A Medieval Version of Rav’s Confession (Vidui)

Mid-9th Century

You know the eternal mysteries
and the hidden secrets of all living.
You seek out all the chambers of the belly
and examine the innards and the heart.
Nothing is concealed from You,
and nothing is hidden from Your sight.
[May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
that you pardon us for all our transgressions
and forgive us for all our iniquities
and grant us atonement for all our sins.]

Source: Seder Rav Amram

Translated by Richard S. Sarason.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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The rabbinic tradition requires that all individuals confess their sins as part of the regular Yom Kippur liturgy. The Babylonian Talmud (b. Yoma 87b) offers some details about when and how the confession is recited and includes the wording of the prayer as attributed to several rabbis. The Talmud includes only the initial phrases of the rabbis’ prayers, but more complete versions of the prayers of Rav and Samuel are known from medieval sources. This passage from the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram gives the wording of Rav’s prayer. See also A Medieval Version of Samuel’s Confession.

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