To all of our friends and customers
Our sincerest wishes for a
Happy and Healthy New Year!
Torah Portion
From Giving Over
To Becoming Accepting
The Siegals,
Denise,Tillie
Shabbat Yom Kippur: Morning, Leviticus 16:1-34;
Numbers 29:7-11; Isaiah 57:14-58:14.
Afternoon, Leviticus 18:1-30;
Jonah 1:1-4:11; Micah 7:18-20.
Carole
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1
priesthood. Since the year 70 CE,
ur Torah reading for Yom
when Jerusalem and the Temple were
Kippur is the description of
destroyed, we have no longer had the
the temple ritual that will
rite and ritual of the sacrificial cult.
take place in the Israelite
Worship
was transformed by the rab-
future (the future that is from the per-
bis from offerings of animals and veg-
spective of Leviticus 16).
etables to offerings of the heart. Prayer
Since the Israelites are still in the
replaced sacrifice, and the "every
desert, the people are told what will
space" of the minyan replaced the
eventually happen on the tenth day of
sacred space of the Jerusalem Temple.
the seventh month in the Jerusalem
But in reforming the ritual, the rab-
Temple, once it is established as the cen-
binical
leaders held tightly to its roots,
tral site of the sacrificial cult. Reading
basing
our
Siddur and Machzor, our
these verses we see in our mind's eye the
Sabbath and holiday prayer books, on
high priest entering the Holy
that ancient temple service.
of Holies, choosing by lot the
And so what we do as we
one goat "for azazel" that
gather in our synagogues on
would carry the collected sins
Yom Kippur is a reflection
of the people away and out
of the Leviticus Torah read-
into the wasteland of the
ing
that is the highlight of
desert. The other goat, desig-
that
day's worship.
nated "for God" would be
Of course, much has
offered as an atonement sacri-
changed since the high priest
fice for the community.
loaded down and shipped
This ceremony, conducted
RAB BI
out the goat "for azazel" and
by the high priest amidst the
JOSEP HP.
offered
up the goat "for
brilliant combination of
KLEI
N
God."
We
think of our
sights, sounds and smells of
Speci
al
responsibilities
for atonement
the temple cult must have
to Th e
with very different verbs. It
been a glorious and awesome
Jewish News
strikes me that in our ancient
experience. The Cohen
cult we freed ourselves,
Gadol would raise his arms
assigned to others our per-
and symbolically gather all
sonal responsibility — we gave up our
the sins up and away from the lifted
sins
and gave over our offering to the
heads of the people. Then, with great
priests,
who then did for us what we
pomp and presentation he would
apparently
could not do for ourselves.
lower the collected sins onto the head
Because Judaism then was a reli-
of the goat chosen "for azazel."
gious system of priestly priorities —
With shouts of approval the people
the Levites and the cult itself served as
would watch as this scapegoat, now
necessary intermediaries between God
loaded with the sins of Israel, was led
and God's people. The greatness of the
out into the desert. It was important
pharisaic/rabbinic
transformation of
of course that this designated scape-
Judaism
was
that
it
gave religious
goat not wander back into the city, so
responsibility and ultimate account-
he in all likelihood was thrown over a
ability to the individual. Wherever we
cliff! (Of course, from the goat's point
would live and whatever the circum-
of view there was little difference in
stances, each Jew counted in making
being chosen "for azazel" or "for God"
the minyan; each offered his/her own
— the goat ended up dead either way!
"sacrifice of the heart," and each
Whether as an atonement sacrifice to
accepted
(rather than gave over) the
God or as an innocent scapegoat bear-
requirement
of atonement.
ing the blame of the people's sin —
This reversing of our roles is a sig-
both goats were killed by the priest-
nificant change in our religious philos-
hood, cheered on by the people.)
ophy, for it makes our Jewish future
We no longer have Temple or
dependant on individuals "every-
where,"
rather than a centralized cult
Joseph P. Klein is rabbi at Temple
and
priesthood
"somewhere."
Emanu-El in Oak Park.
Though others might look with a
0