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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

where

it was cast down the precipice, was signalized as the moment of the granting of pardon to the people by the waving of a wisp of snow-white wool in place of one of scarlet, over the Temple gate, crowds of young people waiting on the hills of Jerusalem to

celebrate the event nit vi.

hy dancing (Yoma vi.

1-8; Ta'a-

Obviously this primitive rite was not of late origin, as is alleged by modern critics, but was a concession rather to ancient Semitic practise, and its great popularity is shown by the men of rank accompanying

by the cries with which the crowd followed it, and by tales of a miraculous character related in the Mishnah and the Gemara (Yoma 66a, 67», 68b). On the other hand, the sprinkling by the high priest of the blood of the bullock, the ram, and the second goat, consecrated to the Lord, was in full keeping with the usual Temple ritual, and distinguished itself from the sacrificial worship of other days only by the

it,

ministrations of the high priest, who, clad in his tine linen garb, offered the incense and sprinkled blood of each sin-offering upon the Holy of Holies and the veil of the Holy Place for the purification of the whole sanctuary as well as of his own household and the nation. The hnpressiveness of these functions, minutely described in Mishnah (Yomaii.-vii. ), has been vividly pictured by Ben Sira, whose words in Ecclus. (Sirach) 1. were embodied in the synagogue liturgy at the close of the 'Abodah. But while, according to Scripture, the high priest made Atonement (Lev. xvi. 30), tradition transferred the atoning power to God, as was expressed in the high priest's prayer commencing, "Rapper na" (O Lord, atone Thou for the iniquities, the sins, and the transgressions," Yoma iii. 8, iv. 2, vi. 2); interpreting the verse (Lev. xvi. 30): "Through that day He, the

Lord, shall atone for you " (Yoma iii. 8 Sifra, Ahare Mot, viii.). Great stress was laid on the cloud of incense in which the high priest was enveloped when entering the Holy of Holies and many mystic or divinatory powers were ascribed to him as he stood there alone in the darkness, as also to the prayer he offered, to the Foundation Stone ("Eben Shetiyah"), on which he placed the censer, and to the smoke of the sacrifice (Yoma, 53a, b etseq. Tan., Ahare 3; Lev. R. xx., compare Book of Jubilees xii. 16). The prayer xxi. offered by the high priest (according to Yer. Yoma v. 2; Tan., 'Ahare 4; Lev. R. xx.) was that the year







might be blessed with rain,

heat,

and dew, and might

yield plenty, prosperity, independence, and comfort to the inhabitants of the land. In the course of time the whole Temple ritual was taken symbolically, and more stress was laid on the

and the supplications, to which the people devoted the whole day, entreating pardon fasting, the prayers,

and imploring God's mercy. This at view expressed by Philo (" De Septenario,

for their sins, 23),

even

Down to the first century, in Apocalyptical as well New Testament writings, the idea of the divine

as in

judgment was mainly eschatological

Day of Sealing

in character, as deciding the destiny of the soul after death rather than of men

on earth. But under the influence of Babylonian mythology, which spoke of the beginning of the year " zagmuk " on the first day of Nisan, as the time when the gods decided the destiny of life (Jensen, " Kosmologie," pp. 84-86, 238), the idea developed also in Jewish circles that on the first of Tishri, the sacred New-Year's Day and the anniversary of Creation, man's doings were judged and his destiny was decided and that on the tenth of Tishri the decree of heaven was sealed (Tosef., R. H. i. 13; R. H. 11a, 16a). a view still unknown to Philo (" De Septenario, Thus, 22) and disputed by some rabbis (R. H.16a). the first ten days of Tishri grew to be the Ten Penitential Days of the year, intended to bring about a perfect change of heart, and to make Israel like new-born creatures (Pesik. xxiii., xxiv. Lev.

God's

Decree.

8).

least is the

Atonement

if it

was not yet shared by

the people in

general, when the Epistle to the Hebrews (ix.) and It was after that of Barnabas (vii.) were written. the destruction of the Temple, and through the synagogue, that the Day of Atonement assumed its high spiritual character as the great annual regen-

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R. xxix.), the culmination being reached on the Day of Atonement, when religion's greatest gift, God's condoning mercy, was to be offered to man. It was

on this day that Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Tables of the Law received in token of God's pardon of the sin of the golden calf, while the whole congregation fasted and prayed. The Day of Atonement was thenceforth made the annual day of divine forgiveness of sin, when Satan, the accuser, failed to find blame in the people of Israel, who on that day appeared pure from sin like the angels (see Seder 'Olam R. vi. Tan., Ki Tissa, 4; PirkeR. El. xlvi.). According to Pirke R. El. xxix., the circumcision of Abraham took place on the Day of Atonement, and the blood which dropped down on the very spot where the altar afterward stood in the temple on Moriah is still before the eyes of God to serve as means of Atonement. Far from being the means of " pacifying an angry God," as suggested by Cheyne ("Encyc. Bibl." «.».), or from leaving a feeling of uncertainty and dread of suspense concerning God's pardoning love in the heart, as Weber (" Altsynagogale Theologie," p. 321) maintains, these ten days are the days of special grace when the Shckinah is nigh, and God longs to grant pardon to His people (Pesik. xxiv.). The Day of Atonement is the " one day " prepared from the beginning to unite the world divided between the light of goodness and the darkness of sin Day of (Gen. R. ii., iii.), "a day of great joy to Confiding God" (Tanna debe Eliyahu R. i. ). " Not depressed and in somber garments as the Joy. suppliant appears before the earthly judge and ruler should Israel on New- Year's Day and on the Day of Atonement stand before the Rider and the Judge on high, but with joy and in white garments betokening a cheerful and confiding spirit Only later generations regarded (Yer. R. H. i. 576).

A

erator of Jewish life in connection with New-Year's

white garments, the Sargenes— in which dead were dressed in order to appear before the Judge of all flesh full of gladsome hope as shrouds, and considered them as reminders of Eccl. R. ix. 7; Gen. R. I.e. deatli (Yer. It. H. l.<:

Day.

Brueck, " Pharisaische Volkssitten, " 1368).

these

also the

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"

The first