Why Fast on Yom Kippur?
By
James Scott Trimm
On Yom Kippur the Torah commands us to “afflict our souls (‘INuI NeFeSH)” as we read:
“And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourns among you… It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.”
(Lev 16:29.31)
“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH… For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people… It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
(Lev 23:27,29.32)
“And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:”
(Num. 29:7)
The expression “to afflict your souls” in Hebrew is a wphemism meaning “to fast” (Tzom). The Hebrew phrase ‘INuI NeFeSH is translated as “afflicting the soul”. It also appears in a number of Scriptural passages, in which it is clear that this expression refers to fasting:
“…I afflicted (KJV: “humbled”) my soul with fasting;
and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”
(Psalms 35:13)
“…I wept, and afflicted (KJV: “chastened”) my soul with fasting,
that was to my reproach.”
(Psalms 69:11)
“Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and you see not?
wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and you take no notice?…”
(Isaiah 58:3; see also vv.5 & 10)
This is because the word “Soul” Means “appetite”
It should be pointed out that one of the meanings of the word “NeFeSH”, commonly translated as “soul”, is in fact “appetite”. For example:
“And put a knife to your throat,
if you be a man given to appetite (NeFeSH).”
(Proverbs 23:2-3)
” For he satisfies the longing soul (NeFeSH),
and fills the hungry soul (NeFeSH) with goodness.”
(Psalms 107:9)
“The full soul (NeFeSH) loathes a honeycomb;
but to the hungry soul (NeFeSH) every bitter thing is sweet.”
(Proverbs 27:7)
“Yea, they are greedy dogs
which can never satisfy their souls (NeFeSH) (KJV: “have enough”)”
(Isaiah 56,11)
This is why Acts refers to Yom Kippur as “The Day of the Fast”:
9 And we were there a long time, until even the day of the Jewish fast was past. And it was dangerous for a man to travel by sea, and Paul counseled them,
(Acts 27:9)
We are in a hole! Our rent was paid late, wiping us out and leaving us with no funds to cover bills hitting our account on Monday!
We need your help to continue the ongoing work, bringing the message of Messiah to the Jewish people, and bringing the message of Torah to the world.
In these uncertain times, we need your support more than ever. The time is short, and there is much work to be done. As you might imagine, donations are low. If you can, please donate. This is no time to pull back from the great work in front of us!
As you know we have been digging ourselves out of a budget shortfall. As I have said to you many times, I look on this work as a co-operative one with me, and all of you combining our resources together in order to get the job done of helping to teach this great truth to all in the world who will listen. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your continued support, you are the ones who make it all possible by your contributions and your prayers for our work. I truly appreciate your help in every way.
If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work.
Anxious to hear your reply to this information I dug up please…
Anah is used 83 times in The Tanakh (“Old Testament”). Perhaps we should take a look at some of the other places it is used and see if it makes any sense to apply “fasting” to it in some of these places.
Then He said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and oppressed [anah] 400 years.”
~Genesis 15:13 (TLV)
“If you mistreat [anah] my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, though no one is with us, look! God is the witness between you and me.”
~Genesis 31:50 (TLV)
When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped [anah] her.
~Genesis 34:2 (TLV)
So they set slave masters over them to afflict [anah] them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Raamses as storage cities for Pharaoh. But the more they afflicted [anah] them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread. So the Egyptians dreaded the presence of Bnei-Yisrael.
~Exodus 1:11-12 (TLV)
So the Philistine lords came up to her and said to her, “Coax him, see where his great strength comes from and by what we may overpower [anah] him, so we may bind him to subdue him—then we’ll each of us give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
~Judges 16:5 (TLV)
I will also set up a place for My people Israel and will plant them, so they may dwell in their own place and not be disturbed again. Nor will the children of wickedness afflict [anah] them anymore as in the past, since the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. So I will give you rest from all your enemies.
~2 Samuel 7:10-11 (TLV)
Of course, I could go on and list many more examples—again, the word is used 83 times. But I think it is quite apparent from these references that it makes zero sense at all to say that “fasting” is what any of these passages refers to. After all, just in the first reference clearly nobody would believe that the Israelites were to fast for 400 years. Laban, in Genesis 34, certainly was not referring to fasting when he was discussing the treatment of his daughters.
Moshe knew what it meant. He told Israel in the wilderness. They told their children, and their children told their children and our fathers told us. In the first century Philo was well aware of the meaning, he writes:
The first reason is the temperance which the lawgiver is continually exhorting men to display at all times, both in their language and in their appetites, both in and below the belly. And he most especially enjoins them to display it now, when he devotes a day to the particular observances of it. For when a person has once learnt to be indifferent to meat and drink, those very necessary things, what can there be of things which are superfluous that he would find any difficulty in disregarding?
(Special Laws II, 195)
And Paul calls it “the day of the Jewish fast”
9 And we were there a long time, until even the day of the Jewish fast was past. And it was dangerous for a man to travel by sea, and Paul counseled them,
(Acts 27:9)
At the end of the day, we can either accept the understanding passed to us by our fathers, or make something up.