Yom Kippur 2008 (5769 in the Jewish calendar) starts at sunset
on Wednesday, October 8, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, October
9.
But on the tenth day of this seventh month it is the day of atonement;
it shall be a holy convocation unto you, and you shall afflict your
souls, and you shall bring a fire-offering to the Lord. And you shall
do no work on this very day for it is a day of atonement to atone for
you before the Lord your God. (Leviticus
23:27-28)
Honest self-examination, communication with one's Maker, commitment
to become a better person — all these are encouraged throughout
the year in various religious systems, but there is one day on the Jewish
calendar that is tailor-made for such activities: Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement.
Yom Kippur is celebrated on the tenth day of Tishri,
i.e., ten days after Rosh
Hashana, the Jewish new year. It is the culmination of ten days marked
by increased levels of prayer, charity and other good deeds, and the
seeking of forgiveness from anyone one has harmed, purposely or inadvertently,
during the previous year.
This day, the holiest and most solemn in Judaism, is also among the
most joyous, as it affords one the opportunity to rectify past wrongs
and face the future with a slate wiped clean. Some people have the custom
of wearing white as a symbol of purity. Some stay awake all night; others
refrain from all unnecessary speech.
On Yom Kippur, so exclusive is the emphasis on one's inner life that
there are five prohibitions designed to help reduce the focus on physical
needs and thereby shift the spotlight to spiritual pursuits:
- Eating and drinking
- Bathing
- Anointing (applying creams and lotions)
- Sexual relations
- Wearing leather shoes
Those for whom following these requirements would present a health risk
are exempt. The traditional restrictions on labor that apply to the Sabbath apply
to Yom Kippur as well.
The bulk of the day is spent in prayer, of which there are five separate
services — one on the eve of Yom Kippur and four the following
day (in contrast, normal weekdays have three prescribed prayers and Sabbaths
and holidays, four). The liturgy focuses on the enumeration of personal
and communal shortcomings, pleas for Divine forgiveness, and reminders
of the special relationship between God and His chosen people.
Yom Kippur services begin in the evening with the Kol
Nidre prayer, which casts the congregation as petitioners in a
court seeking to have their vows of the preceding year — unheedingly
made and imperfectly fulfilled — annulled. Such is the consciousness
of the human inability to live up to stated goals that in most versions
of this prayer, a preemptive annulment of vows that will be undertaken
during the coming year is requested as well.
Another noteworthy element of the liturgy, recited in the afternoon,
is the verbal recreation of the Yom Kippur avoda — the
ceremonial service performed in ancient times by the High Priest in the
Holy Temple. This ritual included the sacrifice of two goats, one that
was sacrificed to God in the Temple and another that became a scapegoat symbolically
carrying all of the Israelites' sins out to the desert till he tumbled
to his death off a rocky cliff.
The biblical book
of Jonah, which recounts the
prophet Jonah's encounter with a whale and the repentance of the
entire city of Nineveh,
is read in the afternoon as well.
At the end of services at nightfall, the shofar (ram's
horn) is blown. As the sound of the blast fills the synagogue, so does
the feeling of having been cleansed both by the physical deprivations
of the day and by the certainty that a merciful God has granted the longed-for
atonement. The age-old wish of Jews around the world, "Next year in the
rebuilt Jerusalem," is proclaimed.
Modern rabbinic theology teaches that atonement is achieved by prayers
of repentance and acts of restitution.Torah says "the blood, that
makes atonement for the soul". That is why Messiah is clearly prophesied
to be our atonement: "He will be wounded for our rebellions and
crushed for our guilts; the punishment for our well-being will fall upon
Him,and by His stripes we are healed. This prophecy, along with so many
others, was fulfilled by Yeshua (Jesus).
Gmar chatima tova! May you be sealed in the
Book of Life.
