The 2 Hardest Words?​

Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Oct 9-10, 2026 • 29 Tishrei 5787 • Bereisheet (Gen 1-6)

If you spend enough time with me, you'll undoubtedly hear one of my favorite lines:

"The two hardest two words in the English language are mea culpa."

First question for your table: Do you agree?

And if so, why is it so? Why is it so hard to admit that we made a mistake?

In 1949, the BBC radio invited astronomer Fred Hoyle to discuss cosmological theories. Despising the idea that the universe had a definitive beginning (which he felt sounded too much like creationism), he used the term "Big Bang" as a sarcastic, dismissive nickname to mock the rival theory. Even as overwhelming evidence piled up—most notably the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation in 1965—Hoyle stubbornly refused to accept it. He spent the rest of his career promoting a clunky alternative ("Steady State" theory) and went to his grave in 2001 refusing to admit the universe started with a bang, calling the predominant theory "a pseudoscience" and  comparing it to believing a hurricane blowing through a junkyard could assemble a Boeing 747.

There are countless examples of this inability for people (is it mainly men?) to simply admit their mistake. Think of Bill Clinton on the campaign trail—when an old college friend revealed to a reporter that they had smoked dope together, rather than simply say, "Yeah, I was young, we did dumb things like that," he infamously deflected: "But I didn't inhale!"

Why not just tell the truth?

Why is it so hard for some people to simply say, "I was wrong"....???

It seems to me that the answer (and this is right from Ch. 7 of the Art of Amazement) is that our world teaches us that it's more important to look good than to be good.

If I admit that I made a mistake, people might look down on me, or even mock me! 

Jewish wisdom of course says the opposite—that it's more important to be good than to look good. And that while no one should mock anyone, if anyone is mockable, it would be someone who obviously made a mistake but is unwilling to admit it. Don't be that person!

Final question for your table: Do you think that it truly looks bad when someone admits their mistake, or does doing so actually make them look better? 


Shabbat Shalom