Yom Kippur: Choose Life: Fast From Child Sacrifice

Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement in Judaism, is a holy day commanded by God in the Torah. On this day, the high priest enters the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle to atone for the sins of the Jewish people. 

Yom Kippur Torah Reading Says No Child Sacrifice

The morning Torah readings, Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:1-34 and Bamidbar (Numbers) 29:7-11, describe the priestly activities required for the process. The afternoon Torah reading, Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:1-30, focuses on a myriad of sexual sins, the most egregious sins against God because they desecrate God's name and reject His moral authority.

No getting around the clear message about child sacrifice. In plain language Leviticus 18:21 says: And you shall not give any of your offspring to pass through for Molech. And you shall not profane the Name of your God. I am the Lord.

The rabbis who long ago selected this Torah reading for the afternoon Yom Kippur service knew the leaders of the community  needed to remind the people of these egregious sins against God and the need to atone for these sins. 

Torah Turned Inside and Out

Currently, Jews have no high priests, nor do we have a Holy Temple or Tabernacle in which to observe this atonement ritual. For a majority of Jews, Yom Kippur worship now consists of attending a customized religious service and admitting collective guilt for all manner of immoral and unholy behaviors as redefined by their leadership as ethical and moral. Congregants receive forgiveness for not doing enough to remake the world into a progressive nightmare. They are given a 'clean slate' to start the new year and told to try harder to implement misplaced compassion and social justice, no matter how much damage ensues.

Today, sexual deviancy and child killing in the womb are viewed as normative rights in secularized Jewish communities. Their leaders are the new high priests who 'atone' for Jewish lapses in upside down, inside out, anti-Torah morality and ethics. These pseudo religious organizations have built partnerships with many Jewish groups and institutions and now yield tremendous influence over many Jews, young and old. here and in Israel.

The Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism lists Reproductive Justice and Abortion Access as Jewish values, so no surprise that the website doesn't show the afternoon Torah reading for the Yom Kippur service. A majority of secular leaning Jews attending Yom Kippur services only attend the morning service, so no need to mention it, anyway.

Reproduction Health and Rights

https://rac.org/issues/reproductive-health-and-rights

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism trains their rabbis in New York, Los Angeles, California, Buenos Aires, Argentina), Berlin, Germany and Jerusalem, Israel. Their website doesn't show the afternoon Yom Kippur Torah reading, either. Here is a lecture on reproductive justice on the JTS website.

Religious Misconceptions: American Jews and the Politics of Abortion

https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/american-jews-and-the-politics-of-abortion/

Abortion activist Jewish leaders use their pulpits to deliver Yom Kippur sermons that call for more money and political activity for baby killing. What matters most is expanding their warped religiosity into culture and politics. No thought or consideration is given to the death and devastation from abortion itself. No worries, either, over the rise in Jew hatred that Jewish abortion political action generates.

Prophetic Guidance for Forgiveness and Redemption

How can Jews whose understanding of Torah is profoundly distorted be spiritually rehabilitated and effectively atone? The answer can be found in our Yom Kippur Haftarah readings, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 57:14 - 58:14, the Book of Yonah (Jonah) and Micah (Micha) 7:18-20. None of these prophetic voices calls for death as a remedy for social ills. Instead, kindness, care and holiness will save souls and the nation.

Isaiah explains to the Jews how to atone."Loosen the fetters of wickedness, untie the bands of perverseness, set the oppressed free, and break every oppressive yoke. Offer your bread to the hungry, bring the wandering poor into your home. When you see someone naked, clothe him . . . Then you shall call and the Lord shall answer, you shall cry and He shall say, 'Here I am.'"

The book of Jonah demonstrates the power of fasting, prayer and repentance that save nations when dire consequences of pagan practices become imminent. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, whereupon he rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh:

By the counsel of the king and his nobles, saying: "Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep shall taste anything; they shall not graze, neither shall they drink water. And they shall cover themselves with sackcloth, both man and beast, and they shall call mightily to God, and everyone shall repent of his evil way and of the dishonest gain which is in their hands. 

Whoever knows shall repent, and God will relent, and He will return from His burning wrath, and we will not perish." And God saw their deeds, that they had repented of their evil way, and the Lord relented concerning the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.

Micah reassures us of God's forgiving nature. "Who is a God like You, Who forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not maintain His anger forever, for He desires loving-kindness. He shall return and grant us compassion; He shall hide our iniquities, and You shall cast into the depths of the sea all their sins.You shall give the truth of Jacob, the loving-kindness of Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from days of yore."

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Cecily Routman 

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.