Yom Kippur Research Articles

The Jewish Yom Kippur (Lev. 16:11-22) and its Relationship with Effutu Aboakyer Festival: A Theological Reflection

This paper explored the parallels between the Jewish Yom Kippur ritual as described in Leviticus 16:11-22 and the Effutu Aboakyer festival celebrated by the Effutu people of Ghana, West Africa. Drawing upon anthropological and sociological methodologies, the study conducted a close exegesis of Leviticus 16:11–22, elucidating its atoning rituals and practices. By situating these rituals within the cultural context of the Effutu community, the paper unveiled remarkable similarities between the Yom Kippur observance and the Aboakyer festival. The chosen methodology acknowledged Scripture’s inherent socio-cultural insights and engages with anthropological research to enrich understanding. The study argued that atonement in traditional festivals does not achieve salvation for humanity; only Jesus’ sacrifice saves. Ultimately, this exploration offers theological reflections that resonate with both African and biblical contexts, shedding light on the enduring relevance of ancient rituals in contemporary cultural frameworks. Keywords: Christ, Effutu Aboakyer Festival, Christ, Leviticus 16, Yom Kippur

Contrasting Conceptions of Teshuvah: Between “Repentance” and “Atonement”—A Case Study of the Beta Israel Community (Ethiopian Jews)

The Ethiopian Jews of the Beta Israel community are unique in the annals of Jewish history. The community maintained its Jewish identity and devotedly upheld observance of the mitzvot, even in the face of grave physical and spiritual difficulties and unrelenting attempts to persuade them to abandon their religion. Yet, their traditions diverge significantly from the accepted Rabbinic halakhic tradition that is the norm in Israel. This paper examines Yom Kippur observances and describes key differences between the Beta Israel tradition, which reflects the centrality of atonement, and the Rabbinic tradition, which reflects the centrality of repentance. These distinctions stand as manifestations of a set of profound differences within the very consciousness that animates the two traditions. Discussion, using the works of thinkers like Rabbis Joseph B. Soloveitchik, his disciple, Prof. Rabbi David Hartman, and Ethiopian sages, will focus on the more theocentric Beta Israel tradition, in which individuals are perceived, and perceive themselves, as a part of a collective, in contrast to the Rabbinic tradition, which places a greater emphasis on the agency of the individual and human reason. We will highlight the difference between the concepts of “repentance” and “atonement” that are at the root of the two communities’ theologies.

The Yom Kippur War or the Kishinev Pogrom? On the Narrativization of Violence, History and Fate

The Yom Kippur War or the Kishinev Pogrom? On the Narrativization of Violence, History and Fate

Parenting following the Death of a Child in War or Terror Attack: “Hyper-Enfranchised Loss”

The purpose of this study is to examine the experience of parenting following the death of a child in a terror attack or war in Israel, from a socio-cultural perspective. The study was conducted according to the Three-sphere Context Model in qualitative narrative research. In-depth, semi-structured life story interviews with 18 Israeli parents who were bereaved in national circumstances and were raising at least one minor surviving child were analyzed according to a narrative-contextual method. The analysis focuses on the multi-dimensional socio-cultural context as expressed in the interviews and as referenced in extra-textual sources as an explanatory framework. The following cultural themes were salient in the interview texts: child-centeredness, the of Jewish survival, the unraveling of the Hegemonic Bereavement Model following the Yom Kippur War, the Holocaust as a template of the construction of loss, the appropriation of the deceased child as a national martyr, and the motif of Jewish heroism and the hierarchy of grief. Following a discussion of the findings using Jung’s notion of the collective unconscious, a new concept of “hyper-enfranchised” loss and grief is presented. For some parents this hyper-enfranchisement helped them to carry on as parents, while for others it constituted a burden. Finally, Terror Management Theory is employed to help explain the grief and parenting processes presented in the findings.

