The Avoda Recitation and Yom Kippur Tefillah According to Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik The sacrificial Temple service on Yom Kippur (the avoda) has been an area of intense interest to the Rav. The intricate detail of the avoda was the topic of a Yarchei Kallah, a series of three all day lectures, taught by the Rav in the summer of 1971, as well as the primary topic in one of his last Kinus Teshuva lectures given to the Rabbinical Council in 1979 . In large part, the Rav's interest in the avoda simply stems from his sheer mastery of the subject matter: the Rav had a long tradition of staying awake every Yom Kippur night to study the avoda ritual detail with his father, Rabbi Moses Soloveitchik zt'l. On a philosophical level, the Rav's interest in this subject may be related to his abiding interest in the subject of holiness, an underlying theme in much of his writing. Holiness is defined by the Rav in "Halakhic Man" as "the descent of divinity into the midst of our concrete world". The encounter between finitude and infinity was most closely realized at the pinnacle of the avoda ritual, the moment that the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies. Finally, on a simply personal level, the Rav relates: "As a child, I keenly felt the "kedushas hayom" of Yom Kippur. The holiness of Yom Kippur was not merely a phrase, it was an experience I do not know how to adequately relate. The enthusiasm, the ecstasy, the recognition of this holiness reached it's pinnacle at the avoda." The Rav is, of course, here referring to to the long interlude during the Musaf amida when the cantor and congregation recite the various piyutim which describe the Yom Kippur avoda ritual as it was practiced in the era of the Temple's existence. The Otzar Hagaonim states that in many congregations this avoda on Yom Kippur was recited not only during the amida repetition of musaf, but during shacharit and mincha as well. Although the gaonim later annulled the custom of these multiple recitations, when Rav Hai Gaon was dayan of Baghdad the avoda was recited during both the shacharit and musaf repetitions. This custom of multiple recitations suggests a special affection that early rabbinic luminaries had for this particular portion of the Yom Kippur service, an affection which, as illustrated above, was clearly shared by the Rav himself. The only time that the avoda recitation itself is mentioned in the Gemara is a brief reference in Yoma 36B. Rashi there states one reason for this recitation: the avoda was recited in order to fulfill the verse :"uneshalma parim sefateinu":"and we will offer [instead of sacrifices] the calves of our lips' , (Hosea 14:3). To clarify this imperative, the Rav quotes a Gemara in Megilla 31b which recounts a conversation between Hashem and Abraham in the context of the "Brit Bein Habetarim". Abraham asks how he was to know that G-d will not forsake Israel if they sin. Hashem answered "in the merit of the [Temple] sacrifices" . Avraham insisted that this merit is fine when these sacrifices are in existence: what was to happen after the destruction of the Temple? Hashem replied that if B'nei Yisrael learns the laws surrounding the sacrifices, he would consider their study as a virtual sacrificial offering. When we cannot offer sacrifices, we recite the halakhot pertaining to them as a substitute. Uneshalma parim sefateinu therefore refers to the present- day mitzvah of reciting the details of various sacrifices at precisely those times of year that they would normally be offered in the temple . The Rashi above therefore suggests that the avoda in musaf is a fulfillment of the same mitzvah. However, although uneshalma parim sefateinu would initially seem to be a compelling rationale behind our present day avoda recitation, the Rav explains that this phrase alone is insufficient to explain many of the customs and laws surrounding the avoda recitation. For example, immediately before the avoda the cantor chants "ochila lakel", a special supplication that the cantor as representative of the community be given divine assistance in leading the service which is to follow. Why does the cantor need this introductory prayer specifically before leading the avoda service on Yom Kippur? Why is it not recited before the sacrifice detail in every other musaf prayer throughout the year?(1) Moreover, a recitation of the avoda detail actually took place in the course of the avoda ritual itself as performed in the Temple. At the point at which the Kohen Gadol dispatched the sa'ir la'azazel, the Kohen Gadol publicly read (according to Rashi) those three sections in the Torah which discuss the Yom Kippur avoda ritual and those rules associated with Yom Kippur to all those assembled in the Temple courtyard. The function of this public reading was clearly unrelated to uneshalma parim sefateinu since the Bet Hamikdash was obviously still in existence. Yet this part of the service was so important that without it the whole avoda was rendered invalid. Clearly then, there must be is a significance to the avoda recitation beyond a simple fulfillment of uneshalma parim sefateinu. An Affirmation of Torah Sheb'al Peh In the time of Ezra, a translator (meturgaman) was employed during the public Torah readings throughout the year in order to explicate its content in harmony with Torah Sheb'al Peh, the oral law. However, according to the Rav a unique aspect of the Kohen Gadol's public reading was the absence of such a meturgaman; the Kohen Gadol himself expounded Torah Sheb'al Peh as he read from the Torah. The critical importance of the the Torah Sheb'al Peh exposition of Torah Shebichtav (the written law) in this public reading on Yom Kippur, and the fact that the Kohen Gadol himself had to make these clarifications, can be understood in light of a dramatic inconsistency between the literal description of the avoda in Torah Shebichtav and its actual practice in the Bet Hamikdash. First, the Rav explains that the avoda description in Leviticus 16 is complete in almost every way. One seldom finds any biblically mandated mitzvah formulated in this amount of detail. However, one anomaly is present in the biblical prescription. In the course of the avoda description, at the point in which the scapegoat is dispatched to the desert, the Torah states: "And Aaron came to the tent of meeting and removed the linen garments" (Leviticus 16:23). According to the Gemara in Yoma 71A, this portion of the ritual is out of sequence. The change of garments actually took place much later in the avoda: after the removal of the kaf u'machta, the incense ladle and shovel from the Holy of Holies. The basis for the avoda not being performed in the written sequence is because there is a Halacha L'Moshe Misinai, an oral tradition handed down from Moses at Sinai, that the Kohen Gadol must sanctify his hands and feet ten times and immerse himself five times during the ritual. If the biblical description of the avoda were to be followed in the written sequence, there would then be only six sanctifications and three immersions. Therefore, if during his public Torah reading the Kohen Gadol were to publicly read only Torah Shebichtav without inserting the Torah Sheb'al Peh clarifications, there would be an inconsistency between his words and his actions. This divergence between the apparent Torah Shebichtav description and the Torah Sheb'al Peh explanation was in fact one of the differences of opinion between the Pharisees and Saducees (2). During the seven day sequester of the Kohen Gadol prior to Yom Kippur, he was required to review the laws pertaining to the avoda. One rationale given in the Gemara (Yoma 2A) for this halakha is that this sequester mirrors the seven days during which Moses taught Aaron the detail of the mishkan service (3). The Gemara states: "And two scholars of the students of Moshe Rabbeinu were with him all seven days so as to teach him the avoda ritual" (Yoma 4A). Therefore, before the Kohen Gadol could perform the avoda, he must first enter the Bet Medrash, the house of study and study Torah Sheb'al Peh from those who transmit the oral tradition, the "students of Moshe Rabbeinu". Seven days were required to teach the Kohen Gadol the laws within Torah She'bal Peh dealing with the avoda. Given the above, we must ask why the avoda ritual is written so ambiguously in this instance that an apparent dichotomy exists between Torah Shebichtav and Torah Sheb'al Peh? According to the Rav, these inconsistencies were introduced deliberately in order to teach us that Torah Shebichtav without Torah Sheb'al Peh is in fact not Torah at all. The reason an affirmation of the validity of Torah Sheb'al Peh plays such a conspicuous role in the Yom Kippur avoda recitation is explained by the Rav's great grandfather, Reb Yosef Ber Soloveitchik zt'l (the Bet Halevi)(4). He suggests that Yom Kippur is actually the day that Torah Sheb'al Peh was conferred on B'nai Yisrael. The Bet Halevi explains that in the giving of the Torah at Sinai on the first Shevuot, both Torah Shebichtav and Torah Sheb'al Peh were committed to writing, and that in fact the first tablets that Moses brought down from Sinai contained both in a coherent whole. However, as Moses observed B'nai Yisrael after the sin of the golden calf, in the words of the Yalkut Shimoni (Ki Tisa 393), "the words ›in the tablets! flew away". Clarifying this enigmatic statement, the Bet Halevi explains that this refers to the Torah Sheb'al Peh portion having departed, leaving only Torah Shebichtav. Because alone it impossible to fulfill Torah Shebichtav without the Torah Sheb'al Peh explication, this departure figuratively caused the tablets to become heavy, causing Moses to drop them. In contrast to the first set of tablets, the second set, presented to B'nai Yisrael on Yom Kippur, contained only Torah Shebichtav, intending that Torah Sheb'al Peh be based solely on oral transmission. A Gemara in Gittin (60A) quotes Rabbi Yohanan as follows "The Holy One Blessed be He did not make a covenant with Israel except for the sake of the oral transmission as the verse says "through (in Hebrew 'al pi', homiletically translated as 'orally') these words I have made with them a covenant". This verse appears in the Biblical narrative only at the giving of the second tablets(5). After the Kohen Gadol's public reading on Yom Kippur, he said these words: "More than I have read to you is herein written" (Mishnah Yoma 7:1). In a homiletic interpretation, the Rav states that within this phrase the Kohen Gadol indicated that there is an oral tradition that is integral to the avoda. This is the key to understanding the reason for the recitation of the avoda during musaf. The earlier reading is insufficient to accurately describe the avoda; By reciting the avoda, we make the same demonstration of the indispensibility of Torah Sheb'al Peh. Therefore, the Rav continues, this affirmation continues as a central theme in our present day avoda recitation. "Atta Konanta", the version of the seder avoda in the Nusach Sefard machzor, was written during the period of the second Bet Hamikdash, and many in fact maintain that it was composed by the Kohen Gadol himself (6). Its syntax and structure is that of the mishna and baraita. The wording is clearly that of Torah Sheb'al Peh, and indeed constitutes a manifesto declaring faith in the authenticity of Torah Sheb'al Peh (7). Ecstasy and Mourning Besides the affirmation of Torah Sheb'al Peh, another motif is dominant in the avoda recitation. The person reciting these piyutim is placed in an almost beatific trance as he both observes and becomes involved in the ritual as it is unfolding, compelled to follow every detail until its successful completion. In his 1979 Teshuva lecture, the Rav describes the avoda recitation of his father and grandfather in this way: "They said it with so much enthusiasm, such ecstasy, that they could not stop. They were no longer in Warsaw or Brisk: they were transported to a different reality. Although I am not a musician or musicologist, all one had to do was hear the nigun of "Hakohanim Veha'am" to understand . One did not even need to hear the words in order to feel the nostalgia for what once existed and is no longer. Similarly, "V'kach haya moneh: achas, achas v'achas". Towards the end of the avoda, when the scarlet thread turned white, the piyut describes how the nation exuded happiness, expressing pleasure and delight, a feeling of closeness to Hashem : He is right beside me." The avoda description culminates in the majestic piyut "mar'eh kohen", describing the luminous appearance of the Kohen Gadol after successfully completing the avoda: "Why the happiness in reciting "mar'eh kohen"? Why was it sung with such a happy tune? The answer is that the Kohen Gadol reflected the radiance of the shechina. Through witnessing the radiant appearance of the Kohen Gadol, there could be no doubt about Hashem's acceptance of klal yisrael's prayers." At this point, the avoda description itself is complete. However a new theme now appears in the Yom Kippur prayerbook. The refrain of the next piyut reads "fortunate the eye which saw all these things: for the ear to hear of it distresses our soul". In the Rav's words: "Suddenly the payettan and the reader of the piyut are rudely awakened from a dream (8). They cry 'This is no longer the reality in which we live'. It existed once, yes, but is no more. One finds himself alone in a stormy night, dark, lost, and yells 'all this occurred while the temple was in existence: happy the eye which saw all these things' --- BUT NOT OUR EYES." While reciting the avoda, the Jew was transported to a different, beautiful world. He is now rudely awakened to find himself in a bitter exile. The detail we just discussed: "vekach haya moneh, vekach haya omer, hakohanim veha'am..." we no longer have. Immediately after the joy of reciting the avoda, we start to say piyutim of mourning. Suddenly, Yom Kippur is transformed into a Tisha B'av, the mourning reaching its most wrenching moment as we recount the story of the asarah harugei malchut, the ten tannaim martyred by the Romans. Why kinot on Yom Kippur? Why the mourning? The Yerushalmi provides the answer that there is one sin which a person must confront which does not appear in vidui: Every generation in which the Bet Hamikdash is not built is as if it was destroyed by that same generation. The function of mourning on Yom Kippur is the recognition of sin, as it says in the machzor: "aval avonoteinu he'erichu kitzo," our sins have extended its state of destruction. In the introduction to vidui we say "she'ain anu azay panim ukshei oref lomar lefanecha tzadikim anachnu velo chatanu". We deny any pretense of righteousness because our sin is staring us in the face, as it were. Because we find ourselves at a time in which the bet hamikdash remains destroyed, it is impossible to deny that we have sinned. The equivalence between the destruction of the bet hamikdash and our own sins is verbalized explicitly in slichot: "The residence of our temple was destroyed through our sins; our palace was devastated, the beauty of our land was given to aliens, our strength to strangers. Yet we have still not turned back from our erroneous ways: how can we be so stubborn and stiffnecked to say to you that we are righteous and have not sinned..." The startling contrast between the joy of the avoda recitation and the pain evoked by reciting the piyutim immediately following serves a basic cognitive purpose. In order to truly feel a loss, a person must understand two key points: 1) how wonderful life was before the loss and, 2) how terrible life is after the loss. In the words of Lamentations: "Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old" (Lamentations 1:7) To merely articulate our present plight is not a kinah. A born slave feels no deficiency in his life (9) . In order to feel a loss one must first have experienced the "pleasant things" . "This is the point of reading the avoda: to feel the reality of the bet hamikdash which is no longer. This is the kinah a Jew says on Yom Kippur. The mourning which takes place on Yom Kippur is our recognition of sin. The destruction of the Bet Hamikdash is itself our sin." Rabbi Akiva's Affirmation However, hope to attain the closeness to G-d as characterized by the avoda of the Kohen Gadol, is not lost to contemporary man. The words of Rabbi Akiva towards the end of Mishna Yoma is a ray of hope to our generation so far removed from the Temple service. Rabbi Akiva, in response to the feelings of hopelessness felt by the Jewish people upon the Temple's destruction said: "Happy are you Israel: before whom are you purified and who purifies you: your father in heaven" All the darshanim ask, "What is the significance of such a statement? Who else could purify us"? The answer lies in understanding the historical context of the statement. It was the first Yom Kippur after the Temple's destruction. The Jews could not conceive of the possibility of such a Yom Kippur: a Yom Kippur without the Kohen Gadol, sa'ir la'azazel, the Holy of Holies, a Yom Kippur based on one concept alone: individual repentance. The Jews were in pain and despair. How could there be a Yom Kippur without a bet hamikdash? The response of Rabbi Akiva has been explained by the Rav in the following way (10) : "Then rose Rabbi Akiva, the unswerving "optimist", and he said: There is no need for such mournfulness and helplessness. Indeed, we have been bereft of the Temple and its divine dispensation of grace for the atonement of sin. But we have lost only Kapara, atonement and penitence, but not Tahara, Purification. Indeed, we have been bereft of the ceremonies