By LAWRENCE CROIIN
With the rise of the modern
concept of Jewish peoplehood,
a renewed interest in holidays
and folk customs is discernible.
It is no longer necessary to at-
tach supernatural • significance
to these so-called folkways. The
popular Jewish holidays have
been revived here and in Israel.
The excitement of Passover
in Israel is easily understood.
There, the Seder ceremony is
observed in the Kibbutz, in the
secular and in the religious
homes. Likewise, the Bikkurim
observance of Shavuoth, the
Sukkoth harvest festival, New
Year, Hanukah, Purim, all are
popular in the new Jewish
Homeland.
But what of Yom Kippur,
the really great day of the
Jewish calendar? Among syn-
agogue Jews, there is retained
some of the awe, and the
memories of the past. There
is a great ingathering of Jews
on this day. Yet, to many of
the educated, the self-imagin-
ed intelligentsia, this observ-
ance has lost all meaning.
This is true of Israel, espe'
cially.
One small incident should
suffice to underline this fact.
A few years ago, this writer
visited a Mapai kibbutz, and
the following story was related:
The usual Friday night pro-
grams always included a show-
ing of some films. In this in-
stance, it was the eve of Yom
Kippur. A few American-born
members of the Kibbutz ab-
sconded with the films, hid
them in a safe place, until after
the holiday. A near riot ensued.
Thus did the Day of Atonement,
with all the hallowed memories,
lapse into nothingness in a typi-
cal Israeli settlement.
The concept and the symbol
of Yom Kippur has not touched
the hearts and the minds of
many in Israel. This, to them
is a purely religious holiday and
therefore has lost all signifi-
cance. Similarly, Jewish secu-
larists everywhere are blinded
by a reverse sort of intolerance.
At a meeting of a local Sholem
Aleichem society recently, a
question was asked how Yom
Kippur might be observed. The
speaker for this occasion, who
is a national Jewish cultural
leader, was unable to give a
satisfactory answer. The secular
Jew, who has come a long way
in the last few decades, has en-
tirely missed the deep meaning
and significance of this, the
greatest of Jewish holidays.
Yom Kippur is certainly the
most profound symbol of Juda-
ism. Like many other Jewish
usages, this one goes back to
pagan times. The paschaal lamb,
the smudge of blood on the
door post, was doubtless a cultic
taboo, before it evolved into a
symbol of the Exodus from
Egypt. The original emphasis
of the Atonement rite was on
the shedding of. blood for the
remission of sins.
The • ancients conceived of
blood as the life giving prop-
erty, and thus, in some way,
animal sacrifice was called for.
The god had to be propitiated.
The idea carried over into
Christianity. The Lamb of God
(Jesus) was slain to redeem
man of his sins. In the New
Testament book of Hebrews, it
is said that, "apart from the
shedding of blood, there is no
remission of sins."
B. ut the evolution of these
ancient Jewish rites started at
a fairly early date. The idea of
sin, as something abiding in
man, had only a rudimentary
hold upon the ancient Hebrews.
The concept of penance has an
equally ancient lineage. The
rites of purification, described
in the Pentateuch, are the work
of the Priestly class, ascribed
by cany to the school of Ezekiel.
The Book of Deuteronomy, per-
haps the first written document,
contains no reference to the
Atonement Day observance.
Prof. Yehezkel Kaufman,
in his magnum opus declares,
"as for the Day of Atonement,
far from being a lugubrious
memorial to Israel's historic
sin, it is rather an annual
purification of people and
sanctuary, principally from
ritual impurity. It has noth-
ing to do with the sense of
historic guilt which over-
whelmed the Jews in the
Babylonian Exile."
The refinement of the Atone-
ment rites did at an early date
involve ethical questions. While
Christianity became obsessed
with the idea of original sin,
and Man's inherent evil dispo-
sition, Judaism did not succumb
to this awesome doctrine, where-
by the Christ became the anti-
thesis of Adam, and Calvary the
reversal of Eden. At an early
time in Jewish history, even
while sacrifices were still per-
formed, Atonement was clearly
associated with individual re-
pentance. The purely ritual as-
pects were converted into moral
exhortation. Evil was viewed as a
perversion of Man's better self,
for was not he created in the im-
age of God, and was not the Jew
chosen to proclaim the hegem-
ony of Yahveh over all the
world? After the literary proph-
ets, the Atonement Day service
began to deemphasize the pure-
ly cultic ceremonials, and fast-
ing and prayer superseded the
sacrificial rites. What is more,
Atonement became associated
with the conscience of each in-
dividual Jew.
Even though the Pharisees
tried to retain the techniques
of the Atonement rites, they
surely realized the deep ethical
significance of Yom Kippur.
