The first ten days of the year are called Terrible Days, or Days of Awe. And on the tenth day of the month of Tishri (September - October), Yom Kippur is celebrated - the Day of Judgment, the Day of Atonement, when they ask God for forgiveness for all sins committed.
In ancient times, it was in Yom Kippur - the only day of the year - that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem temple with the blood of a sacrificial animal and sprinkled over the cleansing place (a veil over the Ark of the Covenant), in which the tablets of the Law of Moses were kept to cleanse the people from sins.
Fasting continues from sunset until the stars appear at the end of the holiday. Believers spend this day in the synagogue without food, asking forgiveness to each other. The Doomsday service is the longest. It starts at sunset, breaks off at night, lasts all day, and ends in the evening.
It is with the Days of Awe that the origin of the popular expression "scapegoat" is connected. It goes back to a special rite that existed among the ancient Jews: the sins of the whole people were laid on a living goat. On the day of absolution, the high priest laid his hands on the head of the goat as a sign of the laying on of the sins of the Jewish people. The expression is used in the meaning of "a person who is constantly blamed for others, who is responsible for others."
In past centuries, on the days before the Day of Judgment, the magic ceremony of capores was performed. It consists in the fact that a man turns a rooster over his head three times, and a woman - a chicken. The prayer was pronounced three times: "Let this be my atonement, my sacrifice and a substitute for me, this rooster (this hen) will go to death, and I will find a happy, long and peaceful life." The poultry is slaughtered and the meat is eaten on the night of the end of the Doomsday fast.
In religious literature, there is such an explanation of the meaning of fasting: “Why do we fast on the Day of Judgment? Not to punish ourselves, not to torment ourselves, not to show that we are capable of enduring difficulties and hardships. We do not drink or eat in Yom Kippur, because on this day we are busy with things so important that there is no place for ordinary affairs."
On this day, chapters from the Torah are read in the synagogue. During the daytime prayer, the story of the prophet Jonah is read.
Once the Lord sent one of the people he noted - Jonah to the city of Niniva, so that he preached there and warned the inhabitants about the impending destruction of the city. The Prophet, deciding that this mission was beyond his ability, went in the opposite direction - to Jaffa, and there he boarded a ship going to Tarsis.
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When the ship was on its way, a terrible storm broke out at sea. The team suspected that something was wrong, they cast lots to find out who was responsible for this unexpected misfortune. The lot fell on Jonah, and he confessed that he had provoked the wrath of the Lord by violating his will. The Prophet himself asked his companions to throw him overboard and thus appease God and save the lives of innocent people. Attempts to land Jonah back on shore failed as the waves stubbornly threw the ship back into the sea. Finally, the sailors were forced to agree to throw the unfortunate man into the water.
Falling into the water, Jonah was immediately swallowed by a whale sent by the Lord, and was in the whale's belly for three nights and days, offering prayers of thanks to God. Finally, the whale vomited him on the shore of the sea, and the prophet went to fulfill his mission to Niniva.
In Niniva, Jonah preached from morning to night, conveyed the words of God to the inhabitants of the city, reported that the Lord was angry with this city and would destroy it in forty days.
The king of Assyria did not reject the prophecy and ordered his subjects to observe a strict fast, while even domestic animals were to fast.
God saw that the people of Niniva were not as deeply rooted in sin as they seemed, and reversed his sentence to the city. Jonah, fearing the ridicule of people who could declare him in a false prophecy, left Niniva and in its vicinity, full of disappointment and confusion, turned to God. He stated that he was not in vain afraid to take on such a mission, since now his reputation was hopelessly damaged.
God made it so that near the place where the prophet stopped, a huge pumpkin grew, giving a blessed shadow. By the morning of the next day, by the will of God, the worms gnawed at its roots, the plant dried up and crumbled into dust, immediately scattered by the hot wind. The prophet Jonah felt sick from the heat. Then the Lord turned to him:
“You are lamenting about a plant to which you have not laid hands. And how would I grieve when I destroyed the city where one hundred and twenty thousand worthy people live?"
The Torah says: "And tie them as a sign on your hand, and they will be signs over your eyes." During the morning prayer, the rabbis instruct believers (except for Saturday and holidays) to put phylacteria or tefillia on their forehead and left hand. They look like black calfskin cubes, with a black strap hanging from one side. Inside these cubes are four Torah passages, rewritten on parchment. The straps secure the phylacteria to the forehead and left bicep, opposite the heart. The location of these sacred objects suggests that all the deeds of the Jews (the symbol of deeds is the hand), all their feelings (the symbol of feelings is the heart), all their thoughts (the symbol of reason is the forehead) belong to God.
Why did the Lord create Eve from the rib of Adam?
God pondered for a long time from which part of Adam's body to create Eve. Not from my head - not to raise her head high, not from her eye - not to peep, not from the ear - not to overhear, not from the mouth - not to talk, not from the heart - so that she would not be envious. God decided to create her from a hidden organ - from a rib, so that first of all she would be modest. As the book Bereshit (the first book of the Torah) says: “At every organ that God created for her, he would say: 'Be humble! Be humble!"
From the book: "100 Great Holidays". Elena Olegovna Chekulaeva