Al Chet 5
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Exploring the Al Chet Prayer
Al Chet 5
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
5. For the mistake we committed before You in public and in private.
Ask yourself:
Public:
Did I do foolish or degrading things to attract attention or approval?
On the other hand, did I do good deeds in public -- that I would otherwise not have done -- simply so that others would see me?
Private:
Did I act privately in a way that I would be ashamed if anyone found out?
Did I consider how God is watching even in my most private moments?
Did I convince myself that because nobody sees me, the mistakes somehow don't count?
Al Chet 5
The 44 Roots of Mistakes
by George Brock
5. For the mistakes made before You in public and in private....
- Doing foolish or degrading things to attract attention or approval.
- Doing good deeds in public that one would not have done had others not been watching.
- Doing things in private I would be ashamed of if anyone found out.
- The battle is fear.
- The cause is that the fear of man and the fear of missing out has become greater than one’s fear of G-d.
- The victory is to fear One! Fear no one.
- Fear of others and the fear of missing out remind us to fear G-d.
- Fear leads one away from contentment though it promises just the opposite through its lust and evil desires.
- Only through Teshuvah can one overcome his forbidden lusts and desires.
- The goal is that one can pass though one’s “darkness”- the mistakes made before G-d, in public, and in private - when one realizes one has made his own path.
- Is it not better to seek the light one has been given than the darkness one will create?
- There is only one Torah yet is it not the light that reveals the path each man must follow.
- It is one’s choice, not chance, that determines one’s destiny.
- I must remember it is the righteous man’s faith that becomes his strength and his obedience that becomes his power – not so with the wicked man whose faith becomes his weakness and whose disobedience leaves him powerless.