Ashamnu

("We have trespassed"). Opening word of the "Shorter Confession" which is recited ten times on the Day of Atonement, from the Afternoon Service preceding Yom Kippur through the Concluding (Ne'Ilah) Service. Like Al ḥet>, the lengthier Confession of Sins (viddu'i), it is arranged as an alphabetical acrostic, but the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet (tav) is employed three times to make up 24 instances of moral wrongdoing. In common with Al Ḥet, the Ashamnu formula uses the first person plural to emphasize collective responsibility; when reciting it, the practice is to beat one's breast as each sin is enumerated. The traditional text stems from the ancient confession of the Igh Priest in the Temple on Atonement Day (see Avodah), but this was later expanded to include a wider range of human failings. There is, however, no mention of offenses such as murder and cruelty, which the sages thought Jews were unlikely to commit. This shorter viddu'i is included in the Seliḥot for the penitential season, starting before Rosh Ha-Shanah, and as a result of kabbalistic influence it now also introduces the weekday Taḥanun prayer in some rites. Here, customs vary: Ashkenazim in Israel, Sephardim, and others recite it in Taḥanun on Mondays and Thursdays, whereas Ḥasidic Jews recite it daily. Reform Jews say it only on the Day of Atonement, in an abridged version.

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