In addition to each person's own personal confessions, in many communities a form of confession has been added to the
standard prayer service. The standard confession text begins by referring to the prayer that has proceeded it: This is followed by a list of specific sins which the individual or community may have committed. After the list comes a statement of regret for the sins. For example, the standard short confession concludes as follows:
Alphabetical texts There are two commonly recited confession texts: the short confession () and the long confession (). Both include a list of sins that a person confesses to in the order of the
alephbet. The short confession lists one sin per letter. Regarding the long confession, there are several customs: In the siddurim of Rav
Saadia Gaon and
Maimonides, as well is in the contemporary
Yemenite prayer book, there are merely a few lines of Al Cheyt in no specific order. • To aid in memorizing the list • To provide a more comprehensive list of sins, and better remind the confessor of additional sins they have committed which they can add to the list • To symbolize that one has confessed for any possible sin While not everyone has committed every sin in the standard confession texts, they are worded in the plural ("we have sinned"). They are thus recited in the name of the whole Jewish people, and it is presumably true that every sin mentioned has been committed by at least one Jew. During confession the congregant stands, with head bowed in regret or shame, and with the mention of each sin, thumps his fist over his heart. Some individuals might quickly add (silently or in a whisper) additional sins, not in the traditional list, beginning with the same letters. With reference to the Ashkenaz text, it has been said, "out of the 44 statements that make up the
Al Cheyt, twelve deal with sins rooted in speech (five in
Ashamnu). Only four statements relate to transgressions committed by man against God in the strict sense (only two in the
Ashamnu text). Dominating both confessional texts are general expressions of sin (fifteen in
Al Cheyt and seventeen in
Ashamnu)." File:Viduy 2.jpg|thumb|Illuminated
Ashamnu by Nathan [ben Samson] of
Mezhyrich (1723).
Ashamnu, the short confession This formula begins "We have incurred guilt, we have betrayed, we have stolen, we have spoken falsely, etc." (""). It is commonly known by its first word,
Ashamnu (also transliterated
Oshamnu). An early form of this confession is found most directly in ; see especially verses 5, 9, 18–19, where the supplicant acknowledges himself meritless, and entreats for God's forgiveness based only on God's own merit, and that God's name should not be tarnished among the nations.
Ashamnu is an alphabetic acrostic, consisting of 24 lines (the last letter of the alphabet, (
tav), used three times). Each sin is usually expressed as one word (a few are two words), a verb in the past tense, first person plural. The last two sins (repetitions of the letter ) are "" (''taw'inu, titawnu'') are usually translated as: "We went astray, We led others astray". Occasionally the last word is translated as "You [i.e. God] allowed us to go astray"—the
ArtScroll siddur uses both possibilities, the point being that the last word is an unusual form (not found in the Bible) that suggests a positive determination to go astray, the misuse of free will. However, the translation of "You let us go astray" has been criticized as an error, and it has been suggested that the last word means "we have scoffed" or "we have mocked" or "we tricked" or "we misled others". The short confession is said by
Nusach Sefard and most Sephardic communities (except Spanish and Portuguese) as a portion of
Tachanun (daily supplications) immediately following the
Amidah, and by all communities on Yom Kippur and during the recitation of
Selichot. It is recited standing and quietly, except during the chazzan's repetition on
Yom Kippur when it is customary to recite it aloud. In many congregations (mainly
Ashkenazi ones), it is even customarily sung on this date. This form first appeared in the prayerbook of the
Amram Gaon (8th century).
Al Chet, the long confession The long confession, known as (also , or ; 'For the sin ...'), is said only on Yom Kippur, and in Ashkenazic communities, it also recited by a groom on the day of his wedding in the last prayer before the Chuppah. Each line begins "For the sin we committed before You through ..." (); the prefix meaning 'through' or 'by means of', and the rest of that word is in alphabetic sequence: ('compulsion'), ('ignorance'), and so on. In the siddurim of Rav
Saadia Gaon and
Maimonides, as well is in the contemporary
Yemenite prayer book, there are merely a few lines of Al Cheyt in no specific order. In the siddur of Rav
Amram Gaon, as well as in the contemporary Sephardic rite,
Italian Nusach and Romaniote rite, as well as in the medieval French rite and most early manuscripts of the Ashkenazic rite, it is a single
acrostic. One explanation is that by this confession, "the worshipper is stimulated to a mood of victory and a sense of hopeful living in the face of an unknown and unpredictable future." Or that, by making this confession and repenting, "our sins are transformed into merits." == Deathbed confession ==