Vidui, the spiritual center of the Yom Kippur liturgy, is a confessional prayer at the boundary of personal and communal responsibility. It is an alphabetical inventory of misdeeds, recited in the first-person plural: We have sinned. We have transgressed. We have stolen. It describes a brokenhearted world, desperate for atonement. These words have become so essential to Jewish spiritual life that they are the basis for last rites.
I created “The Witness Quilt” to transform the experience. The all-white under layer, traditionally worn during Yom Kippur as a kittel, is embroidered with a “positive vidui” created by Rabbi Avi Weiss: We have love. We have blessed. We have grown. If confessing misdeeds is a way to acknowledge failings, confessing good deeds may be a way of setting a path forward. La Shana Tova!
If you would like watch a video about The Witness Quilt to learn more.
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