Our Lord and the Lord of our fathers, may our prayers come before You and do not ignore our supplication. We are not so brazen and stiff-necked to declare before You, God our Lord and the Lord of our fathers, that we are righteous and have not transgressed; rather (aval), we and our fathers have transgressed.

-The introduction to the Vidui (confessional), Yom Kippur Liturgy

If a person transgresses any of the mitzvot of the Torah, whether a positive command or a negative command – whether willingly or inadvertently – when he repents, and returns from his sin, he must confess before God, blessed be He…  How does one confess? He states: “I implore You, God, I sinned, I transgressed, I committed iniquity before You by doing the following. Behold, I regret and am embarrassed for my deeds. I promise never to repeat this act again.

-Maimonides, Laws of Repentance 1:1

We are a society that hates guilt, does not want to confess. Indeed, to confess in our age is often seen as a weakness. Yet, we cannot get enough of shaming-  people, communities, political parties and nations. This is true of individuals and is true of nations.

In a year with endless cycles of events parading as news, I want to direct us to a recent episode that embodies the sickness of our times. I speak of the jumbotron at a recent Coldplay concert, where a couple engaged in an illicit romantic relationship were caught on screen holding one another. The couple, realizing their images were being projected on a screen for everyone to see, did what most people might do, instinctively fall to the floor in embarrassment and shame.

In the annals of human history, this story is simply not newsworthy. The indiscretions (sins) of the couple are indeed objectionable, but they are not any more sanctionable than the millions of indiscretions (sins) that many other people commit, including people we know, and perhaps even love.

What struck me as much more significant was how our society reacted to this crime.  Consider the front page (!) of the New York Post, who saw fit to feature this on page one. “Dumbotron,” the headline declared. Indeed, at that Coldplay concert I am quite certain that there were other couples engaging in illicit affairs. Others probably were involved in financial fraud. Others were involved in domestic violence. I do not remember any ‘investigative reporting’ of the New York Post into the personal affairs of any other person there. In truth, the headline simply relished in the humiliation of two people, and in the process committed a crime compared in Jewish tradition to ‘shedding blood.” Indeed, the sharing of this information says a lot more about the people who choose to publish this scandalous clickbait than the actual people who committed the sin. This image then went viral and became a meme, the fodder of late-night TV.

This story, which came and went within days (except for the people themselves), raises deeper questions about the world in which we live. If we consider ourselves moral individuals, we must ask ourselves a central question: What was the reason as a society we saw it fit to publicize and circulate such a scandalous affair? While I am sure that some might answer........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)