The two famous Haftarahs are
thus juxtaposed against the rit-
ual readings of the day. The
strange tractate of the Talmud,
which recounts the bloody rit-
ual, imparts an aura of ancient
ceremonial to the traditional
service. Yet, this same tractate,
devotes a final chapter to the
deep "ethical implications of
Yom Kippur. The prophetic
writings abound with allusions
to the need for emphasis on
behavior rather than upon mere
ritual. "Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of rams," says
Micah. And the Talmudist warns
that he who says, "I shall sin
and the Day of Atonement shall
procure AtOnement, then the
Day of Atonement does not pro-
cure atonement." (Soncino Edi-
tion)
*
*
tal and moral processes, there is
clearly a polarity as between
our social need and our indi-
vidual functioning. The outside
world comes to us through our
own nervous systems. And yet,
the world is so real. Despite
some modern trends toward ex-
treme forms of existentialism,
our Way of Life is shaped from
the belief in our basic freedom
to live as men, and not as ani-
mals.
Yom Kippur is truly our great
annual symbol, commemorating
the capacity of men to order
their lives. It affirms, at the
same time, Man's primitive and
ugly background, but asserts
that evil is the negative of the
good. It takes a deep faith to
assert in this age of evil and
monstrous cruelty that Man can
grow. But without this faith,
what is left? Yom Kippur is just
a symbol, no more, of the horn-
age we Jews render to the ideals
of justice and compassion. Yom
Kippur declares that Man's con
duct can be, to a large extent,
self-determined. One day is
made sacred to commemorate
Man's supremacy over the
beasts of the field. Yom Kippur,
which started as a pagan rite,
has come to signify all that is
good in. Judaism. It proclaims
that Man is the measure of his
own evolution.
It is strange how intelligent
men have been so blinded by
outward prejudices. The failure
of Israel's intelligentsia to re-
construct Your Kippur, as they
have Passover and the other
holidays is an indication of
philosophic impotence. The phil-
osophic spirit must be rekindled
in Israel, despite the few Bubers
and Rotenstreichs. It seems that
the sabras have succumbed to
a cheap Nineteenth Century
secularism. In a similar man-
ner, American Jewish secular-
ism has missed the symbolism
of Yom Kippur, and for the
same reasons.
On the Day of Atonement, we
do not believe, as our fathers
did, that men are judged. But
in a larger sense, we judge our-
selves. Contrition and self-
examination, even in the lan-
guage of Freud or of Jung, can
be meaningful. To the Jew, on
this day, such language spells
out his spiritual horizons. It
may be said that these ideas
are superimposed upon Yom
Kippur. Not at all. The seeds
of this concept are easily dis-
covered in the long history of
the Day of Atonement.
Yom Kippur is not a super-
stition or an outmoded ritual.
What it symbolizes is an ap-
proach to life that cries out for
acceptance. Most of the evils
we encounter, in political life,
in business, in our personal
lives, are ultimately the result
of basic dishonesty. Behind the
idea of sin, is the assumption
of freedom. It is this freedom
to choose, to be motivated, to
create goals for ourselves, which
Yom Kippur symbolizes for
Jews.
We are not • so naive as to
believe that an observance, one
day each year, can really alter
people's conduct. A Civilization
has to impinge on human lives
constantly. Nevertheless, to us
Jews, this yearly gathering has
always been meaningful and in-
spiring. Yom Kippur, in modern
terminology, can still mean for
us a great deal. To live as Jews
is an every day affair, involving
far more than mere ritual or
of observances. But as long as
there is hope for Humanity, the
Day of Atonement must remain
as an • exquisite symbol of a
living Judaism.
I know what American Jews
have done to build up Israel. I
don't know of any other com-
munity in America that could do
voluntarily what American Jews
have done for their people every-
where, and especially for Israel.
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"The years have no limit;
thy life has no end; in-
conceivable is thy celes-
tial glory; none can ex-
plain thy mysterious
essence."
—From the Rosh
Hashanah Liturgy
4:
Coming to our own day, then,
why is this purely religious ob-
servance the most important
symbol of Judaism? The unique-
ness of Jewish monotheism was
from the beginning an empha-
sis on the ethical implications.
Its was the prophets who clari-
fied and purified the product
of Hebraic genius. One of the
first, Samuel, said to King Saul,
"To obey is better than to sac-
rifice." This was a concept
which declared the moral free-
dom of Man. Ancient Jewish
history seems to have been
written so as to emphasize this
belief. And, thus, it should not
be difficult to comprehend how
Yom Kippur, starting as a cultic
rite, grew into the very symbol
of Man's potential for good, for
growth. If Judaism is a living
civilization, then this great an-
nual day can still serve to en-
hance the validity of the moral
and ethical quest.
Now, as ever, the deepest
question of philosophy is the
source of Man's will. Whether
the approach is that of the be-
haviorist, the psychologist, or of
the mystic, social life cannot
develop, unless the individual
is viewed as an entity. To ne-
gate this principle is to invite
despotism. By whatever ap-
proach, Man either has Free
Will, or, for practical purposes,
he is presumed to have Free
Will.
However we view our men-
In welcoming the year 5723, we join
in prayer for the welfare of our
friends, for the security of our
country, for the peace of the world.
May the New Year bring fulfillment
of the highest ideals of mankind.
Officers and Agents
Detroit Center Agency
of the
CROWN LIFE INSURANCE CO.
TORONTO, CANADA
1172 FIRST NATIONAL BUILDING
19 - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Fri day, S eptember 28, 1962
The Meaning of Yom Kippur