאיש אשר אמו תנחמנו (ישעיה סו:יג). א' הקב"ה אנא עביד דידאב אנא עבד דידאם. אנא עביד דידאב, כרחם אב על בנים (תהלים שם). אנא עביד דידאם, כאיש אשר אמו תנחמנו (ישעיה סו:יג). א' הק' אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם (ישעיה נא:יב).
R. Shmuel said: It is the way for a father to have mercy (לרחם) “like a father who has mercy on children” (Psalm 103:13). And it is the way for a mother to show comfort (לנחם) “like a man for whom his mother shows comfort” (Isaiah 66:13).
The Holy Blessed One said, “I act like a father, and I act like a mother.” I act like a father: “like a father who has mercy on children.” I act like a mother: “like a man for whom his mother shows comfort.” God said, “I, I am the one who comforts you” (Isaiah 51:12).
The first, “Inscribe us in the book of happy life” corresponds to the Book of Genesis, in which the creation of all things, meaning life, is spoken of. The second, “Inscribe us in the book of redemption and salvation” corresponds to the Book of Exodus, which speaks of the redemption from Egypt. “Inscribe us in the book of maintenance and sustenance” corresponds to the Book of Leviticus, which speaks of the holy sacrifices and thank-offerings, for the essence of sustenance must be in holiness. “Inscribe us in the book of aiding merit” corresponds to the Book of Numbers, which speaks of the Twelve Tribes that camped near their standards, every tribe being a Chariot to its root, that is to say, to the patriarchs, because of whose aiding merit we are alive. “Inscribe us in the book of forgiveness and pardon” corresponds to the Book of Deuteronomy, in which Moses our master upbraids Israel for all they did that was wrong, and which contains the scriptural portion of teshuvah (repentance), by means of which we merit forgiveness and pardon.
–From Uziel Meisel’s “Tiferet Uziel.” Reprinted from S. Y. Agnon’s anthology “Days of Awe,” published by Schocken Books.
I confess: I’m pretty traditional when it comes to “Avinu Malkenu,” or at least the music for it. I deeply love the folk tune we sang when I was growing up, which seems to have fallen out of fashion lately (it’s not the version Barbra Streisand does). It’s the tune everyone knows and can sing–and I mean everyone. When we do sing it, the sanctuary fills with a wave of sound that rises from the congregation–the largest of the year in every synagogue in the world. That wave sweeps over me, my eyes usually fill with tears, and I’m suddenly a young girl standing in the synagogue of my childhood, between my sister and my mom (my dad would be off ushering, or standing with the men outside, some years listening to the World Series on their transistor radios). I’m wearing my new school clothes, which we couldn’t wear to school until after we had shown them off at High Holy Day services. “Oseh imanu, tzeddakah v’chesed” we would all sing, swaying, eyes closed: Cast over us your justice and loving kindness. …” The new tunes for “Avinu Malkenu,” which I know are also beautiful, do nothing like this for me.
Would I want to change the words, as some feminists and egalitarian groups have tried? I don’t know if I could; the Hebrew seems so deeply imbedded in my spiritual consciousness. I worry about the words in English, to be sure, but when I sing them in Hebrew, all I hear (or, perhaps, choose to hear) are the emotions.
Is there any escape from the patriarchal weight of the language? Are there times when we simply don’t have a good alternative to tradition? I feel caught between my feminism and my capacity for a spiritual moment.
Adrienne Rich, who once described her own Jewish identity as “split at the root,” wrote in her poem, “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children,” “This is the oppressor’s language / yet I need it to talk to you.”
Do you feel that same pull between tradition and feminism in your religious or spiritual practice?
Heartbreak is precisely the feeling that we have done our best, we have given it our all, but it hasn’t been enough. Not nearly enough. And this is what we mean when we say, “God is close to the broken-hearted.” And this is what we mean when we say ain banu ma’asim — we have no good deeds. This is what it says in “Avinu Malkeinu”, that lovely song with the haunting, heartbreaking melody we all love to sing so much on Rosh Hashanah. Avinu malkenu, chanenu v’anenu — Our Father, our King, be gracious to us, be gratuitously loving, and answer us even though we don’t deserve it — ki ain banu ma’asim — because we have no good deeds to invoke in our own defense. In other words, now that we are standing in the face of this immense reality, we realize that there is nothing we can do about it; that all our deeds are as nothing. We realize that we have greatly overestimated our cleverness and our potency; we have overestimated the efficacy of our conscious behavior, and we have underestimated the persistence and the depth of our destructive tendencies. We realize that our attempts to do good are very small next to the unconscious havoc we constantly wreak to our right and to our left.
“I want 1,000 yards of that cloth, 2,000 yards of the blue velvet, 3,000 yards of that white silk,” he shouted, and on and on he went, requesting many other items. When it came time to total up the price of the goods and to pay the bill, the merchant took the wholesaler to the side and, very embarrassed, whispered in his ear: “Listen, I can’t give you any money for this right now. Please allow me credit until I can pay you.”
So it is with us, said the Dubno Maggid. We shout out all sorts of requests to God in the Avinu Malkenu prayer. We want forgiveness, health, a good life, wealth, redemption, and many other things. But when it comes down to the last verse (to pay the bill, so to speak), we whisper: “Our Father, our King, be gracious to us and answer us, though we have no worthy deeds (with which to pay You for our large order) please grant us charity and kindness, and save us.”
–Jacob ben Wolf Kranz, known as the Maggid of Dubno, a Hasidic master and teacher (1741-1804). Reprinted from Aaron Levine’s “The New Rosh Hashanah Anthology,” published by Zichron Meir Publications.