At sundown today, begins the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.
It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.
And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.
~Leviticus 16:29-34 NIV
It has been my great pleasure to know the two founding rabbis of Chabad of Naperville. What they have accomplished in reaching the Jewish community here on the prairie is truly amazing. Trusting in God, they have gone from wandering from home to home to having an established synagogue and Hebrew school. Rabbi Mendy and his wife Alta are lovely people dedicated to the service of God and His people.
And yet…
I still cringe at the rampant anti-semitism in our world, some of which—I am sad to say—I have seen in the Church. At this holy time of year for our Jewish brothers and sisters, I can only pray along with St. Paul:
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
…Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
~ Romans 9:1-5 & 10:1-4 NIV
A blessed Yom Kippur to all my Jewish friends!
