Yom Kippur Number One
What can I say about my first Yom Kippur? To sum it up in one word: different. But then again, I’m finding all of these Jewish holidays/holy days as different. They’re somewhat a little weird, a little foreign, a little strange and yet at the same time they feel almost like home. Either way they’re different.
What it is…
Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement” and refers to the annual Jewish observance of fasting, prayer and repentance. Part of the High Holidays, which also includes Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. In three separate passages in the Torah, the Jewish people are told, “the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: You shall practice self-denial.”(Leviticus 23:27). Fasting is seen as fulfilling this biblical commandment. The Yom Kippur fast also enables us to put aside our physical desires to concentrate on our spiritual needs through prayer, repentance and self-improvement.
Yom Kippur is the moment in Jewish time when we dedicate our mind, body, and soul to reconciliation with God, our fellow human beings, and ourselves. We are commanded to turn to those whom we have wronged first, acknowledging our sins and the pain we might have caused. At the same time, we must be willing to forgive and to let go of certain offenses and the feelings of resentment they provoked in us. On this journey we are both seekers and givers of pardon. Only then can we turn to God and ask for forgiveness: “And for all these, God of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement.”
Now, for the most part, Christians would find this a “useless” holy day because a Christian can go to g-d in prayer at anytime and seek forgiveness. I’ve done it many times. But this is definitely NOT a “useless” holy day. Christians are right in that you can pray for forgiveness at any time, but the difference here is that on this single day of the year you are actually commanded by g-d to face your sins and atone for them. You don’t have the luxury of picking a time, or of putting it off for later. You must face your sins and genuinely ask for forgiveness.
As for the atonement part, that’s a little tricky. Christians believe that Christ made the atonement for all of us on the cross. But if that were the whole story, then we wouldn’t have to ask g-d for forgiveness when we screw up, would we? Of course not. We no longer make sacrifices to g-d because on the Christian side, Christ was the last sacrifice, and on the Jewish side, there is no temple to offer the sacrifice.
For it is written, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life” (Leviticus 17:11). That’s what Yeshua did for us, he used his own blood to make atonement for our sins. It is the blood that is offered up in exchange for redeeming the soul. Even so, we as humans in our imperfect state will continue to sin, and in so doing we must also continue to seek forgiveness from g-d for those sins. And that is where Yom Kippur fits in.
How it went down…
On Erev Yom Kippur (that’s the night before) we watched the service at Temple Israel, which is reform Judaism and not messianic. The service seemed remarkably like ours and only differed by not mentioning Yeshua. It lasted about an hour, which was short compared to a normal service.
The following morning we got up and watched the morning service from Temple Israel. Its a lot like a protestant service except there is quite a bit said in Hebrew (followed by the English translation). The rabbi’s sermon on joy was really good and highlighted the fact that this holy day is in fact a joyous one. Our sins are being forgiven and we are sealed in the book of life, so yes, it is a joyous day indeed!
B’rit Hadasha’s services didn’t start until later so we had most of the day to meditate, contemplate and pray. And even grab a power nap. At 4:00 p.m. our services began and they started off with the typical praise/worship service with explanations of Yom Kippur thrown in and how it all fits with Messiah Yeshua. This lasted for about two hours, during which we had one person pass out (from fasting and locking their knees) then we had a Yizkor service, which is a short service lifting up our friends and family that have died. I actually had to participate as I had made a promise to someone that I would. It was an interesting 30 minutes that evoked a lot of emotion.
After a short break, the band warmed up and we had another hour and a half of praise/worship and shofar blowing. By then, the fast was officially well over and everyone was definitely ready to eat. We took communion and then dismissed for the evening. We opted to not stay for the oneg as my wife had gotten a terrible headache, so we left and headed for home, much to our dog’s relief.
My favorite high holy day is coming up — Sukkoth is right around the corner!
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