Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 3

tioned, but the Day of Atonement is not. And even during the middle period of the second Temple the Talmud states that the Day of Atonement was one of the holidays for the people, in which the daughters of Israel, all dressed in white, went forth to dance in the vineyards, as will be explained in Tract Taanith. It would be ridiculous to believe that, while observing the five afflictions of the day (see chapter viii. of this tract), they never- theless danced and sang, trying to captivate the youths. Ewald, in speaking of that day, also remarks that it is differ- ent in its respect from all the holidays; but even he does not explain the reason. He only indicates that it may be a remnant of the pre-Mosaic time. In order to give the reader an oppor- tunity of forming his own opinion, we herewith give an extract from Ewald concerning the Day of Atonement : "The preparatory celebration in the autumn, which took place on the tenth day of the seventh month, was essentially distinguished from that of the spring in not being a terror-stricken celebration at the commencement of the year, which sought to avert the perils of the dim future and, as it were, the wrath of a new coming God, but in being rather a pure feast of penance which endeavored to expiate all the human and national transgressions and impurities which had occurred during the year. For although the searching stringency of Jahveism, already described, required that every, even the smallest, impurity and defilement which had been contracted should be im- mediately expiated, yet the higher religion was well aware how little all the for his brother priests, for the sanctuary, and for the people of Israel ; but there is no command that he, on that day, shall perform all the ceremonies prescribed in the same chapter, for that concerns only the entrance of Aaron into the sanctuary. Also Ewald has considered this point ; and it is possible that the sages, during the first Temple, interpreted this passage in the same manner, and all the sages after them, until the middle period of the second Temple, since when the learned priests, for a reason unknown to us, decided that the entire chapter relates to the Day of Atone- ment ; and the sages of the Talmud, on account of this, afterwards deduced from the scriptural passages the elaborate manner of the service on that day to be found in the Talmud. INTRODUCTION TO TRACT YOMAH. xv secret and slowly advancing desecrations were actually removed from the entire community. Hence this universal festival of penance and expiation was established in order that even all these might be expiated as far as human labor could avail, and that the community, as free as possible from all guilt, might celebrate with joyous feelings the great happy festival of the year which immediately followed. Both this origin and purpose, and also its nanne, /ias^ of expiation, show its genuine Mosaic character. Here, more than in any other, the entire purpose and the absolute stringency of the higher religion found expression, and it was certainly this religion which first founded the festival. Only in one of its rites, which, strictly speaking, is hardly essential, do we find a remnant of pre-Mosaic belief and life. The festival, then, was by no means to be principally of a domestic character, like the Passover ; rather, in contradistinction to the latter, was it to become a thoroughly public festival. Accordingly, the people were not to offer any of the regular sacrifices, but a new one, which should go deeper and reach a more sensitive point in taming man's sensuous nature than the regular offer, ings. This was to be a rigid fast from the evening of the ninth to that of the tenth ; the solitary fast which Jahveism annually required. The whole structure of Jahveism did indeed require that a sacrifice of the ordinary kind should be offered on this day, as its peculiar importance demanded ; but this continued to be purely sacerdotal. It was a great expiatory offering, to be made by the high-priest or his representative. Not only the human members of the community, including the priests, were now deemed impure and in need of expiation, but even the visible sanctuary as well, as though, like a wall between the nation and its God, it received all the stains of impiety which were incurred in the realm. Hence the high-priest employed expia- tory offerings of two kinds : one, purely sacerdotal and serving especially for the atonement of the sanctuary, and another, which had special reference to the share of the community, and must therefore also proceed from it. The latter bore quite a national stamp, and evidently forms that portion of the usages which was derived from a pre-Mosaic time, and still retained sub- sequently." (" The Antiquities of Israel," by H. Ewald, pages 361 to 364, which see.) It seems to us that Ewald's opinion is not altogether right. We do not agree that this festival shows more of the Mosaic character than any other festival, nor with his opinion about the he-goat destined for Azazel, which he considers a pre- Mosaic rite. He is also not correct in saying that there were no regular sacrifices on that day, only new ones \yide Num. xxix. 7, 8], for the simple reason, if such was the case it would have been observed at the beginning of the second Tem- ple, at least, when the entire Law, as we now have it, was dis- covered by Ezra ; but, as stated above, the observance of that day with pomp and celebration (see Appendix) was begun some time during the middle period of the second Temple. On the contrary, from the great preparations and parade of xvi INTRODUCTION TO TRACT YOMAH. the high-priest to and from the Temple, and from other matters which took place during the service itself, we would be inclined to believe that the Hellenism which crept into Judaism has served a great deal towards their origination ; and also concern- ing the he-goat destined for Azazel we have something to say, but as we do not like to lay before our readers the grounds for our supposition, we refrain from making our statement. We content ourselves with referring the reader to the book " Daath Elohim ba-Arez " (" The Knowledge of God in the Land"), by Abraham Krochmal, where he will find some hints concerning the Azazel of the Scripture and the Tsuk (rock of its destina- tion) of the Mishna, and leave to him to form an opinion of the time of its origin. Concerning the services proper at the Temple, we have to translate here for our English readers what we have already written in our Hebrew commentary to Tract Shekalim, chapter iv., Mishna D : " From this Mishna we can see that during the time of the Temple the leaders of the priests kept everything secret, and their customs were not known to any one else ; otherwise there could not have been a dispute concerning the