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Our Past in Present Tense
Yom Kippur Was A Time to Date—2000 Years Ago
Dr.
Yehuda Shabatay
We take it for granted that Jews always celebrated the holy days as we do today—particularly Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which we consider the culmination of the most sacred season of the year. But as the Latin sayi8ng goes, tempora mutantur, times change—and whether we like it or not, we change with them. Therefore, it is far from surprising that two thousand years ago, while the Second Temple still stood in Jerusalem, Yom Kippur was observed quite differently from the way it is kept by us. On that day the pivotal person was the High Priest, and all eyes turned toward the Holy of Holies that only the High Priest could enter, and even he for just a few moments in the morning hours of Yom Kippur.
The preparations for that dramatic event are carefully detailed in the Torah, starting with the attire the High Priest was expected to wear. He had to put on "a sacral linen tunic, with linen breeches next to his flesh, and be girt with a linen sash, and...wear a linen turban." Afterward he was expected to take "two he-goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering." (Lev. 16:4-5). According to the Talmud, in which an entire section (or tractate) is dedicated to Yoma ("the" day), the two goats had to be alike and of equal size. Then the High Priest had to cast a lot to determine which of the two goats would be offered to God—and which one should be taken up to the top of a steep rock, and pushed down from there into the wilderness. The latter carried all the sins of Israel to 'Azalel—whose name has been subject to numerous interpretations. But since the Hebrew words 'ez' and 'el' mean "goat" and "God" respectively, the most logical explanation for 'Azazel would be a type of "scapegoat" sent to a "god" of the nether world. To us it seems to have been a rather strange custom, and I for one am happy that it no longer exists.
After taking care of the sacrifices, the High Priest
pronounced the secret name of God, which no one was allowed to utter at any
other time. Finally the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. He entered
the Holy of Holies with a red thread in his hand. But while he recited his
prayers in that most sacred place, a miracle happened, and the thread's color
turned into white. Thus Isaiah's prophecy was realized, year after year.
"Be your sins like crimson, they can turn into snow-white" (Is. 1:18).
Understandably, a large crowd gathered inside and outside the Temple,
anticipating this visible sign of God's forgiveness and, as soon as the High
Priest reappeared from the Holy of Holies holding a snow0white thread in his
hand, everyone burst into cheers and began to celebrate.
Some time at the conclusion of the prescribed ritual, the High Priest arranged a
big festivity for his friends in gratitude for their support that enabled him to
perform all his many-folded duties "in peace and without harm" (Yoma
7:4). But the celebration went far beyond the elaborate feast the High Priest
had arranged for his supporters. According to the Talmud, during the days of the
Second Temple (c. 515 BCE-70 CE), Yom Kippur was considered "the greatest
of the festivals" by common people too. On that day—as on the 15th of Av
that occurred at the time of the summer equinox—the daughters of Jerusalem
used to go forth to the vineyards that surrounded the city, looking for dates
(or mates). Dressed in white, they danced and chanted lovely songs. "And
what did they say? 'Young man! Raise your eyes and behold what you choose for
yourself." (Ta'anit 4:8)
One can only guess how the "young men" responded to the girls' open invitation. Actually, there may have been more to those gatherings than singing and dancing because at the time the rabbis set the Torah readings for each Sabbath and Holy Day, they came up with a surprising selection for the Yom Kippur afternoon service. Of all the Five Books of Moses, they chose Leviticus chapter 18—which contains a long list of forbidden sexual relations. I am aware of the various traditional explanations for that decision. The late Rabbi Hertz quotes the following one in his famous Torah commentary: "The selection was no doubt prompted by the desire to inculcate on the most solemn day in the calendar the paramount duty of purity and self-control." But, with all due respect to the scholar who offered this interpretation, such warnings may have been more appropriate at other times of the year—unless the young women and men who got together in the vineyards near Jerusalem got a little bit too close to each other. The rest has to be left to anyone's imagination...
It's hard to believe today how much the observance of Yom Kippur has changed in the past two millennia. It is still a joyful day because we are convinced that even without a Temple and a High Priest, we can reach God and obtain his forgiveness for the wrongdoings we have committed toward Him in the course of the previous year. But we spend most of the day in our synagogues, and, to the best of my knowledge, the unmarried young men and women of our communities do not gather in neighboring vineyards (at least not as part of the day's observances). Having lived in Jerusalem for several years, I can report that Yom Kippur ceased to be a time for mass dating even there.
Dr. Yehuda Shabatay received rabbinical training in Budapest, a master of jurisprudence degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He was engaged in Jewish educational administration over most of his career and now teaches Jewish studies and Multicultural Studies at Palomar College and San Diego State University.