YOM KIPPUR
A Commanded Holy Day

Leviticus 16:29  "It is to be a permanent regulation for you that on the tenth day of the seventh month you are to deny yourselves and not do any kind of work, both the citizen and the foreigner living with you.”

    The tenth day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar is known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which, besides the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath), Judaism considers the holiest day of the year.  This is a day of national fasting and repentance.  Since it is not expounded on in the Biblical text, the commandment to fast is derived from the words “deny” or “afflict.”  The Stone Edition Chumash explains it thus: 

    The Sages expound that the expression afflict refers only to abstention from food and drink (Yoma 74b).  Wherever Scripture associates self with affliction, it refers to fasting.  This is how the Sages derive that our verse requires fasting rather than some other form of affliction.  

    The observance of Yom Kippur has come to include more.  It is a twenty-five hour fast that extends to water consumption.  The infirmed, elderly, or children are exempt from this, especially if fasting would pose a health threat.  Any pleasurable activity is forbidden, anything that could cause one to deviate from the gravity and solemnity of the day.  Even cosmetics are discouraged, since personal vanity is of little importance at a time when the entire nation’s sins are being reviewed and atoned for.  Some go so far as to not brush their teeth or hair, to bathe, or apply oil to the body.  

    Many “Sola Scriptura” Believers have rejected any rabbinic suggestion or application of Torah.  Although this sounds like a wonderful motto, sometimes it can be impractical.  Yom Kippur might be reduced to lying flat on one’s face during the entire day in “affliction” if one rejects all Jewish tradition and adheres strictly to the text.  As long as rabbinic traditions do not contradict the written Torah, they can be utilized in a meaningful way to make observance of the commandments easier and more focused, if one so chooses.  However, it is always best to make Scripture our filter whereby all other traditions and “commandments of men” are examined, not vice versa.  Tradition must never be elevated above G-d’s written Word.

    Yom Kippur is a day of communal and national recognition of transgression and confession before G-d.  All liturgical prayers enumerating the wide array of human failures one might have committed the previous year are recited in the plural “we.”  “We have sinned… we have transgressed… we have committed thus-and-such.”  This is because Judaism understands personal responsibility for one’s brother.  Ever since Cain’s rejection of the responsibility before G-d for his own brother’s well-being, Torah has made it clear that such irresponsibility is a mistake.  We are to be there in a corrective and supportive role when our brother stumbles, is harmed, or in danger.  We cannot afford to give it a blind eye.  We communally acknowledge during Yom Kippur, “To the degree that I am responsible for my neighbor’s sins, I repent.  For I am responsible, just as he/she is responsible to a degree for mine.”  This is not shifting blame.  It is open realization of personal failure and acknowledgement of personal and communal shortcoming. 

    Although Yom Kippur is indeed an all-day affair wherein the entire nation repents, Yom Kippur is, in a sense, with us each and every day.  During traditional daily prayers there is a prayer for repentance all days of the year except Shabbat.  The task, the mitzvah, of self-evaluation, confession, and forgiveness, is always an ongoing event for the individual.  Indeed, the more one realizes he has been forgiven, the greater his love and gratitude towards the One who forgives him. 

    Because the time of Rosh HaShanah and the days leading up to Yom Kippur are so deep, holy, and awesome, they are called the High Holidays.  They are also known in Hebrew as Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe.   

MODERN OBSERVANCE OF YOM KIPPUR

    Unlike other Sabbaths in connection with the moedim, preparation of food is not permitted on Yom Kippur.  It is a day of complete rest.  A meal should be eaten before sunset.  Let it here be noted that if one decides to abstain from water for the next twenty-five hours, do not eat a salty meal before the fast!  Our family did…once.  I would guess it was not accounted to us as extra piety; as such misery is wholly unassociated with the sanctity of self-affliction.  As my father likes to say, “If you’re dumb, you better be tough!”

