Yom Kippur is not only a solemn day, but it is also a day of joy, since on Yom Kippur a person cleanses himself from every stain. The sages describe the immense joy that swept through the Temple at the conclusion of the high priest’s service on Yom Kippur, when the sense of purity and inner cleansing spread through all hearts.
About this holy day, it is said:
“There were no days as joyous for Israel as the Fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur” (Ta’anit 30b).
The Talmud explains that the joy of Yom Kippur comes from its being a day of forgiveness and pardon. We may agree that back then, when the Divine Presence was palpable; when priests offered sacrifices and the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the single day of the year permitted, Yom Kippur was indeed a source of joy and exaltation. But perhaps that excitement was relevant only in those times, when the Temple service was in full force. How do we know that Yom Kippur remains a festival even today, when there is no priest at his service?
Here we turn to an idea that appears most prominently in the Book of Psalms and is laid out as practical law in the great halachic work of Maimonides, the Mishneh Torah:
“In our times, when the Temple no longer stands and we have no altar of atonement, we have nothing but repentance. Repentance atones for all sins. Even if a person is wicked all his life and repents at the end, nothing from his wickedness is remembered, as it is said: ‘And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not stumble in it on the day he turns from his wickedness’ (Ezekiel 33:12). And the very essence of Yom Kippur atones for those who repent, as it is said: ‘For on this day atonement shall be made for you…’ (Leviticus 16:30).”
When we contemplate the transformation that occurred in the nature of prayer, “the service of the heart,” after the destruction of the Temple, we encounter a striking paradox: the substitute surpasses the original.
In the Temple era, for an unintentional sin, a person would bring a sacrifice. But this was not so for a deliberate sin. For intentional wrongdoing, there was no atonement except by heaven’s hand or through judicial punishment, depending on the case, as specified in the Torah.
Prayer as a form of sacrifice and repentence
With the destruction of the Temple, a new situation arose: no sacrifices, no altar. How, then, could sins be atoned for? The Talmud teaches: Prayer stands in place of sacrifice.
King David, when asking God for forgiveness, pours out his heart in these words:
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise…” (Psalms 51).
King David stands and prays: “I have no ability to offer You a burnt offering or sacrifice. Therefore, please forgive me through my prayer. Because I pour before You my broken heart, even though I have sinned willfully, and for deliberate sins, sacrifices are of no avail, yet I come before You with a contrite heart and stand in prayer. Please hear me, accept me!”
On this passage, Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona (Catalan rabbi and moralist, 1210–1263) comments:
“David said this when praying over the sin with Bathsheba, which he committed willfully. For a willful sin, no sacrifice is brought; sacrifices are brought only for unintentional sins. Therefore, he prayed: ‘Help me to focus my prayer, so that it may be accepted. Since You do not desire a sacrifice for the willful sinner, may my prayer serve as atonement in place of the sacrifice. And now, when we have no Temple and no sacrifices, we too say these words, that our prayers may be accepted and desired in place of offerings and sacrifices.’”
A sacrifice for a deliberate sin is never atoned, but heartfelt prayer does. Thus, if in ancient times atonement for sins required the service of the high priest in the Temple, and even then atonement was limited to unintentional sins, in our own time “the very essence of Yom Kippur brings atonement for all sins and transgressions” for those who repent.
Therefore, our approach to Yom Kippur should not be one of forced sorrow, as a day of fasting, mourning, and affliction. On the contrary – it should be embraced with great joy, the joy that bursts forth from a cleansed heart and purified soul, as a person stands before his creator, pouring out his spirit in prayer, and feeling close to the Divine Presence.
May the entire House of Israel be sealed for a good year! ■
The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites.