Ancient Yom Kippur: how Jews prayed 2,000 years ago
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Two thousand years ago, Jews across the Land of Israel and the Diaspora fasted on Yom Kippur while the high priest performed rituals in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The biblical rules of fasting and avoiding labor applied to everyone, but the specific ways people observed the day outside Jerusalem remain unclear. Professor Yair Furstenberg of Hebrew University suggests writings by Philo of Alexandria, who lived from 20 BCE to 50 CE, offer insight.
Philo described even less observant Jews taking the day seriously, spending it in fervent prayer asking for forgiveness. While synagogues existed, they were primarily used for Torah study, not the formal, fixed prayers common today. Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls indicates that some Jewish groups, like the Qumran sect, did create their own set of fixed prayers, emphasizing sorrow and repentance.
However, other sources, including a Mishnah from the time, portray Yom Kippur as a joyous occasion, with celebrations connected to the Temple service and the symbolic removal of sins. Furstenberg believes that for many Jews outside Jerusalem, the Temple service was the central focus of Yom Kippur, and they awaited its outcome. He suggests that personal prayer and introspection likely played a larger role in their observance than the synagogue-centered practices of today.
Ultimately, reconstructing the exact experience of Yom Kippur for ordinary Jews 2,000 years ago is difficult, and even modern observers often grapple with finding meaningful words for prayer.
