On the Day Before

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“On the Day Before”
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 48
Written by	Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) Paul Redford & Nanda Chitre (story)
Directed by	Christopher Misiano
Guest stars	Anna Deavere Smith Kevin Tighe H. Richard Greene Cliff DeYoung NiCole Robinson Scott Michael Campbell John F. O'Donohue Mary Mara Thomas Kopache
Production no.	227204
Original airdate	October 31, 2001
Season 3 episodes
Isaac and Ishmael Documentary Special Manchester Part I Manchester Part II Ways and Means On the Day Before War Crimes Gone Quiet The Indians in the Lobby The Women of Qumar Bartlet for America H. Con-172 100,000 Airplanes The Two Bartlets Night Five Hartsfield's Landing Dead Irish Writers The U.S. Poet Laureate Stirred Enemies Foreign and Domestic The Black Vera Wang We Killed Yamamoto Posse Comitatus
List of The West Wing episodes

"On the Day Before" is the 48th episode of The West Wing.

[edit] Plot

On a busy night at the White House, President Bartlet vetoes the estate-tax repeal (a first for him) and staffers scramble to counter the Republican Party's override threat. Leo takes point when a Palestinian homicide bomber murders 10 people in Israel and two of the victims are Americans. Meanwhile, Josh stares down a Democratic governor who's threatening to challenge Bartlet in the primaries. Charlie has been offered legal immunity in the MS matter and everyone urges him to take it. C.J. has a difficult time with a local-TV reporter who isn't nearly as smart as she is aggressive.

[edit] Title

The title of this episode refers to a conversation that the President has with his staff towards the end of the episode. In this conversation, the president tells his staff that at a White House dinner, someone told him that on Yom Kippur, Jews ask God for forgiveness, but "on the day before" Yom Kippur, called Erev Yom Kippur, Jews ask forgiveness from one another. The President remarks that "you can't ask forgiveness of God until you ask forgiveness of people on the day before."