    By not eating or drinking, efforts are made to place the full force of concentration on prayer and repentance.  At sunset, a Kol Nidrei service commences.  Kol Nidrei means “All Vows,” coming from the words of the first prayer.  All vows that were made and not yet fulfilled receive cancellation, except for those vows we vowed specifically before G-d with the intention of keeping.  It is said that Kol Nidrei came from the middle Ages when Jewish people had need for annulling vows made under threat of death, particularly the conversos of the Spanish Inquisition. 

    Tradition allows that forgiveness can be sought from G-d only for violation of laws reflecting the relationship specifically between man and G-d.  If a person sins against his fellow man, he must seek forgiveness of the offended individual first. Then and only then is he permitted to request pardon of G-d Himself.  And, it is not enough to be forgiven of man.  According to Judaism, one must complete the step of repentance toward G-d, since He instituted the Laws of Torah and ultimately, the sin was against His perfect standard. 

    In some synagogues today, worshipers go to persons whom they have offended in the past year and receive forgiveness directly before praying Kol Nidrei.  As this could be lengthy, many communities practice this in the hours and days preceding the service.

    The book of Jonah is traditionally read during the afternoon service.  It tells the story of the prophet for whom it is named who went (after a stiff-necked stint of refusal that almost cost him his life) at G-d’s instruction to the city of Ninevah .  Ninevah was a city of Gentiles , with a thriving reputation for gross cruelty.  Supposedly, when captives were taken to Ninevah, they were subjected to having their skin gradually ripped off in strips.  This could last for days while the victim remained alive in utter agony, lending a new and colorful dimension to the word “torture.”  G-d desired their repentance.  Jonah spoke to them about G-d’s coming judgment on their ways; surprisingly, the entire nation repented in sackcloth and ashes.  In the words of Wayne Dosick, “As the sun begins to set and Yom Kippur begins to draw to a close, the worshipers are reminded that if an entire city can save itself though repentance, then surely individuals can save themselves through repentance.”  In the name of Yeshua, I might add. 

    About forty minutes past sunset, worshipers begin a “declaration of faith” with the Sh’ma.  Finally, one long blast of the shofar is sounded.  This is said to symbolize the gates of heaven closing, whereas during Yom Kippur they were open, receiving the prayers of HaShem’s people. 

    At the end of Yom Kippur, family and friends have a meal to celebrate each other and, above all, G-d’s grace and forgiveness, glad that the task of repentance has been completed.  Perhaps it is a foretaste of the time when we can sit together and not have to teach every man his neighbor, because everyone will know the Lord. 

MESSIANIC SIGNIFICANCE

   We have already seen previous holy days prophecy about Messiah, and how He fulfilled the Feasts.  In brief summary, Passover foretold of His first coming as the Lamb, the Suffering Servant. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled by the true Unleavened Bread, Messiah, rising from the dead.  Counting the Omer and First Fruits was the post-resurrection time when Yeshua appeared to many and took the “firstfruits” of His harvest before the Heavenly Temple and “waved” them before His Father.  Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah tells of the time during the Great Tribulation when G-d blows the shofar to announce His coming and the last Days of Awe for the world.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is also Messianically viewed as the time of the Marriage Supper of the Messiah.

    Yom Kippur represents the day of His final wrath, when the judgment books of the world are opened and all people who practice wickedness will be found wanting in the balance scales.  This wrath is the only part of the Tribulation not reserved for followers of Messiah.  I find the concept of the “gates of heaven” being closed to prayers on Yom Kippur interesting.  It is true that there is a time in everyone’s life, and certainly for the world, that the gates of heaven will be closed.  There will be a time when repentance comes too late.  For everyone, the “future” is always too late for t’shuva (repentance), since, as humans, we are guaranteed no future beyond the here and now.  Thus the saying, “Repent the day before you die.”  You do not know when you will die; therefore, repent today.  Don’t wait until tomorrow, next month, or the next Yom Kippur.  G-d is extending His mercy to you now.  Through Yeshua it is possible to have direct access to HaShem, who is eager for our repentance and restoration.  Don’t delay.