The Expiation Day

The Expiation Day
LEVITICUS : 16: 1-34

I climbed Mount Sinai in September 1973, near the beginning of the seventh month in the Jewish year as Leviticus computes it (counting from Passover), and thus just after the New Year on the modern Jewish calendar. It was five days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most solemn occasion in the year. Israel virtually closes down: there is no public transport; the movie theaters, stores, and businesses are closed; and television and radio are suspended. On the Day of Atonement that year, five days after I had been in Sinai, Egypt and Syria launched an attack to reclaim land occupied by Israel and won an initial advantage by their surprise move. Jews were scandalized at the attack on Israel’s holiest day, but I guess all is fair in love and war, especially when you want to get your land back; and if religion becomes a “get-out-of-jail-free” card, it becomes prostituted...