A Hermeneutic Approach to the Formation of a Secular Culture in Modern Israel

ABSTRACT The creation of the state of Israel was the outcome of the Zionist movement, which originated in Europe and was itself inspired by fundamental European ideas—Enlightenment, national self-determination, democracy and socialism. From its earliest days Zionism was primarily a secular movement that rejected the religious establishment and religious way of life of the Jews in the Diaspora. In many respects, however, the founders of the state and the principles on which they founded its institutions—the political, judicial, economic, social, and educational—were rooted in the ethical values and cultural practices of the Jewish tradition which they had apparently rejected. To explain this complex process of secularization of a very ancient religious and cultural tradition—which many see as an unresolved or unresolvable conflict between two opposing systems of thought—I draw on the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer and especially on his Truth and Method (1960). Culture, according to Gadamer, is a continuous flow of tradition within what he called “the horizon.” People, he argued, create and live within a given cultural tradition, but they are at the same time its interpreters, enlarging it by adopting elements from various cultures and ideologies, or “horizons.” From this hermeneutic perspective, the founders of modern Israel and their successors were the active interpreters of the Jewish tradition within the larger historical context of the European Enlightenment. I illustrate this process of cultural interpretation by focusing on the secularization of the Jewish holidays, specifically on the way the Kibbutz movement, a leading symbol of the new Israel, re-interpretated Jewish holidays like Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Yom Kippur, and gave these religious festivals a secular-Israeli content. However, this dynamic pioneering stage of secularization may be said to have ended by the 1980s. From then on, the secular identity of Israeli society has been undergoing a variety of radical changes.

A Christological Reflection on Yom Kippur from an Akan Christian Perspective

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is arguably the holiest and most important day in ancient Israel’s religious calendar. In the Christian religion, the Yom Kippur ritual is interpreted to foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice made by Christ for the atonement of the sin of humanity. Therefore, a theological study of this Old Testament atoning ritual has the potential to shed light on the salvific ministry of Christ. Using a literary research approach, this article explores how atoning practices associated with Yom Kippur might enhance the Christian understanding of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. I argue that by fulfilling what the Old Testament sacrificial system prefigured, the cross renders any atoning sacrifice obsolete. Therefore, believers ought to refrain from any form of traditional religious sacrifices because such sacrifices have no salvific value. The paper contributes to the ongoing scholarly discourse on Christian soteriology, particularly the doctrine of atonement. Keywords: Akan, Atonement, Christ, Leviticus, Yom Kippur

Yomkippur War from the Perspective of Czechoslovak Diplomacy

This study presents the perspective of Czechoslovak diplomacy on the events of the Yom Kippur War (1973) in the context Czechoslovak foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict in early 1970s. The research is based on so far rather underexplored archival sources. Despite Czechoslovakia's declared unequivocal support for the Arab side of the conflict, Czechoslovak Middle Eastern policy since the mid-1950s was not entirely unconditional in relation to the Arab countries. Internal documents of Czechoslovak government occasionally revealed criticisms of Arab representatives. The Yom Kippur War represented a significant moment in this regard, as it was a military confrontation initiated not by Israel but by the Arab coalition, posing a challenge for Czechoslovak propaganda. Simultaneously, this armed conflict presented an opportunity for Communist Czechoslovakia to further deepen its relations with its Arab allies.

“Going to the Father” Sacrificially

Abstract This article contends that John portrays not only Jesus’s death but his entire progression to the Father (that is, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension) sacrificially. Discussions of Jesus’s sacrifice in John have tended to focus on Jesus’s death. Such an emphasis on death, however, coheres neither with the way John presents Jesus’s crucifixion and ascension as a singular action nor with how most ancient persons understood ritual sacrifice. It is more likely that John and his ancient audiences would have been attuned to the sacrificial connotations not only of Jesus’s death but of his arrest, trial, burial, resurrection, and ascension. By adjusting the hermeneutical category of sacrifice to agree with ancient understandings of the ritual act and its instantiations on Yom Kippur and Passover, this article traces the sacrificial logic running through John’s passion and resurrection narratives. It then concludes by demonstrating the significant social and theological implications of Jesus’s sacrifice in the Gospel of John.

