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The Vidui that is said during the days of Selichos, and on Yom Kippur, and by Nusach Sefard on days that Tachanun is recited, starts with Ashamnu and goes letter by letter through the Aleph Bais. At the end it includes three words that begin with a Taf. Why was this set up this way, when no other letter is repeated?

Gershon Gold
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    That's very common in many piyutim. Why ask about it here specifically? – Double AA Sep 24 '15 at 17:30
  • @DoubleAA: In which other Piyutim do you have just the last letter repeated three times? – Gershon Gold Sep 24 '15 at 17:38
  • My question was inspired by Danno's question http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/64140/why-is-there-an-accusation-in-our-confession-litany and a possible thought was - that perhaps the last 2 words are different somehow. – Gershon Gold Sep 24 '15 at 17:49
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    Here's one http://shironet.mako.co.il/artist?type=lyrics&lang=1&prfid=806&wrkid=18180 I'm sure I can find more if you want. – Double AA Sep 24 '15 at 18:05
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    @DoubleAA: That one is missing Daled & Ches. In addition since it is broken into stanzas there was a need for add ons at the end to make it a complete stanza. By Ashamnu there is no such need. – Gershon Gold Sep 24 '15 at 18:08
  • Here too we have tav twice http://www.piyut.org.il/tradition/2552.html?currPerformance=3303 (you've probably only see parts of this piyut before) – Double AA Sep 24 '15 at 18:09
  • Why is there no need? How do you know what the stanzas for Ashamnu are? Here it's presented in 4-phrased stitches https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%99_(%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA)#.D7.A0.D7.95.D7.A1.D7.97_.D7.95.D7.99.D7.93.D7.95.D7.99_.D7.A7.D7.98.D7.9F – Double AA Sep 24 '15 at 18:11
  • The Artscroll is inconsistent in the bolding of the first letter. In some iterations, all the words are bolded, indicating that they are all part of the list, in others, the taf words (or most of them) are NOT bolded indicating that they are somehow separate. – rosends Sep 24 '15 at 19:06
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    @DoubleAA does that "4 phrased stitches" indicate that the repetition of the taf is just to fill out the form? – rosends Sep 24 '15 at 19:09
  • @GershonGold Another that popped up over Yom Tov: http://www.piyut.org.il/textual/580.html – Double AA Oct 07 '15 at 21:14
  • Could it be that the two "extra" tavs stand for t'shuvah and t'filah? – ezra Feb 12 '18 at 06:07

1 Answers1

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Firstly, Seder Rav Amram Gaon (Seder Sheini Vechamishi, page 9) only has תעבנו and תעתענו, so in that version (which is fairly authoritative) it is only doubled and not tripled.

Also, in the sefer Ohel Moed (late 1300s, Shaar Reishis Chochmah Derech 8), it contains only תעינו and תעתענו, and includes a second ל word, לוצצנו.

See here for a number of other sources containing this variant, including Machzorim and Siddurim from various communities.

Other added variants include מרינו, נאפנו, and many others (Google searches will again show a number of versions with those words).

Additionally, the word תעתענו is preceded by a ו in many versions, making it not countable for the ת grouping.

(These points are important because some Piyutim include doubled letters or missed letters, see comment thread above, specifically DoubleAA's comments.)

However, even if we accept that there are 3 final ת words and no duplicates throughout, הרב יאיר וסרטל answers this by explaining that תעבנו is the last sin that we mention in specific, and once we finish the Aleph-Beis, we add two general terms to the Vidui (as a sort of summary, if I understand correctly), and those are תעינו תעתענו. Thus, they are not really part of the rest of the Vidui, but we continue to use the last letter for the summary, and that is why there are 3 terms at the end.

רבות מחשבות
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