I recently encountered an old story that astounded me in its implications. But before I share the details, it would be more than appropriate for me to share a couple of disclaimers and to state some things up front.
I am not an antisemite. I have profound respect for Judaism and for the Jews generally. So please, nobody needs to think that this story in any way is a disparagement or an attack on Judaism.
Also, I want to express my appreciate to Rod Dreher, who runs one of the best Stacks, for bringing this story to my attention. Since I read his particilar Stack entry that details this story, I’ve been mulling this over in my mind quite a bit.
The Talmud (and many other sources) tell us that on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple at Jerusalem. This was an explicit part of the duties of the high priest, to petition God to expiate the sins of the people.
As related by Roy Schoeman, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, in an interview:
[T]he Talmud recounts that when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the sins of the Jewish people were taken away each year on one day, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies with a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people for the preceding year. Each year, a scarlet thread was affixed to the entry to the Holy of Holies, and miraculously, when the sacrifice within was accepted, the thread would turn white as a sign that the sins had been forgiven. Well, the Talmud recounts that, for no clearly identifiable reason, the miracle ceased to take place about 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. In other words, after about 30 A.D. the thread never again was turned white! We know, as Christians, that that was precisely when the Temple sacrifices lost their efficacy — at the moment of the Crucifixion, about 30 A.D., when as a sign of the fact the curtain in the Temple was rent in two (Matthew 27:51). Thus to Christian eyes it is evident that the Talmud itself attests to the truth of Christianity. Jewish scholars have an alternative, not very convincing, explanation of why the miracle ceased to occur — that God had stopped forgiving the Jews their sins because too many of them had committed the unforgivable sin of following Jesus!
I find it significant that a Talmudic source would match perfectly our understanding of what happened to the Jews from a Christian perspective. Not only did the scarlet thread never again turn white after about 30 AD, but according to the Rosh Hashanah 31b portion of the William Davidson Talmud (Koren - Steinsaltz):
During the forty years before the Second Temple was destroyed the strip of crimson wool would not turn white; rather, it would turn a deeper shade of red.
This state of affairs held until the destruction of Herod’s Temple by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD. The Jews were largely destroyed and scattered to the four corners of the earth.
Truth really is stranger than fiction.
La distruzione del tempio di Gerusalemme - Francesco Hayez
It has been many months since I wrote anything here. When I opened this Stack, I had intended to be much more active in writing. Turns out, I am not a very good writer, which is a sad confession to make for someone who works as both a linguist and a lawyer. Nevertheless, I am going to endeavor to be more prolific in my writing and share more things that I find interesting and vital, even though it may not seem all that interesting to anyone who reads my Stack.
I had never heard that story before. 3 Nephi 15: 4-5, "Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses. Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end."