Every mistake, goof up in our Torah walk can fall into one of three categories: sin, transgression or iniquity. Sin is missing the mark on accident. Transgression is doing something wrong when you know better. Iniquity is when you do something wrong as an act of rebellion.

יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים Yom haKippurim (Day of Coverings, aka Day of Atonement) is more like an appointment than a festival. It’s a time God expects us to show up and meet with Him. 

God uses affliction to mark who belongs to Him and who doesn’t. That affliction is an important part of this day. Bringing closure to the old and starting anew is a crucial part of this day as well. But there’s more. 

Yom Kippur is discussed in Leviticus 16. People wear white on Yom Kippur in honor of the priest who was commanded to wear white on Yom Kippur. This is tradition and not a requirement. 

The High Priest slaughters a bull, a goat and a ram. He places the sins, transgressions and iniquities of the people on the living goat. How does the priest do this? Does he know every single sin of every person in the congregation? No. What does Aaron say then? What does he say to transmit the sin of the congregation to the scapegoat? 

In Jewish tradition, we are told that Aaron would make a general declaration under different categories of sin that God would take away. It is to draw to mind how many sins we have committed in secret or in public. Hearing Aaron’s words would bring to mind examples in your own life how you have fallen short. 

We need to remember our sins otherwise our repentance for those sins can’t be sincere. We need to discard both the outside influences that whisper to us to do wrong and our own internal hearts desire that entice us to the wrong way. 

It isn’t Yom Kippur that determines our path of the coming year. It’s what happens the day after. Do we merely “borrow” the prayers of repentance of Yom Kippur, or do we own those prayers and internalize them? 

“and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.” (Leviticus 16:33–34 NASB)

All the sin offerings that one can do through the year are mainly for “oops.” Only Yom Kippur pays for iniquitous sins. You have to worry about your iniquity and rebellion because that sin hangs over you until Yom Kippur. You have time to show God before Yom Kippur that you have repented and know how bad and stupid that iniquity is.

All parents want their children to avoid iniquity and rebellion and God wants us to avoid that, too. 

Yom Kippur doesn’t take away our ability to sin. If one part of me is contaminated by sin, all of me is contaminated by sin. If one part of you is clean, all of you is clean. 

Hebrews 10:1–10 discusses this in great detail. 

We understand that sacrifices don’t repair the relationship, but doing God’s will is what repairs our relationship with God. 

Yom Kippur doesn’t take our ability to sin away from us so how can God forget our sins? God makes a willful decision not to remember our sins. He erases the sins from our record. 

The Day of Atonement is not about me. The High Priest does all the work. The Day of Atonement is for the High Priest. 

The tool that blots out our sin from God’s record book is not the scapegoat or the sacrificial goat. We can’t erase it ourselves either. 

All the prophets and authors of our Torah understood is that the sacrifices don’t really solve the problem and wrote about it at length. 

No matter how many times you say “I’m sorry” it doesn’t change anything if you aren’t really sorry...