Questions on Atonement of Sins

The following explanation is taken from the work of Rabbi Stuart Federow. Some explanations, however, were added into the original work but are sectioned properly to emphasize that it’s not from the word of Rabbi Federow. It should be emphasized that Jews don’t mention the name of God in vain. Hence, the name God in the work of Rabbi Federow is written Gd. The translation of the Bible verses, however, were taken as is from the respective versions.

The Gd-man relationship was never limited to animal sacrifices, nor was it ever the only means by which a human being obtained forgiveness from Gd for wrongdoing.

The centrality of the animal sacrifices ceased, not with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, but rather with the first destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians. Please remember that the vast majority of Jews never went back to the Promised Land. Instead, they remained in Babylonia, despite the permission and encouragement of Cyrus of Persia to return. By the time Jesus was born, 80% of the world’s Jewish community lived outside of the Promised Land, and were unconcerned about the cessation of the animal sacrifices. After the Temple was reestablished, the Jews of Babylonia would make an annual financial gift for the maintenance of the Temple, but never worried that Gd was not going to forgive their sins without a blood sacrifice. Neither do Diaspora Jews worry about this today. The reason is that the Bible makes it explicitly clear that Gd had given us other means for obtaining forgiveness.

Those who believe in the efficacy of blood sacrifice look to Leviticus 17:11 for justification:

But if you read this verse in context, you will find that it refers to abstaining from eating or drinking the blood of a sacrifice, and nothing more. Gd commanded this prohibition in order to maintain the distinction between the Jewish people and the pagans. Most pagans ate the blood of their sacrifices as a means of incorporating their gods into their bodies and into their lives. (See ‘The Golden Bough’ by Sir James Frazer, the chapter entitled ‘Eating The Gd.’) Perhaps this is the source of the Christian rite of communion. But the holiness of the People of Israel requires them to abhor the pagan ways and not to hold the same beliefs as their pagan neighbors. The entire quotation from Leviticus 17:10-14 reads:

Some might still insist that blood is needed to atone for sins. But there are many examples in the TaNaKh where other things besides blood atone for sins. If you are poor and unable to afford a blood sacrifice, Gd allows you to use flour, which is not from an animal and therefore has no blood. If the poor were not able to offer a sacrifice of flour, forgiveness would only be for the wealthy – but Gd would never exclude humans from obtaining forgiveness on the basis of wealth:

So here, in the middle of the commandments concerning the sacrifices for sin, the Bible tells us we do not need any blood sacrifice. This is clear, unambiguous proof; any claim to the contrary is unbiblical - some would say antibiblical.

Remember, too, the story of the book of Jonah. Jonah tried to escape from doing Gd’s will regarding the people of the city of Niniveh. After the incident of the great fish, he goes to Niniveh, says five words to the people, and what do they do? They fast:

Please note that the text does NOT read that Gd saw their sacrifices; the people of Niniveh were never commanded to sacrifice. Nor does the text read that Gd saw that they had the ‘right faith.’ Rather it says that Gd saw what they did: their works. Nor did Gd require that the people convert to Judaism. Their repentance was accepted, though they were Gentiles.

And in the verse below we see jewelry offered for atonement, but no blood is shed.

Another example is that Isaiah had his sin removed with a live coal:

It can be pointed out that, without the Temple in Jerusalem, we can no longer offer any kind of ritual sacrifice, bloody or otherwise. This is true. It is not, however, the reason that Jews do not believe in blood sacrifice. Instead, it is the reason that Gd gave the people many different methods of atonement. There was a time in Israel’s history when the people became all too consumed with the sacrificial ceremonies. For this, Gd rebuked them, and reminded them that the Laws of Gd were more important than the sacrifices.

Unintentional Sins

Of all the methods Gd gave to us for atonement, the sacrifices were the weakest. (Please see below at ‘There were other methods…’). This is the case because sacrifices only made atonement for one kind of sin. Several verses seem to indicate that there needs to be a sacrifice in order to gain atonement for sins. But it must be pointed out just which sins are forgiven by these sacrifices: unintentional sins AND ONLY unintentional sins. This is stated repeatedly:

Intentional Sins

That covers the atonement for unintentional sin. However, if someone were to commit a sin intentionally, he would be punished:

Gd is a righteous judge. For intentional sins to be atoned for, there had to be repentance and restitution – and often punishment – because the sins were committed on purpose.

Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a society where, if a criminal stole and stripped your car, he would have to replace it, and then give you 20% in addition to what it was worth?

There were other methods used to gain atonement that were superior to the sacrificial system. This is what Gd truly desires from us: Teshuvah, which means repentance and return to Gd.