One of my favorite lessons from this week’s Torah portion is that Jewish confession sounds something like “I am amazing”.
In most cases, confession is saying I made a mistake, I am bad. Jewish confession is the opposite. It is along the lines of I am a child of G-d, I am amazing, I am worth investing in, I am doing my best, and when I make a mistake, it is noticeable.
My niece Sara got married last night to Berri Dworkin in Atlanta. The bride looked amazing. If there was a stain on her dress, it would have been noticeable.
The first step in Jewish confession is to realize that we are a part of G-d Almighty. What we do matters! We are like a bride on her wedding day. Once we have that foundation in place, we can deal with it if, G-d forbid, we cause “dirt” to be seen.
We see this at the “confession of the tithes” in this week’s Torah portion. The person confessing doesn’t say I am bad. All he says is “And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground which you, O Lord, have given to me."
The confession is i did what is right.