To reappraise or not to reappraise? Emotion regulation strategies moderate the association of loneliness during COVID-19 with depression and anxiety

ABSTRACT Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in heightened feelings of loneliness due to lockouts and social restrictions. Objective In the present study, we examined the association of loneliness during the pandemic with anxiety and depression, while exploring the moderating role of the tendency to use two emotion-regulation strategies (expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal). Design We chose to examine these associations in a sample of older adults, because they faced higher risk for loneliness and health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Specifically, 174 Israeli veterans and ex-prisoners of wars from the 1973 Yom Kippur war (mean age = 69) completed self-report scales tapping loneliness, depression, anxiety, and emotion regulation strategies at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak (April-May 2020). Results Findings revealed a stronger association between loneliness and depression among participants who had a greater tendency of using suppression. The tendency to use suppression did not significantly moderate the link between loneliness and anxiety. Additionally, a weaker association between loneliness and depression was found among participants who has a greater tendency of using reappraisal. However, these participants showed a stronger association between loneliness and anxiety. Conclusions These findings highlight the complexity of reappraisal and adds to the growing body of work on emotion regulation.

Politics in Legal Disguise

AbstractThe article discusses the current legal-political crisis in Israel against the backdrop of the judicial and political powers that have led to the present situation. The disastrous Yom Kippur War of 1973 weakened the government and public confidence in the political institutions. The weaknesses of the government enabled the Supreme Court to carry out a judicial revolution, which completely changed the country's legal system. The legal revolution entered a new stage when the Supreme Court held that the Basic Laws form part of Israel's constitution. This judicially created constitution opened the way for judicial review of legislation. Its weakness stems from the fact that Basic Laws are legislated in much the same way as ordinary legislation. As a result, the Knesset can easily override any ruling of the Court that voids a statute, by amending the relevant Basic Law. The Court is now struggling to find a means of gaining some control over the legislation of Basic Laws. At the same time, the present government declared its intention to carry out legal reforms that are in effect a counter-revolution to the judicial revolution. The article examines how the fluctuation in the political support of the Court affects its decisions.

"Untying the Knots of the Yoke": Yom Kippur and an Agricultural Allusion to Jubilee in Isaiah 58:6

Abstract: A number of scholars have identified allusions to the Jubilee Year found in Isaiah 58. Among these are the trumpet imagery of v. 1 (cf. Lev 25:9) and the self-affliction in vv. 3 and 5 (cf. Lev 16:31). While Jubilee allusions have also been seen in v. 6, which describes the release of slaves alongside imagery of breaking the yoke, I claim here that not all of the allusions to Jubilee in Isa 58:6 have been identified. Though most commentators see the yoke merely as a metaphor for subjugation, there is actually something deeper and more profound going on. The agricultural imagery, when understood rightly in its ancient philological and cultural context, is actually calling to mind the anticipation of the first rainfall that would have accompanied a Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on which the Jubilee would be announced. The ancient farmer, who would have been anxious to plow the fields at the right time and avoid potential loss, is called to refrain from plowing and to respect the Jubilee legislation to let the land lie fallow. This serves as a metaphor to call those in society, who regard personal gain as more important than having compassion for their fellow human beings, to repent and embrace the commandments of Yhwh.

Crossing under Fire: The Israeli 143d Armored Division at the Suez Canal, 1973

The performance of the Israeli 143d Reserve Armored Division in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Yom Kippur War, provides a compelling example of a combined arms force that recovered from initially devastating losses to enable a complicated, if high-risk, counteroffensive across the Suez Canal to seize strategic initiative and end the war on favorable terms. This achievement, which can be examined through the operational tenets of agility, convergence, endurance, and depth, holds insights for modern militaries as gap-crossing operations remain a central requirement for Joint forces to achieve offensive success in major campaigns.

Predicting secondary posttraumatic stress symptoms among spouses of veterans: Veteran's distress or spouse's perception of that distress?

There is a relatively wide consensus that veterans' posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) may lead to the development of secondary traumatization (ST) among their spouses. However, there is limited knowledge about the way the ST develops over time, as well as its predictors. The current longitudinal study examined ST trajectories among spouses of Israeli war veterans with PTSS, as well as the contribution of veterans' PTSS and wives' assessment of veterans' PTSS to these trajectories. Data were collected from both spouses at 3 time points, 30, 35-37, and 42 years after the 1973 Yom Kippur War (2003, 2008-2010, and 2015, respectively). Using multiple-group Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA), we identified 4 distinct ST trajectories. The majority of wives (68%) were in the resilient group, 12% were in the recovery group, approximately 10% were in the chronic PTSS group and another 10% were in the delayed-onset group. Multinomial regressions revealed that veterans' PTSS predicted the 4 different trajectories among their wives. In addition, wives in the recovery and chronic groups who perceived their veteran husbands' PTSS to be higher also reported higher ST. This study highlights the complexity of the development of ST trajectories over time. Findings supports the idea of PTSS contagion, and reveals the contributing role of both objective and perceived levels of veterans' PTSS in ST. Therefore, implementing interventions aimed at alleviating both individual and couple-level distress may be warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Yom Kippur intelligence failure after fifty years: what lessons can be learned?

