In Hebrew, yom ha-kippurim means “day of atonement.” It is the most popular Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the tenth day of the month of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Jewish religious calendar and the first of the civil year, which coincides with September.
This festival ends the ten days of penance that begin on Rosh Ha-shanah (or New Year). The celebrations of this day have a sense of repentance and conversion.
It is supposed to be the day when the destiny of each person for the following year is decided. The laws relating to this festival can be found in Leviticus (Lev. 16; 23. 26-32; 25. 9) and in Numbers (Num. 29. 7-11).
In the Temple of Jerusalem, the High Priest offered sacrifices for the expiation of sins. He would place his hands on a ram and then the “sacrificial” animal would be taken into the field and thrown off a cliff. It was a symbol of atonement and forgiveness from God.
Today the Jews observe this day with a rigorous fast and prayers with a certain tone of celebration and joy. That is why it is called Yom Kippur, which is the “White Fast”, unlike the “Black Fast”, on the day Tisha be Av (ninth day of the month Av), which is kept in memory of the destruction of the Temple.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
(Day of atonement or forgiveness)
Hebrew Yom Hakkippurim. Vulgate, Dies Expiationum, and Dies Propitiationis
– Leviticus 23, 27-28)
The rites to be observed on the Day of Atonement are fully expressed in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus (cf. Exodus 30, 10; Leviticus 23, 27-31, 25, 9; Numbers 29, 7-11). It is a very solemn fast, in which no food can be taken for the whole day and menial work is prohibited. It is celebrated on the 19th day of Tischri, which falls between September/October. But the distinctive ceremony of the day is the offering of two he-goats.
He (Aaron) shall set two goats before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony: and casting lots on both, one shall be offered to the Lord and the other shall be the scapegoat: Whoever proves to be the one offered to the Lord, he he shall offer him for sin: But whosoever proves to be a scapegoat he shall present him alive before the Lord, that he may bear the prayers upon him, and let him go into the wilderness…. After he has cleansed the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, he shall offer him the live goat: And laying both hands on his head, he shall confess all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their trespasses and sins, and pray that fall on him, he will send him into the desert by means of a man prepared for this. And when the goat has carried all his iniquities to an uninhabited land, he will be left there, Aaron will return to the tabernacle of testimony (Leviticus 16, 7-10; 20-23).
The general meaning of the ceremony is sufficiently shown in the text. But the details present some difficulty. The Vulgate’s caper emissarius, “emissary goat,” represents the obscure Hebrew word Azazel that appears nowhere else in the Bible. Various attempts have been made to interpret its meaning. Some have taken it as the name of a place where the man who carried the goat would customarily throw it off a cliff, since its return was thought to be the forbidden evil. Others, with better reason, take it as the name of an evil spirit; and indeed a spirit of that name is mentioned in the Apocryphal Book of Enoch, and later in Jewish literature. About this interpretation – which, although by no means new, finds support among modern critics? the idea of the ceremony would seem to be that the sins were sent back to the evil spirit to whose influence they owed their origin. It has been noted that somewhat similar atonement rites have prevailed among heathen nations. And modern critics, referring the above passages to the Priestly Code and to a post-Exilic date, are willing to regard the sending of a he-goat to Azazel as an adaptation of a pre-existing ceremonial.
The significant ceremony observed with this solemn Day of Atonement only gives greater prominence to the need for satisfaction and atonement that was present in all ordinary sin offerings. All these sacrifices for sin, as we know from the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews, were figures or symbols of the great Sacrifice to come. Similarly, these Jewish rites of atonement speak to us of the Cross of Christ, and of the propitiatory Sacrifice that is daily renewed in a bloodless manner on the Eucharistic Altar. For this reason it may be interesting to note, with Provost Maltzew, that the Jewish prayers used on the Day of Atonement prefigure the common commemoration of the saints and the faithful deceased in our liturgies (Die Liturgien der orthodox-katholischen Kirche des Morgenlandes, 252). .
WHKENT
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas
Translated by Eduardo Torres
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia