By Erica Brown

The days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur offer us the gift of self-reflection and a time to focus on being better Jewish public servants. To that end, the following are a selection of responses to an “Al Chet” – For the Sin of… – exercise I often conduct with boards and Jewish communal professionals at this season. Each person gets an index card and a timed two minutes to “customize” areas for improvement specifically related to their volunteer or professional service. With boards, I often ask people to write three such statements beginning with “For the sin of:” one for their own leadership, one as a board and one as an organization. Then we turn the cards over and write “tikkunim” or corrections for each we’d like to make happen in the year ahead. If you’ve got a board or staff meeting coming up soon, think about opening it with this exercise and a little shared soul time before getting down to business. Better yet, create some personal quiet time and make your own list.

Articulating what we do wrong helps us get one step closer to getting it right.

For Lay Leaders

For the sin of not paying attention.
For the sin of paying selective attention.
For the sin of being too last minute.
For the sin of not furthering my leadership education.
For the sin of not getting out our organizational story.
For the sin of not inspiring others to lead.
For the sin of wasting time.
For the sin of showing up late to meetings.
For the sin of running boring meetings.
For the sin of not showing up prepared for meetings.
For the sin of focusing on the details and losing the big picture.
For the sin of not doing everything I said I would do.
For the sin of dominating at meetings.
For the sin of giving charity but not doing charity.
For the sin of not getting to know those on my board.
For the sin of doing everything but raise money on my board.
For the sin of treating the professionals who work with me badly.
For the sin of rubber stamping a decision at a board meetings instead of interrogating it.
For the sin of not being available to others.
For the sin of zoning out.
For the sin of obstinance.
For the sin of judging before I have all the facts.
For the sin of impatience.

For Fundraisers

For the sin of spending other people’s money.
For the sin of judging how my donors spend their money.
For the sin of not keeping the confidences of my donors.
For the sin of not following-up.
For the sin of impatience.

For Jewish Communal Professionals

For the sin of showing more respect to some than to everyone equally.
For the sin of not being reflective about my work.
For the sin of not being there for my family.
For the sin of gossiping about those I am supposed to be serving.
For the sin of thinking there’s always a better job waiting for me.
For the sin of being jealous of what my lay leaders have that I don’t.
For the sin of not volunteering because I work in a nonprofit.
For the sin of not giving enough charity because I work for a charity.
For the sin of not fully investing myself in the work.
For the sin of not believing in the cause of my organization.
For the sin of not articulating my organization’s mission well.
For the sin of letting my work overtake my personal life.
For the sin of being Jewish in the office but not elsewhere.
For the sin of talking about Jewish values but not always living them.
For the sin of not keeping confidences.
For the sin of being unresponsive.
For the sin of not taking feedback.
For the sin of negativity.
For the sin of impatience.

For Rabbis, Cantors and Educators

For the sin of taking care of the world and not taking care of myself.
For the sin of praying that congregants don’t die on my day off.
For the sin of not setting boundaries.
For the sin of gravitating to those I like when I’m the rabbi of this entire congregation.
For the sin of giving more time to those I serve than my family.
For the sin of sometimes making my ego more important than my congregants.
For the sin of being easily offended.
For the sin of telling others how to live when my own life is filled with mistakes.
For the sin of singing to impress rather than to inspire.
For the sin of pomposity.
For the sin of insincerity.
For the sin of teaching and not sustaining my own learning.
For the sin of being a flawed role model.
For the sin of not being accessible.
For the sin of avoiding certain people so I can avoid their problems.
For the sin of teaching and not doing.
For the sin of talking badly about my congregants/students/parents.
For the sin of treating parents as enemies rather than as partners.
For the sin of not reaching out to younger colleagues and growing them.
For the sin of holding back compassion.
For the sin of knowing someone is struggling and not doing anything about it.
For the sin of impatience.

Dr. Erica Brown is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and director of its Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership. Her forthcoming commentary, The Book of Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile will be published by Koren/OU Press.