In the little Roman Church of San Pietro in Vinculi (St. Peter in Chains), one finds the tomb of Pope Julius II, scaled back from its original plan that was to be a truly monumental structure in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Remaining from the original plan, however, is the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo. This muscular figure is most noted for the horns on the head of the lawgiver. It is generally understood that the sculptor based himself on the passage in Exodus which describes Moses’s face as radiating “horns” of light. The word “keren” used in this passage can mean either “rays” or “horns.” Thus there was confusion leading to the mistranslation resulting in this strange image of Moses. The Bible tells us that Moses was unaware that his face was radiating light after his encounter with God on the mountain. He had to wear a veil in public to spare others the radiance of his countenance.
What was the occasion for this illuminating experience? Moses had returned to Mount Sinai after achieving forgiveness for his people following the grievous sin of the Golden Calf. He had remained on the mountain for another forty days and forty nights and had been given the second set of tablets of the Ten Commandments to replace the set he had smashed in his rage at the people’s sin. His descent into the camp with the new set of tablets marks the completion of the reconciliation of God with His sinning people. The people once more were at one with their God. The rabbinic sages point out that this day of radiance and forgiveness was the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, the Day of Atonement, known in Hebrew as Yom Kippur.
In ancient Israel, it seemed fitting to use this day as the occasion for the annual purification of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Only on this day would the High Priest enter into the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the Temple containing the Ark of the Covenant until the Babylonian destruction in 586 B.C.E. He would seek forgiveness first for his sins and those of his family, then for the sins of his fellow priests, and finally, for the sins of all the people of Israel. Earlier that day, lots would be cast and one of two designated goats would be offered on the altar as a sin-offering and the other would symbolically bear the sins of the people out into the wilderness. This “scapegoat” would be led to a cliff at the edge of town and cast to its death below carrying the sins of the people with it.
We no longer perform these dramatic rites along with their ablutions and sprinklings of blood on the altar and on the people, but the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, remains the most solemn day of the Jewish year. It is still a time for reflection on past sins and an opportunity to seek forgiveness from the Almighty. On this day, we are once more at one with our God. We read of the ancient rites in the Torah reading of the day and during the latter part of the day’s worship, we try to recreate the feeling of the High Priest’s ritual when three times the rabbi and cantor fall prostrate on the altar before the open ark, seeking forgiveness once more. In Orthodox congregations, not only the clergy, but the entire congregation prostrates themselves at this point in the prayers.
To add to the spiritual feeling of this day, the Torah tells us to “afflict our souls.” We do this through five deprivations from sundown this Friday evening, September 21st until nightfall on Saturday, September 22nd. During these approximately 25 hours we do not eat or drink, we are not to bathe, we should not anoint ourselves with fragrant oils or perfume, we may not engage in sexual relations, nor may we wear leather shoes. There are two major fast days on the Jewish calendar when these “afflictions” apply. One is the 9th of Av, a summer fastday which commemorates the destruction of the Temple and the other day is Yom Kippur. It has been said that on a day like the 9th of Av which marked the end of Jewish sovereignty in our own land for nearly 2000 years, who could eat, and on a holy and spiritual day like Yom Kippur, who needs to eat?
In fact, the entire day is spent in the synagogue in prayer. We begin our worship at 6:00 p.m. on Friday with the Kol Nidre prayer, an ancient legal formula for nullifying vows made to God which we have failed to keep. The language is somewhat complex and convoluted in its formulation, yet partly due to the haunting melody, and partly as a function of our desire to begin the year with a clean slate, this prayer has taken on a deeper spiritual meaning far beyond its dusty legal origins. When the Church forcibly converted the Jews of Spain and Portugal to Christianity in the 15th century and then persecuted them through the Inquisition, these tormented souls found solace in their secret recitation of Kol Nidre. The prayer nullified for them these forced vows to another religion that were taken only under duress in order to save their lives.
During the course of the day, five services follow. First are the evening prayers recited after Kol Nidre on Friday night. On Saturday morning, beginning at 8:45 a.m., we chant the morning service and an additional, Musaf, service that marks every Sabbath and festival. The Musaf on Yom Kippur features not only the service of the high priest, but also a section known as “martyrology” when we recall the martyrs of ancient times as well as more recent martyrs of the Holocaust. After a break sometime in the early afternoon, we resume our prayers at 5:00 p.m. with the afternoon service which includes the reading of the book of Jonah and then finally a special fifth service follows, recited only on Yom Kippur, the Neilah prayer. This prayer recited as the sun begins to sink in the west, asks once more for forgiveness from God, before the gates on high are closed.
Each of these five prayer services revolves around the Amidah, a prayer said standing, which is recited normally three times a day. The Yom Kippur Amidah, however, repeated five times during the day, includes a lengthy section of Selichot, prayers for forgiveness. Among these prayers are the two confessional prayers, each an alphabetical acrostic containing a list of our sins from A to Z, as it were. We pray as a community, feeling responsibility not only for our own failings, but for the sins of others within our community that we were unable to prevent. Again and again the congregants jump to their feet and beat their breasts in contrition as the lists of sins are chanted over and over at each of the services of the day. Each time we ask for forgiveness, pardon, and atonement.
In spite of these confessional prayers, the liturgy also contains the hopeful prayers which remind us of God’s desire to forgive us and to bring us back to Him once more. We recite the thirteen attributes of God’s forgiveness that He revealed to Moses just before inviting him back up the mountain to receive the second set of tablets. Toward the end of each service we also sing the joyous hymn, Ki Anu Amecha, For We Are Your People (and You are Our God.)
On this long day of prayer, we also remember loved ones who have died. Many people who may not attend the entire service throughout the day, make certain to be present for the Yizkor memorial prayers when we ask God to remember these departed family members and keep their souls “bound up in the bonds of life.” These loved ones remain in our hearts and we call upon their merit in the course of our prayers. Different congregations insert this section into the service at different points in the day. At Temple Israel, it will be in the morning around 10:45 a.m. Others prefer to offer these prayers later in the day.
Thus through this lengthy liturgy, we experience spiritual highs and lows all day long until finally, at the end of the Neilah prayers, about 7:20 p.m., having poured out our last words of prayer before God, we reaffirm our faith in Him alone. One long blast of the shofar, the ram’s horn, is sounded and we proclaim, “L’shanah habaah biy’rushalayim.” “Next year in Jerusalem!” The return to the Holy City, the re-establishment of the Temple, would indeed represent a total return to the Almighty and complete forgiveness. It would mark the Messianic era and a time of peace and harmony for all the world, the ultimate response to our day of prayer and fasting.
Following the service, the congregation breaks the fast together in the social hall at a meal sponsored by congregants in honor of the new year and in remembrance of loved ones. Everyone gathers for a few minutes to eat and to wish one another a good and healthy year, as we prepare for the joyous harvest festival of Sukkot which begins later in the week.