From Netivjah, Jerusalem

By Joseph Shulam

The Hebrew date is the month of Tishri 9. The Hebrew year is now 5785.

Friday evening, October 11, starts the Day of Atonement – Yom HaKippurim.  
 

On Sabbath, October 12, the Torah and prophet readings will be the following: 

From the Torah, the reading will be from Leviticus 16:1-34 and Numbers 29:7-11

From the Prophets, we will read from Isaiah 57:14n – Isaiah 58:14.  

From the New Testament, we will read from Romans 3:21-26 and 2 Corinthians 2: 10 – 21

The service begins with the following prayer: Kol Nidrei – Kol – Nidrei, translated into English, means – “All my vows!”  Vows mean many things; they mean promises, contracts, and obligations – and choices I have made this last year that were outside unfulfilled, dishonest, devious, or maliciously intended. It is probably the most demanding prayer humans can ever pray. 

 Here is the text of this prayer translated into English:

“All my vows, promises, oaths, consecrations, restrictions, contracts, or things that I have sworn or promised to dedicate or proscribed for myself or for my family or my fellow men or the like expressions of vows, which I may have even without expressly proscribing from this Day of Kippur until the next day of Yom Kippur which I might make between now and the next Yom Kippur which will come upon us for good, in advance I  regret them all; ask that all shall be absolved, and forgiven, canceled, declared null and void, not in force. Let my vows not be considered vows; let my self-imposed prohibitions not be considered prohibitions; and let my oaths not be considered oaths.”

This prayer is recited three times by the Cantor and followed by the congregation: 

“And it is blessed and applied by the whole congregation, as well as the converts who dwell among Israel, be forgiven, for all the people acted without evil intentions.”

The Cantor then says, 

“Pardon, I beseech You, the wrongdoing of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your kindness and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now? “And now we have stated this prayer and confession!” There it is stated:”  Cong says, Amen. “

This opening of the Yom Kippur service was probably composed in Spain during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, which lasted from 1472 to 1821. The Inquisition engulfed Europe and spread to South America and Asia, especially India and the Philippines. The evening of Yom Kippur is most dramatic and emotional because of the Kol Nidrei confession and prayer.  

The next day, the day of Yom Kippur (this year, it will be October 12, 2024), there will be special readings for this solemn day of atonement = Yom Kippur.

After the opening service, there will be chants and special readings of chants and poems. Each Jewish tradition has its specific chants and poems. 

I want to bring one that is without a date, but it is clear that it was written in the Ashkenazi community. It has a clear messianic, Yeshua, our Messiah’s secret hints and implications: The Ashkenazi (North and East European Jews) flavor and quotations from Isaiah 53.  I do not doubt that Jews inside the regular Orthodox synagogue composed this extremely messianic poem directly intending to bring Yeshua into the Yom Kippur prayers in their synagogues.

A free translation of this poem from Hebrew says:

“Then, before the beginning – He has set the abode and

Yinon. From the beginning, before planning any nation or

language – He has planned the established Temple on high.

He has counseled to emanate his holy Presence there to lead

the erring ones on straight paths. When wickedness became

as red as scarlet – he has preceded it with “wash ye and cleanse

yourselves”. Even if He became indignant with His awe-

some One – The Holy One will not pour His entire wrath.

We have been enslaved to our greed until now, but Our Rock

did not raise Himself over us. Messiah of our Righteousness

has turned away from us, we were perplexed and there is no

one to justify us. He bears our iniquities and the yoke of our

crimes upon himself. And was profaned (or: pierced) because

of our iniquities. He carries our sins on His shoulder, to find

forgiveness for our misdeeds. We were healed by His bruises

– It’s time to create the Eternal One anew as a new creation.

Lift Him up from the circle (of the earth), draw Him up

from Se’ir (=Edom), and make us hear of Him again on top of Mount Lebanon by the hand of Yinon.”

This medieval religious poem written in Europe, probably around the 12-14th Century CE, was for sure written by a Jewish person who was also a disciple of Yeshua the Messiah. The name Yinon is taken from Psalm 72:17, and in the New King James translation, it remains without translation.  Without getting into the semantics of this name, it is clear that it is a person who existed before the creation, even before the Sun, and before the nations were divided in Genesis chapter 11.   At the end of this poem, mention is made of “The Mount Lebanon.” This phrase is a synonym for the Temple of God in Jerusalem. 

You may notice in this poem that several phrases are taken right out of Isaiah chapter 53.  These are clear messianic lines. There is also a confession used by Jews within this poem, sung in some Jewish traditions, that The Messiah will return to us. The leadership of the Jewish nation in Jerusalem rejected him, and he left the earth:

“He has counseled to emanate his holy Presence there to lead the erring ones on straight paths. When wickedness became as red as scarlet, he preceded it with “wash ye and cleanse yourselves.” Messiah of our Righteousness has turned away from us, we were perplexed and there is no one to justify us.”

Don’t be surprised that the Jewish prayer books contain many hints and mentions of the Messiah, clearly alluding to Yeshua as the Messiah. The opening prayer and chant of the holiest holiday of the Jewish calendar originate from the days of Moses (the Yom Kippur text is taken from Leviticus chapter 16). According to Orthodox Jewish tradition, it is highly probable that Moses wrote it.

Netivyah was the first congregation that celebrated the Biblical Holidays. We started with the Passover in 1981 and continued with all the biblical and Jewish traditional holidays.  When we started, all the missionary organizations’ pastors condemned and criticized us. In 2024, I would say that most of the so-called Messianic Congregations celebrate at least the Passover Holiday.  But, a few celebrate most of the other Biblical feasts that Yeshua and his apostles celebrated in their time. We know that Paul even fasted on Yom Kippur because it says so in the Book of Acts. 

 The prayers in the synagogue last most of the day, and the fasting is 25 hours without food or drink, not even water.  Most of the years, our congregation fasted like this on Yom Kippur; the old and sick fasted as much as they could.  In the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the readings will be from the Torah Leviticus 18:1-30, the whole book of Jonah, and the prophet Micah chapter 7: 18-20.  

In the last service, late in the afternoon of Yom Kippur, there is no reading, but there is a whole lot of Shofar blowing in our congregation, like in every Jewish Congregation. The blowing of the Shofar is one of the most significant events of Yom Kippur because it is the last thing we do on that very eventful day. The whole service, in the end, is a declaration of atonement, forgiveness, and victory of the good over the evil in our lives, the life of the community, and all of Israel. 

One last comment: I believe the essential part of the liturgy of Yom Kippur is the great confession service. The confession is repeated four times during the 25 hours of fasting and worship.  The confession includes 150 sins that could be accidentally committed or committed by design on purpose and even some that you might have committed by accident, and you are not aware of their existence. 

  In some orthodox Jewish circles, the inclusion of extra prayers for forgiveness that invoke the names of ancient Jewish saints is a curiosity. Some invoke more recent names of Rabbis and hope to receive forgiveness for their sins. 

We know that there is today only ONE NAME by which our sins can be forgiven after a sincere, heartfelt confession and repentance.  That name is one, and it automatically means SALVATION – Yeshua. 

To make it clear, Yom Kippur is essentially for the forgiveness of our collective, national, community, family, racial, forgiveness of sins.  We don’t necessarily pray collectively for our own sins but for the sake of the nation and the community.  Our private sins need confession, repentance, restitution if necessary, and a sincere heart seeking fellowship and communion with our creator and fellow saints!


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