Misunderstandings about Yom Kippur

My prior essay spoke about mistranslations. This one continues the discussion by focusing on two holy days with somewhat similar names, but they are totally different. Each occurred on the tenth day of the Jewish month Kislev, ten days after Rosh Hashanah, the New Year holiday, but in other eras.

The first to occur, Yom HaKippurim, is mentioned in the Torah in three primary passages: Leviticus 16:29-34, Leviticus 23:27-32, and Numbers 29:7-11. These sections detail the rituals and commandments associated with the day. The second, which was observed on the same day as the first, Yom Kippur, is not mentioned in the Bible. Yom Hakippurim was a day on which only the high priest acted, when his principal act was to bring sacrifices. In contrast, Yom Kippur is a day when all Jews, not just the High Priest, act. Unfortunately, many people confuse the two, and many Bible translators mistranslate the biblical sections dealing with Yom Hakippurim as if they are speaking about Yom Kippur. They translate Yom Hakippurim, which is plural, “Day of Atonements,” as the singular “Day of Atonement.”

Maimonides explained in many places, including Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Avodat Yom Hakippurim, that Yom Hakippurim was a day when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle, offered sacrifices, and performed other tasks to symbolically encourage the removal of human misbehavior. The term Yom Hakippurim means “Day of Atonements.” It is plural, while Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement,” which is singular. During Yom Hakippurim, the High Priest acted alone; the general population was instructed only to pay attention to what was happening and to learn from it to improve themselves. It is plural because the High Priest prayed for many atonements, for himself, his family, the temple, and all Israel by offering sacrifices.

When the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, sacrifices ceased either because the Bible insisted that they be brought only in the temple, because the rabbis realized the Bible really disliked them, or both, and this was an opportunity to stop them, and Yom Hakippurim could no longer be observed. Our ancestors substituted Yom Kippur for the no longer existing Yom Hakippurim. Yom Kippur is different from Yom Hakippurim.

Yom Kippur is singular, a “day of atonement,” while Yom Hakippurim is plural, a “day of atonements.” It is plural because the High Priest atoned for several possible mistakes, while the average Israelites were passive. They only te’anu et nafshoteikhem, a biblical requirement which is obscure and may only mean that the average Israelites should reflect on their deeds.  Yom Kippur is singular because each Jew observes it for him or herself.  When Yom Kippur was established, the biblical words in the prior sentence were interpreted to mean that Jews must fast and perform other tasks to remind them to correct past misdeeds and not repeat them.

Unlike Yom Kippur, which is a sad fast day, Yom Hakippurim was not sad. During the Second Temple period, young men and young women spent the afternoon dancing, a practice that often led to marriage.

Other Fast Days

In addition to Yom Kippur, there is a second full-day fast that lasts from sunset to darkness the following night, Tisha b’Av, “The Ninth Day of Av.” The two full fast days have six restrictions: no eating or drinking, no washing one’s body, no wearing leather shoes, no using colognes, oils, or perfumes, and no sexual relations. Yom Kippur also has all the restrictions of Shabbat, and Tisha B’Av has additional limits similar to those of a mourner sitting shiva because it is a day of mourning the destruction of the two Temples in 586 BCE and 70 CE..

While Wikipedia misstates that Yom Hakippurim is Yom Kippur and a biblical fast day, and many Torah translations render Yom Hakippurim as the singular “Day of Atonement,” the truth is that the Five Books of Moses make no mention of fasting. Fasting is only mentioned in later biblical books.

Four fasts are mentioned for the entire Jewish population in these later Bible Books, along with personal instances of fasting, such as Queen Esther before she went to plead with her husband, the king, for her people.

The four, one major and three minor fasts, that commemorate events having to do with the destruction of the Temple are: Ninth of Av (Tisha b’Av, full fast), Fast of Gedalia (Tzom Gedalia, minor fast), Tenth of Tevet (Asara b’Tevet, minor fast), and Seventeenth of Tammuz (Shiva Asar b’Tammuz, minor fast).  The biblical book Zechariah 7 mentions the fasts in the fifth and seventh months, and Zechariah 8 mentions four dates: “the fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth.”

Some Jews adopted other fasts. One example is that many Jews suggest that the bride and groom fast on the day of their wedding. The custom is not stated in the Talmud.

The New Testament mentions fasting, but it doesn’t command it as a mandatory practice. Examples are Jesus’ 40-day fast, the church in Antioch fasting before sending out Paul and Barnabas, and Anna, the prophetess, who fasted and prayed constantly.

Why do people fast?

Fasting can be a way to focus on prayer and build a deeper connection with God. It can be used to seek direction from a higher power, to express sorrow, to seek forgiveness, to humble oneself before God, or to gain discipline over the body’s desires and appetites.

Similarly, according to the High Holiday prayer book, the acts of teshuvah, “repentance,” tefillah, “prayer,” and tzedakah, ”charity,” can avert the evil decree. Many people see these three actions as ways to change their relationship with God, improve themselves and others, and thereby alter their fate.

Actually, neither fasting nor these three acts change behaviors. They are designed to prompt people to think and decide to change.

Maimonides explained that the sensible way to change behavior is: First, recognize what you are doing that is wrong. Second, decide to stop doing the evil acts. Third, develop habits that train you to stop doing the destructive behaviors.

What do these facts teach?

The history of Yom Kippur’s creation, which many mistakenly think is the most significant day in Judaism, should make us realize that, while important, it is not the foremost day in Judaism. The most important day is the biblical Shabbat.

Shabbat is when God finished creation, leaving humans to work with the laws of nature, which God formed. Shabbat contains laws that guide people to improve themselves and appreciate all that God gifted them during creation. The primary function of Shabbat is to improve. Yom Kippur also seeks improvement, but it stresses fixing mistakes.

There is another thing to think about: just as Yom Hakippurim changed, so did Judaism in the year 70 CE, when sacrifices ceased. Religion during the time that Yom Hakippurim existed focused on the work of the High Priest and fellow priests in the temple. The lay population was, for the most part, simply spectators. They could bring sacrifices, but they had to hand them over to a priest who did the religious act. The job of the priests was to do all they could to stimulate the people to act appropriately in their daily lives.

The Bible does not define what Yom Hakippurim’s Leviticus 23:27’s v’enitem et lafshotechem means. The Aramaic translation, Targum Onkelos, is not helpful; it only translates the words “afflict yourself.” But it does not explain how. Rashi, too, is silent. We have no way of knowing what the Bible intended. We can suppose the Torah was saying, “Pay attention to what you are seeing or hearing what the High Priest is doing, and make sure that you work hard to improve your behavior.”

When the rabbis created a new holy day out of Yom Hakippurim, they not only made Yom Kippur a day that focused on individual acts and responsibility, but they also gave a “how” to the “afflict yourself.” It meant spending the day fasting, along with other difficulties, to encourage improvement.

The rabbis also changed Judaism by creating Yom Kippur.

Judaism was no longer a religion that focused on priests; religion required individuals to act. People no longer turned to priests to act for them as intermediaries with God. Rabbis are also not intermediaries; they are teachers who teach Jews how to act.

Not all religions have moved away from the priest-oriented religion.

Unfortunately, many Jews have also not done so. They neglect their responsibilities to use their God-given gift of intelligence and do not act as God desires, failing to improve themselves and the world God gave them.