In his
recent book, Gathered in One, Bradley
Kramer offered the following (albeit, implicit) evidence that there is the Aseret Y’may T’Shuvah, or “Ten Days of
Repentance” in the Book of Mormon:
Ten Days of
Repentance
For instance, although the Book of Mormon
does not mention Rosh Hashanah by name, the observances and ideas traditionally
associated with this festival resonate remarkably with the initial context and
impetus of Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon begins, after all, at “the commencement of the first year of the
reign of Zedekiah” (1 Ne. 1:4)—a phrase consistent with Rosh Hashanah, or “head”
of the year. This holy day, although occurring during the seventh month of the
Jewish calendar, nonetheless celebrates the start of a new year, much as
college commencement services officially begin post-graduate life sometimes
months after such a lie has already begun. However, unlike college
commencements and secular New Year’s celebrations, this “Jewish New Year,” as
Rosh Hashanah is sometimes called, is not a period of celebration and revelry.
Instead Rosh Hashanah initiates a period of intense self-examination called Aseret Y’may T’Shuvah, or the “Ten Days
of Repentance.”
During these days, observant Jews prepare for
Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, by making themselves right before God, a
process that not only requires that the ask God for forgiveness but demands
that they review their behavior during the past year, identify any harm they
may have inflicted upon others, and actively seek to remedy that harm. As Rabbi
George Robinson writes: “Traditionally, Jews will ask their friends, family,
and colleagues to forgive them for transgressions they may have committed in
the previous year. God may pardon our transgressions against the Eternal, but
only a person who has been sinned against may forgive one who traduced her”
(George Robinson, Essential Judaism: A
Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals, 95-96). Consequently, Rosh
Hashanah, for many Jews, is a day where they are alerted to the reality of
their need to repent. In services, a shofar, or ram’s horn, is sounded several
times in order to rouse them from their moral slumber and wake them to the need
to improve in their lives. The sermons delivered on this day, similarly stress
the necessity of repentance. As Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin writes, “The Sabbath
which falls during this ten-period is known as Shabbat Teshuvah, or the Sabbath
of Repentance” (Hayim Halevy Donin, To Be
a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life, 246), and it is
devoted to this subject. Indeed, as Rabbi Robinson explains, “even before it
became the custom for a rabbi to sermonize regularly, this Shabbat was marked
by a sermon, often given by a leader of the Jewish community, exhorting Jews to
repent” (Robinson, Essential Judaism,
96).
It is therefore consistent with this ten-day
period of intense self-scrutiny that there came at the beginning of the Book of
Mormon many prophets to Jerusalem, “prophesying unto the people that they must
repent” (1 Ne. 1:4). It is also consistent with this period that Lehi would
then go forth and pray “unto the Lord . . . in behalf of his people” (v. 5).
According to Rabbi Wayne Dosick, in addition to the sermons, the prayers during
this time similarly “revolve around evaluation of conduct and behavior in the
year just ended, repentance for mistakes, and transgressions, and seeking
forgiveness from fellow human beings and from God” (Wayne Dosick, Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish
Belief, Tradition, and Practice, 130). Rabbi Robinson writes: “Selikhot prayers [penitential prayers]
are read before the morning service and Avinu
Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) is recited after the Amidah” (Robinson, Essential
Judaism, 96). One such selikhah
from the Amidah reads:
Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned,
Pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed,
For Thou art a pardoner and forgiver.
Blessed art Thou, Lord, Gracious One who forgives abundantly. (Hayim Halevy Donin, To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service, 84)
Pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed,
For Thou art a pardoner and forgiver.
Blessed art Thou, Lord, Gracious One who forgives abundantly. (Hayim Halevy Donin, To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer Book and the Synagogue Service, 84)
Like most Jewish prayers, these prayers are
expressed in the first-person plural and as such unite the supplicant with all
Israel. Though individual sins are of paramount importance, individual Jews do
not often ask for forgiveness for these alone; they plead instead for
forgiveness for all of Israel’s sins. As Rabbi Donin writes, such prayers, like
Lehi’s for “his people” (1 Ne. 1;5),
very much affirm the very Jewish “principle of mutual responsibility and concern”
(Donin, To Pray as a Jew, 7).
In addition to the fact that Lehi prays for
his people, what happens to him afterwards similarly resonates with Jewish
traditions associated with the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As
he prays, Lehi experiences a vision to powerful that “he did quake and tremble exceedingly”
(1 Ne. 1:6). He is overcome and returns to his home and rest. He receives none,
however, and instead is carried away in another vision in which he sees God “sitting
upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels,” all singing
praises unto Him (v. 8). During this vision, one of the angels descends from
his heavenly court and gives Lehi a book to read (v. 11). The words he reads
are full of condemnation and chastisement, as well as predictions that
Jerusalem “should be destroyed” and that many of the inhabitants “should perish
by the sword, and . . . be carried away captive into Babylon” (v. 13).
This view of God and his relation to the city
of Jerusalem is identical to the way Jews traditionally picture God and his relation
to them on Rosh Hashanah. According to Rabbi Dosick, Jews visualize God at this
time as a king “sitting on the Throne of Judgment, writing the fate of each
individual for the coming year in the Book of Life” (Dosick, Living Judaism, 132). The idea is that
during this ten-day period the Book of Life is open and will not be closed
until after Yom Kippur. In other words, the judgments written down in this book
can yet be altered. Sincere repentance can change God’s mind and modify one’s
future. As a result, during this time prayers such as these dominate synagogue
services:
Remember us unto life, O King who delightest
in life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life so that we may live worthily for
Thy sake, O Lord of life . . .
O inscribe all the children of Thy covenant for a happy life . . .
In the book of life, blessing, peace and ample sustenance, may we, together with all Thy people, the house of Israel, be remembered and inscribed before Thee for a happy life and for peace. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who establishes peace. (Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book, 20, 24-25)
O inscribe all the children of Thy covenant for a happy life . . .
In the book of life, blessing, peace and ample sustenance, may we, together with all Thy people, the house of Israel, be remembered and inscribed before Thee for a happy life and for peace. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who establishes peace. (Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book, 20, 24-25)
In keeping with these prayers, the
traditional greeting for Rosh Hashanah is L’shanah
tovah tikatevu or “May you be inscribed (in God’s Book of Life) for a good
year” (Dosick, Living Judaism, 134,
137). Much like the people of Nineveh in the book of Jonah (the biblical book
traditionally read on Yom Kippur [Dosick, 136-37]), traditional observant Jews
hope that they can elude destruction and death by repenting, honestly and
sincerely. Lehi took has the same hope for his people. After he has experienced
his terrible vision of Jerusalem’s demise, he exclaims:
Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God
Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and
mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art
merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!
(1 Ne. 1:14)
Such an enthusiastic reaction does not make
sense unless the fate of Jerusalem has not yet been sealed. The Book of Life
must still be open. There is still a chance that that is written in it can yet
be altered. Otherwise, Lehi’s praise of God’s mercy and his description of God
as merciful is senseless, even cruel. In this way, the Book of Mormon not only
connects with Rosh Hashanah, but this connection explains what is going on in
it. (Bradley J. Kramer, Gathered in One:
How the Book of Mormon Counters Anti-Semitism in the New Testament [Salt
Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2019], 74-77)