(Written to be read between sunset to sunset from Sunday 27th – Monday 28th September 2020 [9 Tishrei – 10 Tishrei 5781])
As the sun sets on the ninth of Tishrei, we enter into the Tenth Day of Awe, the final day of the High Holy Days for the Hebraic year 5781.
Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most unique, the most consecrated, the most holy Sabbath day of the Hebrew calendar and as such is of twofold quality as both a sacred and solemn day of rest.
And after nine full days, this tenth stands as one of sacred transition into either the Book of Life for the Hebraic new year 5781 through a 25-hour fast from sunset to sunset.
” ‘ […] the tenth day of this seventh month *shall be* the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.
(Leviticus 23:26-32)
And you shall do no work on that same day […]
It *shall be* to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.’ “
(1) The Sacred Sabbath
According to Hebrew tradition, God is believed to open the Book of Life on the first day (Rosh HaShanah), begins to write and inscribes who is to be judged worthy of atonement throughout the following nine days and closes the book and sets the seal on the Tenth day. This tradition is inspired by prophetic scriptures of the Hebrew Bible such as the Book of Daniel:
” […] And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.
(Daniel 12:1-4)
And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
[…]
‘But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.'”
God’s opening of the Book of Life on Rosh HaShanah (the first day) represents a significant existential truth that confronts us even before our first living memory: the gift (or curse) of free choice. The existential encounter with free choice echoes from time immemorial as depicted in the Garden of Eden narrative in the Book of Genesis:
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
(Genesis 2:15-17)
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ ”
God’s inscription process on the days following represents another existential truth that persists in every living moment: the burden of free choice. As Jean-Paul Sartre phrased it,
” … man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet nevertheless is at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything that he does.”
(Existentialism and Humanism, p.38)
This burden of ceaselessly having to make a choice and being condemned to responsibility for each and every one of our choices is depicted through Moses’ interaction with the Israelites in the Book of Deuteronomy:
” ‘I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
(Deuteronomy, 30:11-20)
that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;”
God’s closing and sealing the Book of Life represents the finality of our decision to either draw close to, or away from, God through our choices. Through this, we are left to live (or die) with the consequence of our choices that reflect this decision.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
(Revelation 20: 11-15)
[…] And they were judged, each one according to his works.
[…]
And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
These Ten Days of Awe starting with Rosh HaShanah and finishing at the end of Yom Kippur are sacred because they represent our own open or closed relationship with God.
” ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
(Jeremiah 1:5)
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’ ”
The space of time between the first and the tenth day stands as a microcosm of our very own existence and its sacred encounter with the Infinite.
” ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, *the* beginning and *the* End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(Revelation 1:8)
These Ten Days are a breach in time, a window of opportunity and the power of now that makes every waking moment sacred and enables us to choose or refuse Life itself.
“Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
(Revelation 3:2-5)
Remember, therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. […]
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
So, on this Yom Kippur, do you choose or refuse Life itself?
(Tbc)
Bibliography
Collins, J. The Bible Project, 2020. “Church at Home: Sacrifice and Atonement” [Online] Available at: – https://bibleproject.com/church-at-home/week27-sacrifice-and-atonement/ [Accessed 27 September 2020]
The Messianic Bible Project, 2017. “Parasha Ha’Azinu: Provoking God and His People to Jealousy” [Online] Available at – https://free.messianicbible.com/parasha/parasha-haazinu-provoking-god-and-his-people-to-jealousy/?t=Ha\%27azinu [Accessed 27 September 2020]
[Translated by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 2007] Sartre, J. 1948. Existentialism and Humanism. Paris: Les Editions Nagel.
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