V-10 HaAzinu: Our Father, our King, our Judge

"Our Father, our king, we have snned before Thee...
Our Father, our King, deal kindly with us for the sake of Thy name
Our Father, our King, renew unto us a year of good.
Our Father, our King, annul every evil decree against us."
Avinu Malcheinu

Our Father, our King, our Judge
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Yom Kippur is a solemn holiday in which all of Israel, including the strangers in her midst, stand before the King in the high court of justice. It is a day of repentance in which we recount our failings and recognize our fallibility. The litany of Avinu Malcheinu is inclusive, not exclusive, allowing the participant to add silently his own personal confessions.

Confession in Judaism is not like that of Catholicism although Catholic rite of confession is obviusly derived from Judaism. In Judaism, we stand before God our King directly, personally accountable for our failures. We cannot shift the blame off onto Satan, nor implore intercession through another person. No one can die for us. Sin is not vicarious, nor is redemption. Moreover, repentance is not as much dependent on the litany of sins, but on the attitude although the cantor's chant may go on for pages and then is repeated three times during the day. Psalm 51 opens:

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitide of thy tender mercies..." KJV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." KJV

Isaiah echoes:
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord:I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed ebasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or he-goats...Bring no more vain oblations...Your new moons and your appointed feast my soul hateth:they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them."
..Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow"Is 1 : 11-17 KJV

God exhorts us to change our ways. Without first deep introspection and regreat, we are unable to make the external changes necessary to turn our lives around.

"Repentance," Pakuda explains, "is the act of amending your service to the Creator after having forsaken it and sinned, and of restoring what was missing from it either because of ignorance of God and his service, because your

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