The high priest, or kohen gadol, held the senior priestly office associated with the sanctuary and, later, the Temple in Jerusalem. His best-known responsibility was the service of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when he entered the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
Understanding the office takes several kinds of evidence. Jewish tradition explains who belonged to the priesthood and what service required. An ancient historian describes appointments under Roman rule. The Mishnah preserves detailed accounts of ritual, and later liturgy gives worshippers a way to recall the service.
Priestly descent and appointment to office
Jewish tradition identifies Aaron, the brother of Moses, as the first high priest. The kohanim, or priests, are understood as Aaron’s descendants within the tribe of Levi. The high priest held a particular office within that priestly group. Descent explains the traditional basis of eligibility, while appointment explains how an individual assumed the office. Chabad, Kohanim and Leviim.
The traditional account of Aaron’s inauguration includes special clothing and anointing. Maimonides, writing long after the Temple period, describes a distinction in his code of law. In his account of the Second Temple, the high priest assumed office through putting on the distinctive garments because the sacred anointing oil was unavailable. The distinction is useful when reading descriptions that group all inaugurations together. Chabad, The High Priest in Jewish Tradition. Maimonides, Klei Hamikdash 1.8.
Josephus gives a concrete example of political involvement. In Book 18 of the Jewish Antiquities, he recounts how the Roman governor Valerius Gratus removed Ananus and appointed several successors. Joseph Caiaphas eventually followed Simon son of Camithus. The sequence shows a Roman official exercising influence over tenure in the Jerusalem priesthood during this period. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.2.2.
These accounts answer different questions. The rules of the office describe the status of a priest and the ritual by which a high priest was installed. Josephus’s account shows who could decide which eligible figure held the position in one political setting. To understand an appointment, it helps to examine both the religious institution and the authority that acted on it.
Garments and the division of Temple work
In the traditional description, the high priest wore eight garments for certain services, including a breastplate with twelve stones bearing the names of the tribes of Israel. The inscriptions make the connection between the individual officiant and the people concrete. During the rites distinctive to Yom Kippur, the high priest wore a set of four white garments. His change of clothing marked a change in ritual task. Chabad, The High Priest’s Garments.
Temple worship involved many priests with different responsibilities. The Mishnah describes the distribution of daily duties by lottery. An account associated with tractate Yoma identifies tasks including removing ashes, handling the daily offering and carrying its parts toward the altar. The distribution of work helps explain why the responsibilities of the high priest on Yom Kippur stand out. Mishnah Yoma, chapter 2. Introduction to Yoma, summary of chapter 2.
Yom Kippur and the Holy of Holies
Mishnah Yoma begins with arrangements for the week before Yom Kippur. It describes moving the high priest from his home to a chamber in the Temple and designating another priest to take over if a disqualification prevented him from serving. The arrangement shows how the responsibility attached to the office and how the community prepared for an interruption. Mishnah Yoma 1:1.
The annual service included atonement offerings and incense. Chabad’s account describes offerings concerning the high priest and his household, the priesthood, and the people. It identifies the incense rite in the Holy of Holies as a distinctive part of the day. The movement into the innermost space belonged to this carefully prescribed service. Chabad, The Yom Kippur Service.
Yoma 5:1 describes a short prayer after the high priest emerged from the inner chamber. The account explains that a longer prayer could alarm the people waiting for him. That small detail changes the view of the ceremony. It makes the waiting congregation part of the story and shows how the timing of a private act affected people outside. English Explanation of Mishnah Yoma 5:1.
The Mishnah also remembers a change in what occupied the innermost space. Yoma 5:2 describes a stone on which the high priest set the pan of coals after the Ark was gone. The detail matters because it describes the ritual in the Ark’s absence. Accounts of the earlier sanctuary and of Second Temple worship can therefore describe different furnishings in the same part of the rite. Mishnah Yoma 5:2 and commentary.
The tractate also addresses responsibilities that belong to individuals. Yoma 8:9 teaches that an offense against another person calls for seeking reconciliation with the person harmed. That passage places the relationship between people alongside the ritual duties of the day. Mishnah Yoma 8:9.
After the destruction of the Second Temple
Roman forces destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. The loss of the sanctuary brought the Temple service of the high priest to an end. The Temple remained present in Jewish memory and art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes, for example, images of the Temple menorah appearing on objects such as Jewish sarcophagi in the Roman world. The Met, Jewish Art in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium.
Prayer preserves another kind of memory. Chabad’s guide to Yom Kippur describes the Avodah in the additional service known as Musaf. Worshippers recount the high priest’s service, including moments when he pronounced the divine name. The guide describes prostration at those moments in the prayer. The words and gestures bring the ancient service into the setting of synagogue worship. Chabad, Yom Kippur Reference Guide, Musaf.
Conclusion
The high priest’s office combined priestly status, appointment and specific duties in the Temple. The Yom Kippur service made his role especially visible, from the preparation of a substitute to the clothing and incense used in the rite. Josephus’s account of Roman appointments and the Mishnah’s account of ritual illuminate different aspects of the same institution. The Avodah prayer shows how the service could remain part of religious memory after the loss of the place where it was performed.
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