Far from the Holy of Holies: How did ancient Jews observe Yom Kippur 2,000 years ago?

Two millennia ago, as the high priest made his way to the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, Jews across the Land of Israel and the Diaspora engaged in fasting. The rituals and observances practiced in the Temple during this solemn day are described in the Bible (Leviticus 16), the Mishnah (Yoma), and the Talmud.However, understanding what ordinary Jews outside Jerusalem and in the Diaspora did on Yom Kippur during Temple times is a challenging task.

To shed light on this, I spoke with Prof. Yair Furstenberg, a Talmud scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Furstenberg points to Philo, a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria (20 BCE-50 CE), as a primary source for understanding Yom Kippur practices in the Diaspora.While fasting was a common practice for all Jews, Philo notes in his work "The Special Laws" that even those who were not particularly religious observed the day with solemnity.

He writes that both the zealous and the less observant would feel the sacredness of the day, and even the wicked would join the righteous in self-control and virtue.The majority of Jews likely spent the day in prayer, seeking God's mercy and forgiveness for their sins. However, the formalized prayers we are familiar with today, such as Kol Nidrei, "Avinu Malkenu," and "Unetaneh Tokef," had not yet been composed.

It is unclear whether Jews gathered for communal prayer or prayed individually, as fixed prayer formats were not established in Judaism during the Second Temple period.However, the Qumran sect, which existed from the second century BCE until 68 CE, did have a set of fixed prayers, as evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls. One such prayer from the scrolls expresses a somber understanding of Yom Kippur, emphasizing sorrow and weeping, even though the Torah states that the day should be one of affliction.