Who They Pray To

PART I / XIV

The annual Jewish Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day of the year in Judaism, primarily centered on atonement and repentance. Wearing white clothing is a traditional observance to symbolize one’s purity on this day. Various reasons have been suggested for this custom including that on Yom Kippur, Jews are similar to angels in heaven who are said to wear white. It is also traditional for parents to give their children a special blessing before beginning the Yom Kippur prayers.

The day’s main observances consist of full fasting and asceticism, both accompanied by extended prayer services (usually at a synagogue) and sin confessions. Many Jewish denominations focus less on sins and more on one’s goals and accomplishments and setting yearly intentions. When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, Yom Kippur was the occasion of an elaborate sacrificial service. While repentance for one’s sins can and should be done at any time, it is considered especially desirable during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and particularly on Yom Kippur itself. According to the Talmud, “Yom Kippur atones for sins done against God, but does not atone for sins done against other human beings until the other person has been appeased.” Therefore, it is considered imperative to repair the harm that one has done to others before or during Yom Kippur.

Repentance and atonement can be done any time, not just for a ten day period within the year.

Once a year on Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol sacrificed a bull as a sin offering to atone for sins he may have committed unintentionally throughout the year. Subsequently he took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be ‘for YMWH’, which was offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other to be the scapegoat to be sent away into the wilderness and pushed down a steep ravine where it died. The blood of the slain goat was taken into the Holy of Holies behind the sacred veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant. Later in the ceremonies of the day, the High Priest confessed the intentional sins of the Israelites to God placing them figuratively on the head of the other goat, the scapegoat, who would symbolically ‘take them away’.

The scapegoat concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community. The word ‘scapegoat’ is an English translation of the Hebrew ‘azazel’, which occurs in Leviticus 16:8: “And Aaron shall cast lots upon two goats: one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel.” Broadly contemporary with the Septuagint, the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch may preserve Azazel as the name of a fallen angel.

Further English translations produced subsequent versions such as, “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat.” From the Targums onwards the term ‘azazel’ was also seen by some rabbinical commentators as the name of a Hebrew demon or pagan deity.

This is a centerpiece for the annual Jewish Yom Kippur Temple service, considered the holiest day of the year in Judaism.

Te Deum Excerpt, Chapter 8

Part II

Preface