TISHREI Lev 19:30
כִּֽי־בַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם לְטַהֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם מִכֹּל֙ חַטֹּ֣אתֵיכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֥י ה' תִּטְהָֽרוּ
alhatorah.org translation: “for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Hashem.”
Wikipedia, “Yom Kippur”:
Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur (1878) Maurycy Gottlieb
כִּֽי־בַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם לְטַהֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם מִכֹּל֙ חַטֹּ֣אתֵיכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֥י ה' תִּטְהָֽרוּ
“for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Hashem.”
The month of Tishrei is the first month of the rabbinic calendar year. It is dedicated to repentance, judgment, and celebration. The most sacred day of the Jewish calendar year is the tenth day of this month, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Leviticus chapter 19 describes the central priestly ritual of the Day of Atonement, in which there is a special convergence of sacred space, sacred time, and the sacred religious office of the High Priest. The ritual atones for the sins of the people, cleansing them “on this day”.
Spoiler Alert: The remainder of this text introduces the ambiguity discussed in this verse. The ambiguity is most readily discernible through consideration of punctuation: does the verse say that the ritual/day “will cleanse you from all your sins” and that “you will be cleansed before God”? or does it specify that “from all your sins before God you shall be cleansed”? Framed syntactically, the question is whether “before God” is adjectival, modifying “sins”, or adverbial, modifying “clean(se)” ( לטהר or תטהרו). A related grammatical/religious question comes into play in some of the commentaries is: who or what is the subject of יכפר? is it the day itself that atones, or God, or human action (sacrifice, prayer, scapegoat, repentance etc.).
Modern English translations follow the former understanding, which I will designate READING A: “cleansed before God”.
ויקרא טז: ל
כי־ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו
For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.
For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.
For on this day atonement shall be made for you to purify you of all your sins; you shall be pure before the LORD.
For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Hashem.
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READING A:
Reading A.1: For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you from all your sins; you shall be cleansed before God.
Reading A.2: For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be cleansed before God. + a variation: from all your sins you shall cleanse [yourself before] God.
Adverbial function of ‘לפני ה: how they will be cleansed (modifying לטהר or תטהרו).
READING B: “from all your sins before God”
For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you from all your <sins before God>; from all your sins you will be clean.
Adjectival function of ‘לפני ה, modifying “sins”
The verse is quite straightforward in its original context, and READING A is followed not only by all the modern translations cited above, but also by all the traditional commentators who offer their own interpretation, instead of, or in addition to, citing the rabbinic midrashic alternative. READING B (found in mishnah Yoma 8:9 and Midrash Sifra), is a midrashic reading imposed on the text for homiletic reasons; it relies on a schematic rabbinic categorization of commandments as consisting of (religious and ritual) “commandments between a human and God” and (interpersonal) “commandments between a human and their fellow [human]”.
Some secondary sources:
(1) http://shaalvim.co.il/torah/maayan-article.asp?id=320:
הרב ד"ר שלמה קסירר, 'עד שירצה את חבירו': בין מחילה להתאחדות: הרהורים תחביריים, פרשניים והגותיים בעקבות המשנה במסכת יומא ח, ט
(2) Nechama Leibowitz gilyonot:
2.1. Sections ג and ד . http://www.nechama.org.il/pages/99.html
ג.
"מכל חטאותיכם תטהרו" - מדברי התנאים
ד.
בביאור "לפני ה' תטהרו"
2.2 http://www.nechama.org.il/pages/970.html
(3) https://traditiononline.org/how-to-end-yom-kippur/
"How to End Yom Kippur," Shlomo Zuckier Tradition Online | October 2, 2022