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Yom Kippur

© Virginia Marin

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a feast instituted by God and given to the Jewish people during the time of Moses. It is not a day for feasting and partying, but rather a High Holy Day for fasting, rest, and atoning for sins. The Jewish Holy Days are times of joy except for Yom Kippur on which there is mourning.

Yom Kippur falls on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, or September 25, 2004. In Hebrew, Yom means day and runs from sunset to sunset as instructed by God. Kippur means to pardon. For English speaking people atonement conveys the meaning adequately, but is further understood to mean reconciliation.

"And the Lord said to Moses, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present an offering by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on this same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God" (Leviticus 23:26-28). "You shall afflict" is taken to mean to fast, and fasting was required. The fast was of such strictness that anyone who failed to do so was ostracized from the community.

On Yom Kippur, observant Jews in every country hold a teshuvah, or a time of repentance for their sins of the past year. The teshuvah gives them hope that God will accept their sorrow and write their names in the Book of Life for the upcoming year. Yom Kippur's roots go back to the Wilderness when the high priest Aaron offered a sin-sacrifice to God on behalf of himself and the Children of Israel that their sins would be forgiven allowing God to write their names in the Book of Life.

But, does Yom Kippur hold the same meaning for Messianic Jews as this annual atonement day does for orthodox Jewery? I will allow you to form your own opinion after reading the following from an article by Ben Dixon for Messianic Home. He writes:

"Let us remember that . . . 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (I John 1:9). This is available to us continually because of the Perfect work of Yeshua HaMashiach - we no longer have to impatiently wait for atonement and expiation just once a year! God is Faithful and Merciful, and He will do what He says He will do. Let us do our part, daily confessing our sins to Him, and then allow Him to take authority over them so that He might take out the trash and help us to stay, like the Kohen Gadol, or high priest, as clean as humanly possible." The complete article "Yom Kippur:The Approach to God" may be found at http://www.messianichome.org/