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Shalom I am Rabi Jonathan Ginsburg and this video has to do with the bible readings for the High Holiday’s. Rashashana the first day we read Genesis chapter 21 which tells us over the birth of Isaac. The reason why that is such a significant text is because on o the major themes of our new year Rashashana are Yomharad Olam the anniversary of the creation of the world. We celebrate the world being renewed so what better way to do that than with the reading of the birth of the first Jewish baby of Isaac. Later on the Jewish history is second day of Rashashana was added, it is not in the Torah to have 2 days and so the Rabi simply added the next chapter Genesis 22 but it happens to be one of the most profound pieces of literature of any literature in the world, the story of the binding of Isaac.
I will have a separate video on the binding of Isaac but it basically asks from God to Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac on the mountain. Abraham does not protest, he takes Isaac up, God finally in the end offers a substitute a Ram and tells Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac. It is one of the great mysterious stories of the bible.
Now on the first day we also have a prophetic reading from the book of Samuel with the birth of Samuel the first great prophet after Moses. There are two books in the Hebrew bible named for Samuel, Samuel 1 and Samuel 2 and of course it is another birth story. Beautiful story about Hanna the mother's devotion to God and desire for a child and birth of Samuel. Yom Kippur the torah reading is form Leviticus 16 and it describes the first Yom Kippur the original bible Yom Kippur. The idea of the high priest confessing for himself first in its family and to his community, the original way in which atonement was affected thru sending a goat into the wilderness with the sins of Israel and sacrificing another goat. Elaborates description and the idea that we have to atone, to afflict our soul, that is the passage that comes from and that we will be Naki clean before God.
The half Torah for the first Yom Kippur morning and it is from Isaiah and it is a very powerful beautiful prophetic portion about Isaiah saying I do not want you to fast and do empty rituals and cheat the poor. The kind of fast I want is to cloth the naked and to feed the hungry, to live morally and ethically and to reach out and help people besides the rituals.
Yom Kippur afternoon traditionally we read the next chapter of Leviticus which describes forbidden sexual relations. Many scholars believe the reason is that Yom Kippur afternoon used to be a time for Jewish match making. A kind of Jaded in person and before the Jewish kids will go out and meet one another they would have this exhortation. Other contemporary Synagogue instead read Leviticus 19 the holiness code with a very powerful and important laws of society including love thy neighbor as themselves, do not stand ideally by or other blood of your neighbors, do not gossip, do not tell tales, do not slender very powerful passages. And the prophetic reading on Yom Kippur afternoon and I have a separate video on this is the book of Jonah. A story of Jonah that it is a non Jewish Prophet was told to go tell the citizens of Minivet to repent and he did not want to and he tries to run away from God. And finally God in the end convinces him that the whole world is need of repentance, he should take his responsibility and go help the citizens of Minivet repent.
So those are basically the bible readings for Rashashana and Yom Kippur and the reason that they relate to it. Of course again the second day reading for example has the substitute sacrifice for Isaac and the Torah says that the ram has caught by the horn and picket another tie of that story. So we hope you will be inspired by the biblical readings for the high holidays and deed is by the liturgy.
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