ABSTRACT Extensive research has been published about the failure of Israeli intelligence in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, mainly in the context of flawed analysis and strategic surprise. Fifty years after the war, the current article uses an intelligence studies lens to describe major lessons which can be learned from this failure of early warning. Such lessons include the required focus of strategic intelligence on identifying change rather than continuity, the need for explicit analytical methodology beyond inductive reasoning, the importance of integrating assessment of adversary intentions and capabilities, the risk of over-reliance on raw information, and the need for a culture encouraging contrarian thinking.

Guidance for Physicians on the Yom Kippur Fast

It is important for physicians to understand the role they play in guiding their Jewish patients’ decisions on whether to fast on Yom Kippur. While the Yom Kippur fast is one of the most important spiritual events of the year, it is also prohibited if fasting will endanger one’s health. This article presents the Talmudic laws on fasting on Yom Kippur, interviews with 11 Georgetown students and faculty on the subjective importance of the fast, and a review of medical literature regarding contraindications to fasting. In conclusion, based on interviews and Talmudic passages, fasting is an important aspect of Yom Kippur and remains meaningful to Jewish people today. A review of contemporary research indicates fasting is primarily contraindicated by metabolic disorders that carry a risk of hypoglycemia and psychiatric eating disorders. Physicians should understand the nuances of fasting as a religious practice and be able to provide information regarding dangers of fasting to their patients.

Karl Abraham, The Origins of Projective Identification and The Day of Atonement

Karl Abraham, one of Melanie Klein’s analysts, undoubtedly influenced Klein in her clinical and theoretical thinking. Abraham was arguably the first analyst to focus on character, as well as the relationship between bodily experience and object relationships—central to the concept of projective identification. His writing on mourning (like Klein’s, intensely personal) described identificatory processes with the lost object. In a lesser known essay, Abraham applied some of these ideas to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Through examination of this lesser known paper, this article describes how Abraham initiated ideas around the concept of projective identification, and then extends Abraham’s early ideas to a more contemporary understanding of the concept. This extension represents a contemporary elaboration of a psychoanalytic contribution to a study of ritual, which was of great interest to many early psychoanalysts—among them, Abraham.

Identity, culture, and feminism: Golda Meir – Israel’s prime minister (1969–1974)

Like most historical leaders, Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, is a controversial figure. Some consider her the worst prime minister in Israel’s history, who was responsible for Israel’s lack of preparedness for the Yom Kippur War, and others perceive her to be the only ‘man’ who stood in the way of Arabs’ countries victory over Israel. Some view her to be conservative, not brilliant, dogmatic, masculine, and racist, and some others, as a simple, modest, warm, and empathetic woman. The authors bridge between these two conflicting views by employing theories of identity, culture, and gender role bias to investigate how Golda Meir’s early age trauma caused by pogroms against Jews, cultural transition between Russia, the USA, and Mandatory Palestine, and serving as a powerful woman leader in an all-men political system, influenced her personal and political behaviour and her public image.

Energy as a weapon of war: Lessons from 50 years of energy interdependence

AbstractThe Organization of the Petroleum‐Exporting Countries (OPEC) used oil as a weapon against Western countries supporting Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. From 2021, Russia used a similar strategy of restricting gas flows to Europe, while Europe later reduced Russia's market access. In these cases, there was economic and political damage. These examples show that energy is a weapon used to pressure sovereign states. Energy is a multidimensional resource that reflects broader ties within the political‐economic system of international relations. This comparative study identifies four components that enable energy as a weapon: interdependence, energy security, neoliberal economics and sovereignty. Four key policy lessons emerge to improve energy security: (1) determine the acceptable limits of energy dependence, (2) acknowledge institutions and markets cannot deliver energy security outside their design parameters, (3) energy security requires addressing the entire value chain, and (4) energy is a weapon that threatens state sovereignty. The collapse of the gas trade between Russia and the EU creates instability and removes the pillar of interdependency; this now ushers in a new era.

