ABORIGINAL MEANINGS BEHIND YOM KIPPUR...
>From Rabbi Gershon Winkler

In ancient times we celebrated every fiftieth years as the year
of Yo`veyl, or the Jubilee Year. During that period, all land
sold to others returned to the original owners, all debts were
forgiven, and all slaves freed. It was a time when everything was
restored to its primal station; everything went back to the way
it was (Leviticus 25:8-13). It was a reminder to us that nothing
actually belonged to us. That the earth belonged to God, creation
to Creator (Exodus 19:6; Leviticus 25:23; Psalms 50:10). The
Yo`veyl period was scheduled to occur every fiftieth year from
the time of the Exodus, some 3300 years ago, and begun on Yom
Kippur (Leviticus 25:9).

Why was Yom Kippur the period when the Yo`veyl began, when
everything returned to its original status? Because that is the
power and hidden meaning behind this very special day. It is a
Day of Return and Restoration, or in Hebrew: T`shu`vah, often
mistranslated as Repentance. On this day we go deep inside
ourselves to discover the places of our hearts where we once
stood before we made some of those not-so-good choices in our
lives that led us to some of those not-so-good habits or
behaviors. In many shamanic traditions, there are intense
rituals involved in this process that is referred to as Soul
Retrieval. Of course, sitting all day in synagogue isn`t much
of a soul retrieval ritual, but in the aboriginal ways of our
people, the rites of Yom Kippur was very much a ceremony of soul
retrieval for the individual, the family, and the nation.

The Yom Kippur celebration of ancient times involved three major
ceremonies: Sacrifice, Incense, and Dance. The Sacrifice involved
a ram, a young bull, and two he-goats, one of which was offered
on the altar, the other upon which was placed the sins of the
people, after which it was led into the wilderness and released.
The Incense had to be a specific blend of plants that when
crushed together and set aflame on coals created a sweet aroma
and a thick smoke that veiled the ceremony site (Leviticus,
Chapter 16). The Dance took place in the orchards and were led by
the women, all of whom were bedecked in pure white in festive
celebration of faith that God had cleansed the people of past
sins. Among the chants they sung during this sacred dance was a
mantric challenge to the men that they cease judging women solely
by how attractive they are on the outside and to see them for who
they are on the inside as well (Babylonian Talmud, Ta`anit 26b).

The three ceremonies corresponded to the three ways in which the
soul manifests in the body: Mind, Emotion, and Sensuality. The
Mind part of us has Ram energy (sense of personal pride), Bull
energy (sense of personal power), and Goat energy (sense of
determination and tenacity). The Emotion part of us is
represented in the Aromatic Incense and Smoke, the inner struggle
for a fine balance of the right ingredients for the right amount
of smoke and aroma, smoke representing spirit, aroma representing
sensuality. Emotions, after all, mediate between our sensuous
selves and our reasoning selves. The Sensuality part of us is
represented in the celebratory dance in the orchards.

The three ceremonies are comprised of the attributes of all the
beings on our planet: Still Beings (stones, earth: the altar had
to be made of either [Exodus 20:21-22]), Sprouting Beings (the
plants that make up the incense), Living Beings (the animals
offered in sacrifice), and the Speaking Being (the humans singing
and dancing in the orchards).

Wala! Soul Retrieval. The reconstitution of the soul parts that
had become separated, fragmented, lost, abandoned, in the course
of life`s busy-ness and challenges over the past year.

But one thing remains. One small factor continues relentlessly
to stand in our way of letting go of where we have come to from
the crossroads of not-so-good choice making of the past. It is a
factor more potent than the three ceremonies, and neither
sacrifice, incense, nor dance can help us push through it. And
without it, what we have retrieved of our soul could easily slip-
slide away.

The obstacle? Guilt.

Therefore, we brought two goats: one with which to sacrifice our
obstinance, the other with which to set free our obstinance. Why
both? The same tenacity within us that leads us to not-so-good
choices is the same tenacity within us that will cling
tenaciously to our guilt over having made those choices to begin
with. Tenacity, obstinance, requires a two-fold sacrifice: one
to God, and one to Aza`zel, the force in life that stands in our
way of moving forward, that introduces doubt, whittles away at
our faith in anything. Aza`zel, the ancient teachers tell us, is
the voice within us that challenges the sincerity, the purity, of
our intentions. And so we send the second goat to this force, as
sort of a ritual bribe to free us of its interference with our
other offerings (Midrash PirOEkey DOERebbe Eliezer, Ch. 46; Ramban
ahl HaTorah on VayikOEra 15:8).

Soul Retrieval is nice, but not when we haven`t also dealt with
the doubting voices within us. And what better time for this
process of self-restoration than the very day chosen for the
Jubilee Year, for starting over, for bringing everything back to
where it was at its genesis. And not by accident was this day
chosen in the season of autumn, when all returns to where it
came from.

Many happy returns.