a different take on the Yom Kippur avodah

2020-09-10T23:44:42Z

Today a friend forwarded me a link to this blog post, which talks about a song I was previously not familiar with. The song reinterprets the Yom Kippur afternoon liturgy in a way I find beautiful, resonant, and yet authentic.

Some context: on Yom Kippur when the temple stood, the high priest enacted an elaborate ritual that included offerings to effect atonement for the people. The traditional afternoon liturgy recounts this ritual. (A good chunk of Tractate Yoma in the talmud covers this in detail.) As the high priest splashed the blood on the altar he would count. This song adds some interpretation to the counting -- while mostly including the traditional text in the song.

If you're familiar with this text, I encourage you to listen to Seder Ha'Avodah by Ishay Ribo before continuing. And heck, even if you aren't familiar and don't understand Hebrew, let it play in the background while you read the rest of this. (You can buy the mp3 here. I now have.)

There's a third-party translation that I'll quote from here.

This part is from the liturgy:

And thus he would say
Please, O God, forgive the sins, the wrongdoings and the transgressions
which I have sinned before You, I and my house

The counting here is from the liturgy; the rest is interpretation:

And if a man could remember
the flaws, the shortcomings
All the transgressions, all the wrongdoings
Thus he would surely count;
One, one and one, one and two
One and three, one and four, one and five
He would give up right away
Because he wouldn't be able to bear
the bitterness, the sin
The shame, the missed opportunity
The loss

And similarly for the second petition:

And thus he would say
Please, O God, forgive the sins, the wrongdoings and the transgressions
which I have sinned before You, I and my house

And if a man could remember
the graces, the favors
All the mercies, all the salvations
Thus he would surely count;
One, one and one, one and two
One of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads
of miracles and wonders
which You have done for us
days and nights

Both times the people respond by praising God (from the liturgy).

Dov Bear writes in the blog post:

The idea here is that Atonement comes from within. We must recognize for ourselves what we have done wrong and recognize for ourselves all that has gone right and engage with both the good and the bad honestly, without vanity or depression, and through this exercise of introspection, a form of Atonement can begin. [...]

In the song, both counts are overwhelming. The count of failures is crushing, but the crowd comes to the rescue screaming "Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom forever and ever!" The next count is equally shattering, but this count of blessings is a celebration and again the crowd provides the momentum screaming the same words "Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom forever and ever!"

As someone who has trouble connecting to the temple service and this particular liturgy, I appreciate this interpretation and find a lot to think about in it, especially this year.

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Monica

a different take on the Yom Kippur avodah