Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur morning (a selection from Parashat Nitzavim Deuteronomy 29:9-14; 30:1-20)

29:9] You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God—you tribal heads, you elders, and you officials, all the men of Israel, 10] you children, you women, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer— 11] to enter into the covenant of the Eternal your God, which the Eternal your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; 12] in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 13] I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, 14] but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Eternal our God and with those who are not with us here this day.

30:1] When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart amidst the various nations to which the Eternal your God has banished you, 2] and you return to the Eternal your God, and you and your children heed God’s command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day, 3] then the Eternal your God will restore your fortunes and take you back in love. [God] will bring you together again from all the peoples where the Eternal your God has scattered you. 4] Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Eternal your God will gather you, from there [God] will fetch you. 5] And the Eternal your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and [God] will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors.

6] Then the Eternal your God will open up your heart and the hearts of your offspring—to love the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul, in order that you may live. 7] The Eternal your God will inflict all those curses upon the enemies and foes who persecuted you. 8] You, however, will again heed the Eternal and obey all the divine commandments that I enjoin upon you this day. 9] And the Eternal your God will grant you abounding prosperity in all your undertakings, in your issue from the womb, your offspring from the cattle, and your produce from the soil. For the Eternal will again delight in your well-being as in that of your ancestors, 10] since you will be heeding the Eternal your God and keeping the divine commandments and laws that are recorded in this book of the Teaching—once you return to the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul.

11] Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. 12] It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” 13] Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” 14] No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

15] See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16] For I command you this day, to love the Eternal your God, to walk in God’s ways, and to keep God’s commandments, God’s laws, and God’s rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the Eternal your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess. 17] But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, 18] I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19] I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live— 20] by loving the Eternal your God, heeding God’s commands, and holding fast to [God]. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the Eternal swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

Yom Kippur afternoon (a selection from Parashat K'doshim Leviticus 19-18, 32-37 or Genesis 50:14-26 and Leviticus 16:29-34)

19:1] The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: 2] Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them:

You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy.

3] You shall each revere your mother and your father, and keep My sabbaths: I the Eternal am your God.

4] Do not turn to idols or make molten gods for yourselves: I the Eternal am your God.

5] When you sacrifice an offering of well-being to the Eternal, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your behalf. 6] It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the day following; but what is left by the third day must be consumed in fire. 7] If it should be eaten on the third day, it is an offensive thing, it will not be acceptable. 8] And one who eats of it shall bear the guilt for having profaned what is sacred to the Eternal; that person shall be cut off from kin.

9] When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10] You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Eternal am your God.

11] You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. 12] You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Eternal.

13] You shall not defraud your fellow [Israelite]. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning.

14] You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the Eternal.

15] You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kin fairly. 16] Do not deal basely with members of your people. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow [Israelite]: I am the Eternal.

17] You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kin but incur no guilt on their account. 18] You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow [Israelite] as yourself: I am the Eternal.

32] You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your God: I am the Eternal.

33] When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. 34] The strangers who reside with you shall be to you as your citizens; you shall love each one as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Eternal am your God.

35] You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. 36] You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest eifah, and an honest hin.

I the Eternal am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt. 37] You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My rules: I am the Eternal.

50:14] Joseph then returned to Egypt—he, his brothers, and all who had gone with him to bury his father—after burying his father. 15] Joseph’s brothers, seeing that their father was dead, now said, “Perhaps Joseph [still] bears us enmity and intends to repay us for all the harm that we inflicted upon him!” 16] So they brought a charge to Joseph, saying, “Your father left this charge before his death, saying, 17] ‘Thus shall you say to Joseph: Please, I beg of you, forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, though they inflicted harm upon you’; yet now please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father’s God.” Joseph wept as they spoke to him. 18] His brothers also prostrated themselves before him and said, “Here we are, your slaves!” 19] Joseph said to them, “Have no fear, for am I in place of God? 20] Though you intended me harm, God intended it for good, in order to accomplish what is now the case, to keep alive a numerous people. 21] Now, therefore, have no fear—I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus did he comfort them and speak straight to their hearts.

22] Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived 110 years. 23] Joseph saw Ephraim’s grandchildren; the children of Machir, too, Manasseh’s son, were born on Joseph’s knees. 24] Joseph then said to his kin, “I am dying, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up out of this land to the land that [God] promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25] Joseph adjured Israel’s children, saying, “God will surely take care of you; bring my bones up from this place!” 26] Joseph died aged 110 years. They embalmed him and he was put into a coffin in Egypt.

16:29] And this shall be to you a law for all time: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall practice self-denial; and you shall do no manner of work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. 30] For on this day atonement shall be made for you to purify you of all your sins; you shall be pure before the Eternal. 31] It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; it is a law for all time. 32] The priest who has been anointed and ordained to serve as priest in place of his father shall make expiation. He shall put on the linen vestments, the sacral vestments. 33] He shall purge the innermost Shrine; he shall purge the Tent of Meeting and the altar; and he shall make expiation for the priests and for all the people of the congregation.

34] This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year.