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| PentecostalTheology.com
Becoming Angels on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, typically involves standing for hours with a hungry belly and a parched throat. These bodily deprivations underscore the biblical commandment to afflict our souls—an affliction that may engender liberation.
Elliot Wolfson, Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at HDS for 2016-17, Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, and a leading voice in the study of Jewish Mysticism, explains the common practices, conceptions, and potential outcomes of this crucial holiday.
HDS: Why is Yom Kippur considered by many to be the most important holiday of the Jewish year?
EW: For thousands of years, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, has been considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, as it comes at the climax of the 10 days of repentance, which begin with Rosh Hashanah. The liturgy of Yom Kippur and the requirement to abstain from food, drink, sexual activity, and other physical pleasures such as bathing, anointing one’s body with oil, and wearing leather shoes, reflect the sense that one is transformed on this day.
In some sense, one becomes angelic, purified from the transgressions of the previous year, starting anew with a clean slate. Yom Kippur is thus the day of amends, that is, the day on which there is the mending of that which is torn. The reparation (tiqqun) comes by way of repentance, the return of the soul to the womb of the mother.
Yom Kippur is referred to biblically as the Sabbath of Sabbaths (Leviticus 16:31, 23:32). Part of the rhetorical style attested in Hebrew Scripture is to repeat words for emphasis, and that may be the simplest explanation for this phrase. But through the centuries, the phrase conveyed a deeper meaning—that Yom Kippur is accorded a special level of holiness. If the Sabbath, rabbinically, was conceived as a foretaste of the world to come, then this is certainly even more so on Yom Kippur. This idea is fully exploited in Kabbalistic symbolism, where Yom Kippur is linked to Binah, the 50th gate of understanding, which is also symbolized by the image of the Jubilee, the true freedom of the soul from servitude.
HDS: Yom Kippur is often considered the day during which the Jews are closest to God. How is this closeness established?
EW: Traditionally, the closeness is established through fasting, other forms of self-restraint, and through the prayers. It may be common to think of abstinence as denial or deprivation, but it can imply the very opposite of these terms. Not only is one not deprived, but one attains a higher status of purity. One becomes angelic and is thus closer to the divine.
There is a tradition, recorded in the Mishnah and recited as part of the liturgy, that as part of the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple and uttered the most sacred of God’s names. According to the rabbis, this was the only occasion that this occurred. Surely, the ritual attests to the singularity of Yom Kippur, a day in which the spiritual bond between human and divine is strengthened.
HDS: Why is there a custom of wearing white on Yom Kippur?
EW: One of the standard explanations for the wearing of white clothing on Yom Kippur is that this an emulation of the ministering angels—the white signifying purity from fleshly sin attained through repentance and the consequent effulgence of divine mercy and forgiveness. The white calls to mind the promise that our sins will be made as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).
There is also a custom to wear a kittel, that is, a white linen robe placed over the clothing. Since this is similar to the burial shroud, some explain that the kittel reminds one of one’s mortality and hence the need to repent. The kittel is also worn by some at the Passover seder and by the bridegroom under the wedding canopy. The common denominator of these ritual gestures seems to be that the kittel is emblematic of innocence and chastity.
HDS: What are the most overlooked or unseen aspects of the holiday and its historical practice?
EW: Probably that the day is the culmination of a long period, beginning with the month of Elul, when Jews are supposed to repent and draw closer to God. In the more immediate sense, Yom Kippur is the end of the 10 days of repentance, which begin on Rosh Hashanah. The true benefit of this day is attained when it is, as the rabbinic sages imagined it, the result of arduous preparation and discipline. Unfortunately, for many Jews today, the significance of the holiday is related to the fact that this may be the only day that they refrain from work and attend the synagogue.
HDS: What are its dangers, in contemporary or historical terms?
