{"id":526,"date":"2008-11-24T10:55:29","date_gmt":"2008-11-24T10:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html"},"modified":"2008-11-24T10:55:29","modified_gmt":"2008-11-24T10:55:29","slug":"in-an-exchange-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html","title":{"rendered":"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lieberman.jpg\"<\/span>
\nIn an exchange this weekend with Tom Brokaw, Joe Lieberman said he regretted some of what he’d said during the campaign.
\nBrokaw said, “I hear the word regret, but not the word apologize.”
\nLieberman responded that he’s “going forward,” adding, “You can take from the word ‘regret’ what you will. I wish I had not said some of the things I’ve said. But again, we all do it.”
\nPutting aside the particulars of what Lieberman said during the campaign<\/a>, I’m pretty sure that “we all do it” is not part of the Jewish tradition for achieving spiritual purity.
\nRabbi Shraga Simmons on Aish.com<\/a> summarizes the Jewish process of Teshuva, or repentance:<\/p>\n

Step 1 – Regret. Realize the extent of the damage and feel sincere regret.<\/p>\n


\nStep 2 – Cessation. Immediately stop the harmful action.
\nStep 3 – Confession. Articulate the mistake and ask for forgiveness.
\nStep 4 – Resolution<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the rest of the essay, he notes that the process is sometimes hobbled by particular excuses that we devise:<\/p>\n

Sometimes, we try to justify our actions, using a variety of excuses:
\n“Everyone else is doing it”
\n“At least I’m not like some people who go around killing and stealing!”
\n“Who are YOU to say it’s wrong?!”
\nRegret is not really possible unless we can clearly distinguish between right and wrong. Otherwise, we will just rationalize and delude ourselves into thinking we’ve done nothing wrong. The ever-changing, sliding standards of society contribute to this lack of clarity….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is Rabbi Simmons full program for spiritual cleansing through repentance. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an exchange this weekend with Tom Brokaw, Joe Lieberman said he regretted some of what he’d said during the campaign. Brokaw said, “I hear the word regret, but not the word apologize.” Lieberman responded that he’s “going forward,” adding, “You can take from the word ‘regret’ what you will. I wish I had not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHas Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance? - Steven Waldman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance? - Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an exchange this weekend with Tom Brokaw, Joe Lieberman said he regretted some of what he’d said during the campaign. Brokaw said, “I hear the word regret, but not the word apologize.” Lieberman responded that he’s “going forward,” adding, “You can take from the word ‘regret’ what you will. I wish I had not…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-24T10:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/files\/import\/imgs\/lieberman.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"swaldman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance? - Steven Waldman","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance? - Steven Waldman","og_description":"In an exchange this weekend with Tom Brokaw, Joe Lieberman said he regretted some of what he’d said during the campaign. Brokaw said, “I hear the word regret, but not the word apologize.” Lieberman responded that he’s “going forward,” adding, “You can take from the word ‘regret’ what you will. I wish I had not…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html","og_site_name":"Steven Waldman","article_published_time":"2008-11-24T10:55:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/files\/import\/imgs\/lieberman.jpg"}],"author":"swaldman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html","name":"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance? - Steven Waldman","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/files\/import\/imgs\/lieberman.jpg","datePublished":"2008-11-24T10:55:29+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-24T10:55:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/#\/schema\/person\/f14bd19925fcfcd0bd7c74a678fddded"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/files\/import\/imgs\/lieberman.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/files\/import\/imgs\/lieberman.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/11\/in-an-exchange-this-weekend.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Has Joe Lieberman Followed The Ancient Jewish Process of Repentance?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/","name":"Steven Waldman","description":"Author of 'Founding Faith'","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/#\/schema\/person\/f14bd19925fcfcd0bd7c74a678fddded","name":"swaldman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e7f\/e7f50c10d0832a00d2b7690a72d45b5ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e7f\/e7f50c10d0832a00d2b7690a72d45b5ex96.jpg","caption":"swaldman"},"description":"Steven Waldman is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Beliefnet. He's also the author of the Founding Faith: Politics, Providence, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, which has been published by Random House. Before co-founding Beliefnet in 1999, Waldman was a political journalist, serving as National Editor of U.S. News & World Report and National Correspondent for Newsweek. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, The Atlantic, Slate, and many others.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/author\/swaldman"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}