Trying to atone for the sin of torture

[struggle4progress]

By Carol Towarnicky

[e-mail]


ON YOM Kippur, the Day of Atonement that begins tomorrow at sunset, Jews recite several times a confession of failings called al Cheit - "For the sin (we committed)."

This year, an organization called Rabbis for Human Rights-North America offers an al Cheit prayer confessing "the sin of torture by Americans" composed by Rabbi Simkha Weintraub:

"... For (the sin of) sensory deprivation... detention in damp, frigid cells... denying sleep... forced nudity and sexual exploitation..." and so on, in horrifying, and documented, detail.

The creative liturgy is part of the group's campaign against torture and - this is important, notes the group's executive director, Rabbi Brian Walt - "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." The addition is necessary, since the U.S. government under George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzales and Donald Rumsfeld has parsed words and meanings so masterfully that it has rationalized just about anything short of murder of noncitizens. <snip>

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/12870990.htm

[PsychoDad]

1. A word of thanks to these Rabbis for this.

:)

This shared Rammadan - Yom Kippur season has indeed been a time of blessings, may it continue to be so for all our peoples.

May we be forgiven, and may we be guided rightly.

Peace