Yom Kippur

The day of atonement is the most solemn of the year: holy convocation, fasting ("you shall afflict your souls"), and no work at all. Only on this day, once a year, the high priest went behind the veil with blood, for his own sins and the people's (Leviticus 16).

Hebrews reads the feast in detail: Messiah entered "the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption — not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood" (Hebrews 9:12). The two goats of Leviticus 16 — one sacrificed, one carrying the sins far from the camp — together sketch the complete work.

Ten days separate Yom Teruah from Yom Kippur; tradition calls them the days of teshuvah (return). The trumpet awakens; the atonement restores.