and sacrifices that are relevant to the transcendant act of the erasure of sin by supernatural grace and incomprehensible divine benevolence that alter the past and disrupt the causal chain. The attainment of Kapara will not be as complete and perfect now as it was when the cult worship acts of the High Priest brought man into contact with transcendent and incomprehensible divinity. But we Jews have brought another message of Teshuva to man, that of Tahara. There is nothing transcendent, miraculous or non-rational about Tahara...The performance of Tahara is not directed at a transcendent divinity but at G-d, as our Father, Companion and intimate Counsellor...this communion of G-d - man has not been affected by the loss of outward ceremonial rites" Yom Kippur as a Day of Prayer While in the days of the Temple the avoda service was perceived as being synonymous with the Yom Kippur experience, today our own cognitive association with Yom Kippur is that of a day devoted entirely to prayer. According to the Rav, prayer on Yom Kippur takes on an entirely different complexion than prayer during the rest of the year. The essence of the day of Yom Kippur must be transformed into a "yom tefila" a day of prayer. To accomplish this transformation, the rabbis instituted the Ne'ilah service, the purpose of which is to allow us to request that all the previous prayers of the day be accepted before G-d. This conception of the role of the Nei'lah service is so compelling to the Rav that he actually posits a halakha on this basis . If one forgets to pray one of the three daily prayers during the year in their proper time, it does not normally affect one's halakhic ability to participate in subsequent prayers. However, according to the Rav, if for some reason one did not pray on Yom Kippur until the time for Ne'ilah has arrived, having missed the other prayers of the day, he cannot participate in the Ne'ilah service. Ne'ilah is a prayer whose function is to transform all those previous into one unified prayer activity. Without the earlier prayers there can be no Ne'ilah. On the eve of Yom Kippur, immediately after the amida of ma'ariv, there is a piyut which apprehends the unique nature of prayer on Yom Kippur: "Ya'aleh tahanuneinu me'erev, veyavo shavateinu miboker, veyaraeh rinuneinu ad arev." "May our supplications ascend from evening, and may our cry arrive from morning, and may our praise find favor (literally 'be seen') by evening" In this piyut, the request is explicitly made that the entire day be a yom tefila in that one already anticipates Ne'ilah in his prayers from the previous evening. All three verbs in this first sentence of the piyut are paralleled by the biblical description of three stages in Israel's prayer during the Egyptian exile. There are three parts to the piyut: 1) Evening - Ascension: The Torah describes the initial stage of prayer by the enslaved Hebrews: "...and their supplication ascended unto G-d by reason of their bondage" ( Exodus 2:23) At this point in their slavery experience, Israel had no intention of formulating prayer as such. This initial stage of prayer is little more than a poorly articulated instinctive cry (10). According to the Ramban, Hashem Himself "lifted" their supplication, allowing their cry to rise up before Him. On the evening of Yom Kippur, we similarly ask Hashem to allow our prayer to rise. 2) Morning - Arrival : "...the cry of Bnai Yisrael has come before me" (Exodus 3:9) In the morning we ask Hashem that our prayer enter before Him and be heard. 3) Evening - Acceptance ("seeing"): "...and G-d saw...and took cognizance" (Exodus 2:25) Ne'ilah is the prayer in which we ask for Hashem's acceptance of all our prayers, uniting all the previous prayers into one large "ma'aseh tefila" or prayer activity. The piyut therefore expresses the hope that our prayers of the evening become a suitable introduction to those of the morning, and that those of the morning be a suitable introduction to those of the following evening, in accordance with the Biblical verse regarding Yom Kippur: "From evening until evening you shall keep this Sabbath" (Leviticus 23:32) FOOTNOTES This essay is based largely on the Yarchei Kallah and Kinus Teshuva, unless otherwise noted 1) On the Shabbat prior Pesach, the cantor recites a similar supplicatory introductory piyut ("Avo Behayil"), prior to a piyut which details the halakhot of chametz and matza. However, in this case the chazan is asking permission to detail halachot which are are applicable today. In contrast, the avoda in our day is not in practice. 