Beat the chest lightly

One of the things that bother me is when we pick up bad ideas from other religions or societies. There are some very good things to learn, but over the centuries some very un-Jewish ideas have crept into our religion.

One of those is the Christian idea of self-flagelation; that we must physically punish ourselves to atone for our sins. In A Treasurey of Jewish Folklore there are even stories from Europe of Chassidim going to their rebbes to confess their sins and be assigned specific penance. This is extremely far from the concept of T'shuva, which concentrates on restitution (if another person is involved), sincere regret and sincere resolve to do better.

When we say Vidui on Yom Kippur, we tap our chest lightly near the heart. This is symbolic of telling Hashem that it is our Yetzer Hara, as symbolized by the lusts of our heart, that has caused us to sin, and we ask Him to forgive, as well as to help us strenghten our resistance to those urges. But I hear people every year hitting themselves so hard that they MUST wake up the next morning with a bruise the size of an ostrich egg. This is not the intent at all.

So let's try to remember how the whole thing works; as we enter Yom Kippur let's concentrate on trying to make ourselves and the world a better place.

G'mar Chatima Tova