Holocaust (sacrifice)
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{{about|a burnt religious sacrifice|other uses|Holocaust (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Olah|the chemist and Nobel Prize laureate|George Andrew Olah}}
{{redirect|Burnt Offering|the Northampton punk zine|Burnt Offering}}
A '''whole offering''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''olah''), also referred to as a '''burnt offering''', is a type of [[korban|Biblical sacrifice]], specifically an [[animal sacrifice]] in which the entire sacrifice is completely burnt, consumed totally by [[fire]]. The term ''burnt offering'' derives from the [[Septuagint]] translation, itself deriving from the Biblical phrase ''an offering made by fire'', which occurs in the description<ref>Leviticus 1</ref> of the offering.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> This form of sacrifice, in which no meat was leftover for anyone, was seen as the greatest form of sacrifice,<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> and was the form of sacrifice permitted by [[Judaism]] to be given at the Temple by non-[[Jews]].<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> