for a
likst
happy-, healthq
of <Year

Best willies for a
ppy healthq
ha,

MARILYN BERMAN

ISAAC & HELGA GOLD

Rosh HaShana

Way_ (Year

a very healthy,.
We wish our family amen
new
Year.
prosperous
Spy anb
\\

,

MARK if

111111 111115 111t11` 1 2

e

MAO*

•

to all
nui friend&
and iTiatioek.

HELEN KANAT

SCARR

111111

nayz

to- all
oar ficiendk

fl app)!

a►

Vecti

-

May the coming
Year' be filled
with health and
happiness fop.
all OlittA family
and friends.

RABBI JOSEPH, SUSAN
& ATARA KRAKOFF

Happy
New
Year.

May the covvting
Year be filled
with health and
happiness fop.
all OW` family
and friends.

ELAINE, BARRY, BENNY,
ERIN & DANA MARGOLIS

and relatioel•

CHARLOTTE SHEBOWICH
& FAMILY

-Happy

N ew

Veal*

May the coveting
Yea,* be filled
with health and
happiness for"
all my family
and friends.

HONORA LIPSON

ficippy

N ew

Watt

May the cowing ye ► pt

be filled with

keal-t-IA and happiness and

May the coming
yeav be filled
with health and
lAappiness fop.
all my family
and friends.

MARION SCHAFER

piAospeeity foe all ot,o4

Fa pvtily and "Fei end s

lapPY

N ew

Veal*

eiV

„Year-

IRVING & SARAH PITT

9/17

1999
na —

Sin And
Repentance

May the coming
Year be filled
with health and
happiness fov.
all OIA.V` family
and friends.

HARRY & SHIRLEY
TANKSLEY

mark — like an archer who
misses the bull's-eye of a target,"
Jewish Family 6- Life
explains Dr. Ron Wolfson, di-
rector of the Whizin Institute
om Kippur is often
for Jewish Family Education in
described as the time
Los Angeles, who is also a vice
to cast away sins and
president of the University ofJu-
to seek repentance.
daism. A chet means that we
The description is accurate.
have tried to do right, but that
The only problem with the defi-
we have fallen short of the mark
nition is the context in which it
of righteousness.
might be understood. When we
Two other categories of sin
think of sin, we have a tendency
are considered more grievous
to think about Catholic confes-
than a chet. One, an aveira, or
sionals, or church services in
the crossing of a line, is a con-
which congregants declare that
scious action on our part. We
they were born as sinners and
have crossed the line between
will die the same way.
appropriate and inappropriate
But Jewish tradition tells us
behavior, and we are fully con-
that we are all born with a clean
scious of doing so.
slate. That is, we are not born
The most serious category of
sinning, as Christian tradition
sin,
an avon, is an abomination
suggests. As Jews, we must al-
such
as idolatry and murder.
ways reach towards a perfect
Committing
an avon means
standard of righteousness, as ex-
that
one
knows
going into the
pressed in Leviticus: Tzedek,
action
that
it
is
the
wrong thing
tzedek, tirdof (Righteousness,
to do. All sins represent a dis-
righteousness shall you pursue).
tancing from God or godliness.
It is in the not reaching that the
In order to atone for the sin,
sin often comes in. When we do
a
Jew
must turn back from the
something wrong, it may not be
distancing.
Atonement is an ac-
that the wrong itself is the
tion,
rather
than a state of being.
source of the sin. Rather, it is the
This
action
is called teshuvah —
missed opportunity to do some-
literally,
turning
— but many
thing right.
would call it repentance. While
In Hebrew, this missed op-
most people associate Yom Kip-
portunity is called a chet. Often
pur with fasting, even the
translated simply as "sin," the
prophet Isaiah, whose words we
word is actually an archery term
read on Yom Kippur, under-
for a mis-shot. "So, 'chet,' rather
stands that it is the act of repen-
than being a sin as we know it
tance that is the essence of the
from Christian tradition, should
day. Li
be thought of as missing the

ANN MOLINE

y