EW: I cannot think of any dangers unless, of course, one is medically forbidden from fasting and decides to fast out of excess piety. But, all things being equal, this is not a day about danger. It is a day about reconciliation and exoneration. The refrain from sensual pleasures is not affliction but rather the sacrificial means to attain a more spiritual kind of embodiment, the ethereal body associated in the tradition with the angels.
HDS: Leonard Cohen’s “Who by fire” popularized a small part of Yom Kippur’s somber liturgy. What is gained, or lost, by imagining varied modes of personal and collective death?
EW: As is well known, “Who By Fire” is Cohen’s reworking of a medieval hymn included in the traditional Jewish prayer book for the High Holy Days, a solemn poem in which the poet depicts the drama of the divine judge inscribing and signing the fate of each person for the upcoming year. This song clearly illustrates Cohen’s deep connection to his Jewish roots, and particularly his fascination with matters pertaining to judgment and the handing down of sentences.
Needless to say, Cohen transforms the traditional theological image by introducing a note of doubt, which is distinctive to the modern predicament, with the refrain that ends each stanza “and who shall I say is calling?” The original expresses no such ambivalence; the contemporary poet is not certain, not in these times when judgment is conspicuous but the face of the judge not apparent.
The delineation of the various modes of death helps create the somberness of the moment and the frailty of being human. We are compelled to imagine how precarious life is, how it hangs in the balance at every moment, and how we can never know the moment that death will come upon us.
There is a passage in the Zohar, the major compilation of Kabbalistic teachings, that even if a person lives one thousand years, on the day of death, it seems as if one lived but one day. Sometimes minutes feel like hours, hours like days, days like weeks, weeks like months, and months like years. But on the whole, after all is said and done, time flies, as the saying goes, or in the rabbinic idiom, time passes like a blink of the eye. This is the mood that the prayer of Yom Kippur is supposed to inculcate, so that we are cognizant of our weakness as mortal beings and our dependence of divine forbearance.
—by Michelle Bentsman
(Editor’s note: This article was first published on September 30, 2016.)
Varnel Watson
And so we shall be Ricky Grimsley Tom Steele
Varnel Watson
Tom Steele now that I dont believe one little bit Ricky Grimsley
Tom Steele
Why is there a picture of Perry Stone attached to this article? Am I missing something? I don’t see where he is mentioned in the article.
Varnel Watson
It’s done by Michelle Bentsman of HDS; FB has a way of pairing thumbs that dont make much sense but back to OP – whats your take ?
Tom Steele
I get the idea that the author was going for, as the initial concept of the Day of Atonement was to give Believers a clean slate going into a new year. I think the choice of words might be in poor taste. It seems a bit like that “little gods” thing that was going around a while back (wasn’t Benny Hinn pushing that, among others?). The idea behind it is good, but the choice of words is rather controversial and probably folks should think about the reaction they will get from people with a brain before they post these things.
Varnel Watson
but becoming angels? wasn’t Benny Hinn pushing what?
Tom Steele
Benny… I think…. was one of the people pushing the “little gods” thing several years ago. It was/is based on the passage that says God made us a little lower than the angels (KJV), which actually says He made us a little lower than Elohim (or, Himself). This was then spun to say that we (Believers) are “little gods” on the Earth. While technically there is probably some level of truth to that, in line with the aforementioned Scripture as well as such things as Jesus living in us (Galatians 2:20) and our bodies being the Temple of God and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the choice of words to say that we are “little gods” is, in my opinion, a very poor choice of words, even if the concept they were trying to present had some level of truth to it.
Tom Steele
Like this, the choice of words of “becoming angels” or “becoming angelic” or whatever is probably not the best choice of words to use in presenting this viewpoint, regardless of how accurate the concept itself may be.
