Devar/5769/Vayigash
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< Devar | 5769
עברית
English
And Judah said: 'What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants (Gen 44:16)
With a small change, we say the beginning of this verse after the standing prayer, during "prostration" (also called "supplication") -- but we do not say the end of the verse.
After long years, during which the brothers succeeded in living almost normal lives, and perhaps even forgot their younger brother and what they had done to him, a sudden awakening came to them through that very same forgotten brother. They still did not recognize him, but they did recognize God's hand -- as they say at the end of the verse, God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. The brothers' confession almost ends this story -- and definitely indicates true remorse for the past.
A possible reason we don't say the end of the verse during the supplications after prayer, is that we have to internalize the message of the verse, and to draw conclusions which are appropriate to us and our particular situation. Despite the fact that we usually manage to live "normal" lives even when we have things to regret, until such time as we acknowledge and confess our deeds, we will not reach a state of perfection before the Holy One, blessed is He. And this confession cannot be said properly as long as we do not realize there is One Who spoke and the world came into existence -- and before Whom, may He be blessed, we will all have to give an accounting in the future.
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