The Washington critic., 1888-09-14
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
The Most solemn Hebrew Feast of all the
Eenr.


For twenty-four hours beginning with sun
set to-day, the Israelites will observe the most
important and most solemn church holiday OF
the year. II is day OF humiliation and
prayer. This Day Of Atonement is followed in
few days By festival Numerically opposite,
an occasion Of great rejoicing and feasts. On
the Day Of Atonemcnt prayers pleading for for
nivcncss and the like form the great portion of
the services, while in the later festival psalms
OF praise and thanksgiving to God for bis
bountifnl goodness are sung.
Yom Ilak Kippurim, the day of the expia-
tion or atoncmont, is supposed by some to have
been originally meant as day OF temporary
expatlon for the sin Of the golden calf, but II
was permanently instituted by Moses rs n day
of atonement for sins in general. IL was the
great day OF national humiliation, and the only
one commanded in the Mosaic law. Addi-
tional fast days were instituted later in COM
memoratlon Of some disastrous event, es-
pecially those which occurred at and after the
destruction Of the two temples. In addition
to the great fast four other fasts were institu-
ted, but they were commemorated only by the
orthodox They are, first, the fast of the 18th
day Of the fourth month, for the capture of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar second, the fast
OF the 9th day OF the fifth month, for the de-
struction of the temple; third, the fast of the
3D. day OF the seventh month, for the final de-
struction Of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar af-
ter Gedaliah's assassination; fourth, the fast Of
the 10th day Of the tenth month, instituted
when the captives In Babylon heard of the final
ruin Of Jerusalem.
The Day Of Atonement Is kept on the tenth
day OF Tshri that is, from the evening of the
ninth till the evening Of the tenth. In the
olden times great preparations were made
by the high priest, as this was the only occa-
sion OF the year on which he entered the Holy
Of Holes, and stringent rules were laid down
for the preparations TO be made by him and
the mode OF procedure of the services. A
chapter in Leviticus which is devoted to the
sacrifices for this day, after giving the details
of the preparation OF the high priest, and
some preparatory sacrifices, commands him
to take two goats for sacrifice. He shall cast
lots upon the two goats-one lot for the Lord
upon which the Lords lot fell shall be offered
for a sin-offering, but the other shall be pre-
sented alive before the Lord to make an
atonement Then the priest is to let him go
for scapegoat into the wilderness. After
all of the transgressons and In EQUITIES OF the
congregation were confessed over the scape-
goat, he was led to the wild erness, and being
driven off, would disappear. 1t was believed
that he bore off the sin ns--that is, that the
Lord would blot out the sins and forget their
transgressions
The command for the observance of the day
is found In Leviticus XVI, 1884, in the fol-
lowing words "And this shall be q statute
forever unto you; that in the seventh month,
on the tenth day of the month, ye shall atilict
your souls, and do no work at ALL"
Regular services will be held in both the
Hebrew churches in Washington this evening.