10/03/2022
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TOMORROW EVENING: YOM KIPPUR!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening begins the high holy day of Yom Kippur. The service of Yom Kippur was the only one in the Holy Temple that was fully carried out by one specific individual: the Kohen Gadol (High Priest).
On this day, and only on this day, the Kohen Gadol wore both his golden garments and his white garments, and performed the entire Yom Kippur service, on behalf of the entire nation. The service was intensely detailed and had to be performed with precision.
As he performs the uniquely sacred Yom Kippur service, the Kohen Gadol is simply an emissary for the entire nation. The Talmud (Yoma 18b) states: βThe elders of the Beit Din [who accompanied the High Priest on Yom Kippur] gave him over to the Elders of the Kohanim, who brought him to the Chamber of Beit Avtinas, and told him: βSir, Kohen Gadol, we are agents of the Beit Din and you are our agent and the agent of the Court. We adjure you by He that had His name dwell in this house not to change anything of what we have told you.ββ Perhaps this is why the image/soul of the Patriarch Avraham escorts the Kohen Gadol into the Holy of Holies β to support him that he not fail in this tremendous mission that has been placed upon him on this very holy day.
Although the precise actions of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy of Holies are performed far from any human eye, they are not at all secret. Not only the other kohanim, but all of Israel who gather in the Azara (courtyard) at dawn of Yom Kippur follow every move the Kohen Gadol makes. In addition, the passages describing his actions are studied in detail in all Yeshivot, and have been recited aloud by generations of Jews throughout our centuries of Exile. Even little children learn the Seder HaAvoda, the order of the Yom Kippur service, and know its details, just as did the Kohen Gadol.
Throughout the service, the Kohen Gadol would purify himself and immerse in a ritual bath no fewer than five times, and would wash his hands and feet ten times from a golden basin. He would walk back and forth in the Azara and Sanctuary forty-two times in order to fulfill all the mitzvot of the day, which were performed in various locations: The mikveh, the Azara, atop the altar, in the Sanctuary, and in the Holy of Holies β up until the point that he would βsafely leave the Holy.β
Learn more about Yom Kippur in the Holy Temple! https://templeinstitute.org/yom-kippur-contents/