Near-catastrophic victory: disregarded lessons from the six-day war

ABSTRACT The Israeli’s lightning quick victory of June 1967, in the Six Day War, obscured serious deficiencies in Israel’s military strategy. The Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) dependence on a preemptive strike had cost Israel an essential ally and military arms supplier in France. The false assumption that political support would again be forthcoming for a pre-emptive strike was exposed six years later, in the Yom Kippur War. The U.S. military would take lessons from the Yom Kippur War on the lethality of modern battle but observations of the changing character of modern warfare were available in the Six-Day War.

Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels by Hans M. Moscicke

Reviewed by: Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels by Hans M. Moscicke Lawrence Frizzell hans m. moscicke, Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2021). Pp. ix + 161. $95. This study builds on Moscicke's book The New Day of Atonement: A Matthean Typology (WUNT 2/517; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020). In chap. 1, "The Final Judgment as Ritual of Cosmos: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:31–46)," M. plunges the reader into five studies on passages from all four Gospels. The last parable in Matthew's fifth discourse ("Jesus in the least ones") is the portrayal of final judgment, with the separation of sheep from goats. According to M., considering the Day of Atonement traditions of Judaism in the Second Temple period would "introduce into Matthew's eschatology a ritual element, wherein the final expulsion of all the unrighteous becomes a purgative event resembling the yearly expulsion of iniquity from the earthly temple by means of the goat for Azazel (Lev 16:21–22)" (pp. 5–6). Since most scholars now date the Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–70) to the time of Herod the Great, M. thinks this "opens up the possibility that the Azazel traditions attested in the Parables have impacted the judgment [End Page 359] scene as well" (p. 7). M. presents hints from Leviticus 16 in Jesus's parable and other places to conclude that "the Son of Man's eschatological purgation of iniquity from the cosmos [is] reminiscent of the yearly expulsion of moral impurity from Israel's Temple by means of the scapegoat ritual" (p. 19). In chap. 2, "Jesus as Goat for Yahweh and Goat for Azazel in Matthew's Baptism-Temptation Narrative (Matt 3:16–4:11)," M. proposes that the Matthean Baptism-wilderness sequence may involve a Yom Kippur typology, though this is "secondary to the prevailing Israel and Moses typologies in the same narrative segment" (p. 32). M. reviews confession of sin by the people, sacrifice to God, and priestly transference of sins in the scapegoat ritual. Then he discusses Jesus's fast in the wilderness and his encounter with the devil. Jesus's quotation "man does not live by bread alone" (Deut 8:3) leads to discussion of manna and Israel's afflictions in the wilderness. M. finds eight points of correspondence with Yom Kippur themes; together they lead him "to conclude that Matthew has deliberately associated Jesus with the goat for Yahweh and the goat for Azazel" (p. 46). In chap. 3, "Jubilary Release of Sins and the Scapegoating of Jesus in Nazareth (Lk 4:16–30)," M. reviews a critique of scholars who emphasize the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25) as background to Jesus's reading of Isa 61:1–2 and 58:6. According to M., "the Jubilary motif only partially explains why the third Evangelist has Jesus read not only from Isa. 61:1–2 but also Isa 58:6" (p. 61). Themes from Leviticus 16 in Isaiah 58 provide background for the attack on Jesus by irate neighbors, foreshadowing his "ultimate banishment from Jerusalem, beginning a series of events that will culminate in the forgiveness of sins" (p. 69). In chap. 4, "The Gerasene/Gadarene Exorcism as Apocalyptic Mimesis of the Scapegoat Ritual: A Synoptic Analysis," M. proposes that this exorcism may relate to 1 Enoch 10 and develop the Watchers tradition from Gen 6:1–4, while "early Jewish Yom Kippur traditions have shaped the Markan Gerasene account in several significant ways" (p. 83). On Yom Kippur, Israel's sins are transferred to the scapegoat (Lev 16:21–22). In Jewish tradition of the Second Temple period, the scapegoat is pushed off a cliff to its death. In Mark 5:13, demons are sent into pigs that plunge into the sea. According to M., the demoniac's self-debasing behavior (Mark 5:5) echoes the biblical command to "afflict yourselves" on the Day of Atonement (p. 84). In Mark "this exorcism signals the eschatological expulsion of the cosmic powers of Satan's...