As soon as we finish praying that G-d grant us wisdom (in the 4th Amidah blessing) we apply that wisdom in a deeply personal and inward direction. We petition G-d for help in seeking teshuvah, repentance. And this is followed, quite logically, with a prayer for forgiveness.

The “inward turn” with or knowledge is worth noting. In our highly technological age, we tend to privilege academic merit. The more letters after a person’s name, the better. But this ignores the fact that academic knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and definitely not the same as character. We recall, for instance, that the bulk of the Nazi party (may their teeth rot) was composed of academics, lawyers, doctors, judges and teachers.

Saying right up front that the first thing we have to do with our intelligence is to examine our moral constitution is wonderous, a prime example of Judaism’s deep wisdom that should be embraced in word and deed.

Beyond that, we note that these two blessings use a term for G-d—avinu, our father—that doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Amidah. So of course the question arises, “Why just in these two blessings?” Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, author of one of Judaism’s premier law codes (and, incidentally, the first book printed in southern Europe and the Near East), explained it this way: “We recall before Him that the father is obligated to teach his child, so that is why we say, “Return us, our Father, to Your Torah.” As far as the blessing for forgiveness is concerned, we recall the verse from Isaiah (55:7) that states, “Let the wicked give up his ways, the sinful man his plans; Let him turn back to the Lord, and He will pardon him, to our G-d, for He freely forgives.” With that in mind, we recall before G-d the mercies of a father, as it says in Psalm 103:13: “As a father has mercy on his children,” so that G-d will have mercy upon us and forgive us.

One does not have to be a card-carrying Freudian to sense a patriarchal pattern here. The (superego) father defines the internal laws. If we have violated those laws, it is to that (superego ) father that we must appeal. It is that (superego) father who will help us turn in the proper direction. And it is that (superego) father that allows us, finally, to feel the release that comes with forgiveness.

It is this process that allows us to become whole.