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Happy New Year — now, atone!

By Evan Gardner
for The Brooklyn Paper

Jews all over the world — and, more important, Brooklyn — will ring in the year 5769 on Monday night, marking the beginning of the holiest period in the Jewish calendar.

Now while Rosh Hashana is all apples and honey, next month includes Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It’s a big responsibility, all this atoning, so we called up a gaggle of local rabbis to find out whether even the leader of a congregation has something that he regrets.

“I am atoning for numerous sins committed over the year,” said Rabbi Sam Weintraub of Cobble Hill’s Kane Street Synagogue. “Sometimes I am unduly harsh with people, and sometimes I pretend to be disinterested when I actually have self-interest.”

Here are how six other men and one woman of the cloth will be answering to a higher authority:

“I wish I could be more in touch more of the time with more individual members of the congregation."
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann
Kolot Chayeinu, Park Slope

“I am atoning for all the aggravation that I’ve given my wife this year, like coming home late and not doing anything around the house. I’m also atoning for the fact that, for yet another year, Gersh Kuntzman is not sitting next to me at the services, which means that I’ve failed in my job.”
Rabbi Simcha Weinstein
Pratt Institute, Clinton Hill

"I am atoning for three things. First, in my job I often work too hard, to the detriment of spending time with my family. Second, I am atoning for not doing enough as a citizen of this city and this country to make them greater. We are in such a mess right now that we could all be doing more. Third, I feel that I am very opinionated. We are a city of very opinionated people, and we need to be less opinionated and more action-oriented."
Rabbi Andy Bachman
Congregation Beth Elohim, Park Slope

“I have much to atone for. As an attorney, I don’t want to elaborate, but I think all of us should look at ourselves. Everyone gets angry unnecessarily. None of us is a finished product, and we can always be better. I will be encouraging my congregation to pay attention to this year’s election, to vote seriously and to understand why they support a particular candidate.”
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik
Congregation Mt. Sinai, Brooklyn Heights

“I am atoning for a lot of things. My atonement will be more proactive that reactive, meaning that I will try to reach out to more people than I did last year. I was too lax last year and this time I will try to organize more events and be more professional in my duty.”
Rabbi Aaron Raskin
Congregation B’nai Avraham, Brooklyn Heights

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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