2) This disagreement is not mentioned specifically in the Gemara. The major disagreement between the Pharisees and the Saducees, recorded in the Gemara in Yoma 53A, was whether the Kohen Gadol was to prepare the incense while in the Kodesh Kodashim, or whether to prepare it before entering there. 3) According to the Rav, during this seven day prelude, the Kohen Gadol experiences two fundamental changes of his personal status. On one level, the seven days elevates the Kohen Gadol until he is the virtual personification of Aaron himself. For this reason the Biblical avoda description refers specifically to tasks that Aaron was to perform (i.e. "bezot yavo Aharon el hakodesh") rather than a generalized description of the Kohen Gadol's duties. On a second level, the Kohen Gadol becomes transformed into a holy Temple vessel, as he was required to use his hands to transfer incense from the ladle to the shovel while in the Holy of Holies. The seven days of avoda preparation thus facilitates both transformations. 4)Sha'alot Utshovot Bet Halevi, Drush 14. 5)The Bet Halevi further explains the reason Torah Sheb'al Peh was presented orally only after the first set of tablets were broken. According to a Gemara in Eruvin (54), had the sin of the golden calf not take place, Israel would never have experienced the yoke of foreign domination. However, Israel once having sinned was vulnerable to outside conquest. G-d forsaw that these nations would expropriate Israel's religious texts as their own. Hence, by keeping this portion of the Torah away from Scripture, Torah Sheb'al Peh remained the unique possession of Israel. 5) Interestingly, the Rav indicated that the Nusach Ashkenaz version of the avoda (Amitz Koah) was composed much later and contains with it a few difficult passages which seem inconsistent with the avoda service as it was practiced. 6)According to the Rav, just as Yom Kippur is the holiday commemorating the giving of Torah Sheb'al Peh, Succot is the Yom Tov celebrating Torah Sheb'al Peh. The Saducees and Pharisees argued about very basic rules involving the Succot festival, e.g. Aravot, Nisuch Hamayim. Indeed, what is a Succa? What should its height be? Ninety percent of the halochos of a Succa are Halacha L'Moshe Misinai. Succot is therefore the yom tov of Torah Sheb'al Peh. At the same time Succot is the holiday wherein we celebrate the taharat hanefesh effected by Yom Kippur. ("'Uv'yom harishon': rishon le'avonot" - Vayikra Rabba 30:7). 7)The Rav's tone changes dramatically at this point in the lecture. His tone is forboding, becoming almost cynical as he says the word "but not our eyes" at the end of the end of the paragraph. 8)See Tradition, June 1978 "Redemption, Prayer and Talmud Torah": " The animal is exposed to pain; so is the slave. When the slave meets with pain he reacts like the animal, uttering a sharp shrill sound. However, the howl of the beast, like the shriek of the slave, lasts a moment in the darkness and the hush of the night. In a split second all is silent again. There is no aftermath to the pain sensation of the animal or the slave; there follows no complaint, no request, no protest, no question of why and what. The slave does not know suffering, lacking, as he does, the very existential need awareness which generates suffering". 9)J.B. Soloveitchik in "Sacred and Profane", Gesher 3 (1), June 1966. See also "On Repentance" chapter on "Atonement and Purification" 10) See Tradition, 1976: Redemption, Prayer and Talmud Torah, "Moses, by defending the helpless Jew, restored sensitivity to the dull slaves. Suddenly they realized that all that pain, anguish, humiliation and cruelty...is evil. This realization brought in its wake not only sharp pain, but a sense of suffering as well. With suffering came loud protest, the cry...The dead silence of non-existence was gone; the voice of human existence was now heard....It is in this second stage, with the awakening of the need awareness, that prayer makes its entry. This level of intermediate prayer is not yet tefila but tze'akah, a human outcry... there is not yet a clear understanding of what one is crying for... Tze'akah is primordial prayer, the voice restored, the word still lacking". Translated and organized by A. Lustiger. Questions can be sent to alustig@erenj.