The Day of Atonement, from the Temple to the Synagogue

Yom Kippur, the tenth of Tishrei, is the holiest day of the Jewish year, the climax of the Ten Days of Repentance that begin at Rosh Hashanah. Its biblical charter is Leviticus 16, which prescribes an annual rite in which the high priest enters the innermost sanctuary, the only day he may do so, and makes atonement for the whole people; two goats are chosen, one offered and one, the "scapegoat", sent into the wilderness bearing the people's sins. The Torah commands that on this day the people "afflict" themselves and do no work.

With the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE the sacrificial rite ended, and the rabbis reshaped the day around prayer, confession and repentance (teshuvah) in place of the offerings; the synagogue liturgy's Avodah section recites the vanished Temple service as memory. A principle central to the day is that Yom Kippur atones for offences between a person and God, but for wrongs against other people it does nothing until one has sought out the injured party and made it right, so the season before it is traditionally a time of seeking reconciliation.