YOM KIPPUR

The Jewish High Holy Days begin with Rosh Hashana and continue until
Yom Kippur.  Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, or more correctly
Yom ha-Kippurim (Leviticus 16) goes back to Jewish antiquity almost
4,000 years to the time of Moses.  This most solemn occasion of the
Jewish Festival cycle was the season for annual cleansing from sin, but
in time its significance was deepened so that it acquired personal
meaning and filled a private need.  It is observed on the 10th day of
Tishri, the seventh month, and is the climax of the whole penitential
season.

Originally, on one day of the year the high priest would enter into the
innermost part of the Tabernacle (and later the Temple in Jerusalem).
He would enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of the sacrifice which
was for the sin of the people as a congregation, and sprinkle it upon
the 'mercy seat' of the Ark of the Covenant (made famous by the movie
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" :-).  This would 'cover' the sin of the
people, as this is what the Aramaic (and Hebrew) root 'kapar'
(atonement) means.  With the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.,
later Rabbinic legislation adapted the old ritual to the synagogue.
The blasts of the 'shofar' the ritual ram's horn trumpet, signify, 
among other things, the inarticulate cry of the soul to God.

In later times, there is a whole body of Jewish law requiring the
individual to seek forgiveness from one another.  This a part of the
Mishneh Torah - a distillation of Jewish law based in the Hebrew Bible
and the Talmud - written by the great 12th-century Jewish philosopher
and legal authority Maimonides.  It calls for an attention to requests
for forgiveness from family, friends and associates for the offenses of
the past year.  The body of law, lore and custom surrounding repentance, 
forgiveness and the Day of Atonement is immense, and has grown since the 
time of Maimonides.

		     Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian