Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Re Michael Cohen

I have followed this story. I have watched some of his testimony. It strikes me that, when he is not engaged in speaking, nor in listening to others, that he looks to be incredibly sad. Sad and beaten.

It also occurs to me that he is a Jew, and he has, probably, at least a few times in his life, attended Yom Kippur services.

And it occurs to me that his testimony these past few days constitutes a real-life, real-world, example of Viduy.

The Viduy - the Confessions - are a communal (we have sinned) series of prayers recited by the congregation on Yom Kippur. They are not, exactly, PERSONAL confessions - but we recite them for all Jews everywhere, because surely, somewhere, in the past year, someone, somewhere, has committed each of these offenses.
We are more about 'the community' than 'the individual'.

Still - I have wondered these last few days, if Cohen has made this connection to the Yom Kippur Viduy (and I think he has).

So I decided to post a snippet (they are lengthy) from the Viduy.
(BTW, they are not recited only ONCE, but are recited MULTIPLE times during the long Yom Kippur afternoon, before the sun sets and the fast ends).

Our God and God of our fathers,
let our prayer come before you
and do not ignore our supplication.
For we are not so brazen-faced and stiff-necked
to say to you, Adonoy, our God, and God of our fathers,
“We are righteous and have not sinned.”

But, indeed, we and our fathers have sinned.

We have trespassed [against God and man, and we are devastated by our guilt];

We have betrayed [God and man, we have been ungrateful for the good done to us];

We have stolen; We have slandered.

We have caused others to sin;

We have caused others to commit sins for which they are called רְשָׁעִים, wicked;

We have sinned with malicious intent;


We have forcibly taken others’ possessions even though we paid for them;

We have added falsehood upon falsehood; We have joined with evil individuals or groups;

We have given harmful advice;


We have deceived; we have mocked;

We have rebelled against God and His Torah;

We have caused God to be angry with us;

We have turned away from God’s Torah;

We have sinned deliberately;

We have been negligent in our performance of the commandments;

We have caused our friends grief;

We have been stiff-necked, refusing to admit that our suffering is caused by our own sins.

We have committed sins for which we are called רָשָׁע, [raising a hand to hit someone].

We have committed sins which are the result of moral corruption;

We have committed sins which the Torah refers to as abominations;

We have gone astray;

We have led others astray.

Anyway, you get the idea. Some of those 'we have sinned' statements are STRIKINGLY on target, too.

I'm pretty sure he's made the connection.

Agricola fair answer to Lev's question.
Lev the problem has existed for many years. It was about what is the nature of Jesus. The council of Nicea supposedly settled it. The Orthodox agreed with the first creed. The Catholic Church later changed it. This resulted in a split between the Orthodox and Catholics in 1054 CE. The problem was very technical. Basically where did the Holy Spirit come from. As I understand it the Orthodox view is that the Holy Spirit emanates from the Father. I am OK with that view and as such could not be Catholic. Every child born from sex is half mom and half dad. Jesus would be half human at least. The dryed blood found by Ron Wyatt was put in saline and swirled for hours. Ron believed it was the dryed blood on Jesus. The were found white blood cells that were still viable. The DNA was unlike any sexually derived human. Mary was a Virgin. There was a no male DNA except and chromosome 23. This is what made Jesus male. It was XY one the 23rd chromosome. The rest were haploid X. Normally the other genes are XX. Ron was allowed to view the Ark from the first Temple. The mercy seat is there. He was given the blood a Jesus by an angel. He kept it in a film case and later had it analysed. The angels removed the mercy seat from a wooden box underneath. Ron was allowed to remove the tablets of stone. He explains this in detail. He has since died. The reason you cannot see the ark today is that God is saving it for the Tribulation to counter the false phophet's lies. Probably the false Prophets will ask you to worship him which will violate the ten commandments. The law is still valid and everyone who is not covered by Jesus' sacrifice will be judged by the law. The wages of sin is death. This is a constant theme in the Bible from Adam and Eve through Jesus. The reason for animal sacrifices drives that point home. Ron believes he found Noah's ark, the reed sea crossing with chariot wheels including horse and human skeletons, mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia, the ark of the first temple and the blood of Jesus. Its has been so many years that names have changed. No Jew would worry about a trinity. To them God is one not three.