Overview: History of
Yom Kippur
The biblical account of Yom Kippur describes a day
dedicated to
atonement and abstinence.
Leviticus 23:27 tells us that on the 10th day of the
month of Tishrei, “You should do no work throughout that
day. For it is a Day of Atonement ("Yom Kippurim") on which
expiation is made on your behalf before the Lord your God.
Indeed, any person who does not practice self-denial
throughout that day shall be cut off from his people…”
In addition to the abnegation alluded to above, we are
also told in Leviticus that on this day the
High Priest would perform sacred rites in order to
achieve expiation of the people’s sins. These rites
included a lottery to choose two goats--one to be
consecrated to God and one to "Azazel."
While the exact meaning of the word Azazel is uncertain, the
ritual required the High Priest to confess the sins of
Israel on this Azazel-goat, and to set it free in the
wilderness so that it “shall carry on it all their
iniquities to an inaccessible region.” (Lev. 16:22) The
goat consecrated to God was offered on the altar as a
purification offering.
In rabbinic literature, Yom Kippur is given an additional
name, Yom HaDin ( Day of Judgement). This solemn day
is the culmination of the aseret y’mei teshuvah (10
days of repentance) following
Rosh Hashanah. To the rabbis, Rosh Hashanah marked the
beginning of a spiritual trial for the souls of Israel, the
10 days of
repentance could then be seen as a time for appeals, and
Yom Kippur marked the climax--when the verdict was handed
down. At this time God, the true judge, would decide the
fate of all of Israel as individuals and as a community, and
hopefully inscribe them into the
Book of Life.
The rabbis follow through on the biblical theme of
self-denial in their discussions of the daily pleasures from
which one must abstain on Yom Kippur. Among them are eating,
drinking, bathing and anointing oneself, wearing
leather-soled shoes (at the time the most comfortable
option), and abstaining from sexual relations. These
limitations are debated at great length in the Talmudic
tractate devoted to Yom Kippur, entitled Yoma
(literally, "the Day").
The shift in focus from the High Priest-centered ritual
to the idea of a trial examining the sins of Israel is a
perfect example of rabbinic ingenuity in the face of
political turmoil. In a text from the midrashic collection
Avot De-Rabbi Natan we learn a story of Rabbi
Yohanan ben Zakkai walking with his colleague, Rabbi
Joshua. Upon seeing the ruins of the second Temple, Rabbi
Joshua said, “Woe to us, that the place which granted
atonement lies in ruins!” Rabbi Yohanan replied, “Do not be
distressed, there is another kind of atonement which is like
it--and what is that? It is the doing of good deeds.” With
the Temple in ruins, the rabbis developed a new, more
portable agenda to allow for the expiation of sins far
removed from the Temple cult.
While most of the holidays originating in the Bible have
their logical place on the agricultural calendar, Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur do not necessarily fit that mold.
The rabbis tell us that the 10th of Tishrei was
the day on which Moses completed and brought down the second
set of commandments from
Sinai,
signifying that God had granted atonement for the sin of the
Golden calf. This rabbinic interpretation lends
historical significance to the otherwise unexplained
placement of the holiday 10 days after Rosh Hashanah.
In The Jewish Way, Rabbi Irving Greenberg explains
that the High Holidays--the period including Rosh Hashanah,
Yom Kippur, and the 10 days of repentance between
them--concentrates a person’s mind on themes of mortality
and the meaning of life. This period is a time to take
stock and do Heshbon HaNefesh (an accounting
of one’s life) and to take action by doing
teshuvah (repenting from one’s sins). This is the
crucial message that we take with us from the beginning to
the end of Yom Kippur.
