Showing posts with label Jewish feast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jewish feast. Show all posts

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement - Friday sundown, Sept. 13 through Saturday sundown, Sept. 14




  1. Friday, September 13
    and ends in the evening of
    Saturday, September 14

    Day of Atonement


    By Mary Fairchild, About.com Guide


    Orthodox Jews Prepare for Yom Kippur
    Photo: David Silverman / Getty Images

    Bible Feasts:

    Paul said in Colossians 2:16-17 that the Jewish feasts and celebrations were a shadow of the things to come through Jesus Christ. And though as Christians we may not commemorate these holidays in the traditional biblical sense, as we discover the significance of each, we will certainly gain a greater knowledge of God's Word, an improved understanding of the Bible, and a deeper relationship with the Lord.

    Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement:

    Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the most solemn and important holy day of the Jewish calendar. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was the day the High Priest made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. This act of atonement brought reconciliation between the people and God. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return.
    Time of Observance:

    Yom Kippur is celebrated on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (September or October).

    • See Bible Feasts Calendar for the actual dates of Yom Kippur.
    Scripture Reference:
    The observance of the Day of Atonement is recorded in the Old Testament book of Leviticus16:8-34; 23:27-32.

    About Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement:

    Yom Kippur was the only time during the year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the innermost chamber of the Temple (or Tabernacle) to make atonement for the sins of all Israel. Atonement literally means "covering." The purpose of the sacrifice was to bring reconciliation between man and God (or "at-onement" with God) by covering the sins of the people.

    Today, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of repentance, when Jews express remorse for their sins through prayer and fasting. Yom Kippur is the final day of judgment, when each person's fate is sealed by God for the upcoming year.

    Jewish tradition tells how God opens the Book of Life and studies the words, actions, and thoughts of every person whose name he has written there. If a person's good deeds outweigh or outnumber their sinful acts, his or her name will remain inscribed in the book for another year. On Yom Kippur, the ram's horn (shofar) is blown at the end of evening prayer services for the first time since Rosh Hashanah.
    Jesus and Yom Kippur:

    The Tabernacle and the Temple gave a clear picture of how sin separates us from the holiness of God. In Bible times, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies by passing through the heavy veil that hung from ceiling to floor, creating a barrier between the people and the presence of God. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter and offer a blood sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. However, at the very moment when Jesus died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 says, "the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split." (NKJV)

    Hebrews chapters 8 and 9 beautifully explain how Jesus Christ became our High Priest and entered heaven (the Holy of Holies), once and for all, not by the blood of sacrificial animals, but by his own precious blood on the cross. Christ himself was the atoning sacrifice for our sins; thus, he obtained for us eternal redemption! As believers we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the final atonement for sin.

    More Facts About Yom Kippur:

    When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., the Jewish people could no longer present the required sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, so it came to be observed as a day of repentance, self-denial, charitable works, prayer and fasting.
    Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath. No work is done on this day.
    Today, Orthodox Jews observe many restrictions and customs on Yom Kippur.
    The book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur in remembrance of God's forgiveness and mercy.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Shavuot Holiday, Celebrating the Giving of the Torah

Jews around the world commemorated the holiday
of Shavuot this week, the day on which tradition
says the Torah was given to the people of Israel
at Mt. Sinai.

Torah scrolls in the ark of the Istanbouli Synagogue in the Old City
of Jerusalem (circa 1930), "one of the oldest synagogues
in Jerusalem." The synagogues in the Old City were all
destroyed after the Jewish Quarter was captured in 1948.
(Library of Congress) 

The Torah -- also known as the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses --
has been the foundation of the Jewish faith for 3,000 years, the basis
for the monotheistic Christian and Islamic religions, and an inspiration
for spiritual, moral and ethical values.


A Yemenite Jewish scribe and his
father, Shlomo Washadi (c 1935)



Samaritan high priest with
his sons and Pentateuch
scroll (c 1911)

The Torah scrolls are handwritten with quills by God-fearing scribes
on the parchment made of the skins of kosher animals. One skipped
or illegible letter of the 304,805 letters of the Torah makes the scroll
invalid for reading in the synagogue service. A Torah damaged
beyond repair is buried.

Doctors Herbert and David Torrance of the Scottish Mission hospital i
n Tiberias and the photographers of the American Colony
Photographic Department took several portraits of Jews and their
Torah scrolls. They were also clearly fascinated by the scrolls and
practice of the Samaritans, an ancient offshoot of Judaism who are 
not considered Jewish today.


Jewish rabbi or Samaritan priest with scroll

The Dundee Medical School archives in Scotland contains many
anatomical pictures taken by the Torrances, but also fascinating
pictures of the Galilee Jewish community. We published one photo
captioned "Rabbi and Torah scroll." After we identified the picture
as a Samaritan, the archives corrected their caption to "a Samaritan
leader with his sect’s scroll."



A desecrated synagogue in Hebron
with Torahs strewn on the floor (1929)


The Library of Congress archives also include pictures of the
Hebron Jewish community after they were decimated in a
pogrom by Arab attackers. Among the photos are pictures
of a destroyed synagogue and its Torah scrolls.


Enlargement of the scrolls on the floor

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