Varnel Watson
naaah the little gods is old school and an urban myth; he’s had some new angelic teachings which I am trying to remember I love his preaching but the one on angels was somewhere out there About as crazy as Rod Parsley’s on 12.12.12
Varnel Watson
Rod Parsley’s came on TN on 12.12.12 about some End of the World thing he did in a nearby church Man, they monetized that worse than the blood moons and the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Yom by Khan books. Any how on 12.13.12 the man left with the money and that was it 🙂 About like Benny’s angelic teaching
Anonymous
what is @everyone thinking of this here post? Jared G. Cheshire stated
It’s not a Jewish day. Jew only applies to the southern house of Judah, not to the northern House of Isreal. Besides, God said it was His day.
2 Chronicles 2:4 NASB95 — “Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before Him and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on sabbaths and on new moons and on 👉the appointed feasts of the LORD our God,👈 this being required forever in Israel.
Ezekiel 44:24 NASB95 — “In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all 👉My appointed feasts👈 and sanctify My sabbaths.
my response – Since my return from Israel I have been watching with keen interest the unfolding of tragic events in Syria. The nation of Syria once fought Israel in several early wars. The most noted was the famed Yom Kippur war in 1973, in which Syria launched a surprise attack in Golan Heights, catching Israel by surprise, as the men in Israel were fasting and praying in attendance in the synagogues on that day.
Anonymous
Troy Day
Im not putting together your thoughts what are you trying to relay?
Anonymous
Troy Day I am looking forward to watching the prime video movie, Golda!
Anonymous
Troy Day notice, the favorite NT term is neither Jew nor Israelite but ‘12 tribes,’ as in Acts, James, and especially Revelations.
Anonymous
Are u2 from the me2 movement 2 Charles Page ?
Anonymous
Philip Williams are you claiming rapture in MT24 for Duane L Burgess
Anonymous
Troy Day it’s the wicked taken away in Noah’s day and Lot’s day. The same with the Coming of the Lord. Only the righteous are left to live during the millennium.
Anonymous
The only problem with this article is the failure to see how Jesus fulfilled Yom Kippur.
What do you Dispensationalist think, did Jesus fulfill this holy day?
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs Not a dispy… Jesus fulfills this at the Second Coming, when He judges Israel and then the nations of the Earth.
Anonymous
Ken Van Horn read Leviticus 16. There are two goats. One is chosen for the atonement sacrifice and the other gets a free pass.
This plays out in Matt 27. Pilot says who do you want? Jesus or Barabbas. Barabbas who was guilty got to go free. Jesus who was innocent took our place.
Penal substitutionary Atonement.
And no, dispensationalism is a bad lens to view the scriptures. It muddies up a lot of stuff. There’s a division of covenants and fulfillments.
There are aspects of the fall feast that are eschatological. The Day of atonement will reach its final fulfillment at the resurrection. Once the saints get their robes. But the Jesus’s part in that process has been done.
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs The second goat doesn’t get a free pass. The “suitable man” takes the goat into the wilderness and pushes it off a cliff to keep it from following him back.
The two goats both die.
Anonymous
Ken Van Horn why would Brett Dobbs get a pass as the GOAT?
Anonymous
Ken Van Horn are you sure about that?
Leviticus 16:20-22 (KJV) 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy [place], and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send [him] away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs Yes, I am. I understand the two goats to represent the inner man and the outer man.
Anonymous
Ken Van Horn sure it can mean that as well. So our inner man would be the scapegoat, because our inner man gets to live.
Anonymous
Ken Van Horn we all know Brett Dobbs is the GOATheologians 🙂
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs A spirit wandering in dry places…
Anonymous
Troy Day careful now, you’ll get me all puffed up with that kind of talk and then I’ll be given a thorn in the flesh.
You can keep the GOAT status for yourself. I don’t want any part of that. Lol
Anonymous
Link Hudson Are you agreeing with Charles Page that there are NO female angels?
Anonymous
Troy Day I do not have a strong opinion one way or another. Zechariah saw a vision of women with stork wings. But visions can be symbolic.
Anonymous
Link Hudson true but what else could wings be symbolic of?
Anonymous
Troy Day Or what could the women with stork wings be symbolic of? Probably best to look at a Bible commentary and pray about that. I haven’t read Zechariah in a while.