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Tuesday October 7, 2003 |
Yom Kippur
(Day of Atonement)Hebrew YOM HA-KIPPURIM, (In English called Day Of Atonement), the most solemn of Jewish religious holidays, observed on the 10th day of the lunar month of Tishri (in the course of September and October), when Yahudiym seek to expiate their sins and achieve a reconciliation with Elohim.
Yom Kippur concludes the "10 days of repentance" that begin with Yom Teruah (Day of Shouting) on the first day of Tishri.
The TN’K refers to Yom Kippur as Shabbat Shabbaton ("Sabbath of Solemn Rest," or "Sabbath of Sabbaths") because, even though the holy day may fall on a weekday, it is on Yom Kippur that solemnity and cessation of work are most complete.
The purpose of Yom Kippur is to effect individual and collective purification by the practice of forgiveness of the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one's own sins against Elohim.
Yom Kippur is marked by abstention from food, drink, and sex. Among extremely Orthodox Jews the wearing of leather shoes and anointing oneself with oil are forbidden. Orthodox Jews may wear long white robes called kippelot.
Jewish congregations spend the eve of Yom Kippur and the entire day in prayer and meditation. On the eve of Yom Kippur the Kol Nidre is recited
( Kol Nidre (Aramaic: "All Vows"), a prayer sung in Jewish synagogues at the beginning of the service on the eve of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
Famous for its beautiful melody, the Kol Nidre is a declaration annulling all vows made during the course of the year insofar as they concern oneself (obligations toward others are excluded). There is, however not a consensus on the usage of this ritual, even among the Jews.
Friends also ask and accept forgiveness from one another for past offenses on the evening before Yom Kippur, since obtaining forgiveness from one's fellows signifies Elohim’s forgiveness. Elohim is believed to forgive the sins of those who sincerely repent and show their repentance by improved behaviour and performance of good deeds.
The services on Yom Kippur itself last continuously from morning to evening and include readings from the Torah and the reciting of penitential prayers.. The services end with closing prayers and the blowing of the ritual horn known as the shofar.
Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the high priest performed an elaborate sacrificial ceremony in the Temple, successively confessing his own sins, the sins of priests, and the sins of all Israel.
Clothed in white linen, he then entered the Holy of Holies--allowed only at Yom Kippur--to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice and to offer incense. The ceremony concluded when a goat (the scapegoat), symbolically carrying the sins of Israel, was driven to its death in the wilderness.
TESHUVA AND FORGIVENESS
Following the Golden Calf, Moses pleaded with Elohim to forgive the people. Finally on Yom Kippur, atonement was achieved and Moses brought the second set of Tablets down from Mount Sinai.
From that day forward, every Yom Kippur has carried with it a special power to cleanse the mistakes of Jews (both individually and collectively) and to wipe the slate clean.
Though while Yom Kippur atones for transgressions against Elohim, this does not include wrongs committed against other human beings. It is therefore the universal Jewish custom – some time before Yom Kippur -- to apologize and seek forgiveness from any friends, relative, or acquaintances whom we may have harmed or insulted over the past year.
THE FAST ITSELF
The Yom Kippur fast begins at sundown, and extends 25 hours until the following nightfall.
Lev 23:27-32
27 "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to YHWH by fire.
28 Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before YHWH your Elohim.
29 Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people.
30 I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day.
31 You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
32 It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath."
Lev 25:9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.
Lev 16:29-31
29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, (no food or water) and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourns among you:
30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before YHWH.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls (no food or water) by a statute for ever.
Num 29:7
7 And you shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and you shall afflict your souls: you shall not do any work therein:
We are to cover our mouths, neither eat nor drink, Perhaps Yom Kippur is a day to look within, to meditate, to commune with our Creator.
Let us consider the need to go and seek forgiveness from any brother or sister we have wronged in this last year.
Once those things are taken care of, then we may come before YHWH and gain His great mercy and forgiveness.
Our Father, we ask not just for covering but also for expiation and cancellation of our debt to You. Help us to learn daily Your ways.
Ps 19:14
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O YHWH, my strength, and my redeemer.
"Let the wicked abandon his ways and the sinner his thoughts. Let him return to Elohim, Who will have mercy on him -- to our Elohim, who is very forgiving."
-- (Isaiah 55:7)
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