Seven days before Yom Kippur the Kohen Gadol is entrusted to elders of the Beit Din. They read the order of the day before him and say: “My master the Kohen Gadol, read it yourself, perhaps you have forgotten, or never learned.” On the eve they hand him to the elders of the priesthood and make him swear to change nothing of what they told him; he turns aside and weeps, and they weep too.
Dimensions
- seven days of reading
- “read it yourself”
- the oath on the eve
Sources
- Yoma 1:3“מָסְרוּ לוֹ זְקֵנִים מִזִּקְנֵי בֵית דִּין, וְקוֹרִין לְפָנָיו בְּסֵדֶר הַיּוֹם, וְאוֹמְרִים לוֹ, אִישִׁי כֹהֵן גָּדוֹל, קְרָא אַתָּה בְּפִיךָ”
- Yoma 1:5“הוּא פוֹרֵשׁ וּבוֹכֶה, וְהֵן פּוֹרְשִׁין וּבוֹכִין”
Project decisionTour's choice: what they read, and how, the Mishna does not say; the tour shows two on a bench of the chamber, one with an open scroll. They wear what the tour's Israelites wear.