May we Speak the Truth: A Modern Take on This Prayer.

I have been assigned this prayer year after year because my brand has always been “telling it like it is.” When people read my book or hear me tell my story, invariably the response is “Harriet you are so honest.” And I think to myself, why is that so unusual? Aren’t you? Why do we need a prayer urging us to speak the truth? Are we hard-wired to deceive and to hide inshame? Is this in our spiritual DNA from the Garden of Eden?

When Chaplain Adam invited me to open Kol Nidre with this prayer this year, my first response was are you fucking kidding me? In the current climate of cancel culture, Me Too, Advice of Counsel, global, political, and cultural mendacity, truth is dangerous and costly. Litigants lurk around every corner, attorneys ready and eager to stoke their grievances. The end game is to win, distorting the truth for monetary gain, reputation management, or political power. Facts have become irrelevant, alternative, twisted, and bent as tools to lie, deny and blame others for our transgressions. The atmosphere at BT has been affected by the unfortunate events of the past several years, becoming less transparent and more opaque. Truth is on life support; more dangerous than the lies we tell others are the lies we tell ourselves.

These are the lies I have told myself this year that I am struggling to release in this Shmita year.
1: There is no me without Beit T’Shuvah.
2: I am irrelevant, my life has no meaning or purpose.
3: I am guilty of Founders Syndrome.

My truth is that I will find strength, healing, and direction amongst the broken pieces in order to move forward. I will continue to “tell it like it is,” challenge the “way we’ve always done it” and “if we do it for one we have to do it for everyone,” break the rules that don’t make sense. I will revere truth but remain irreverent and politically incorrect as long as I shall live.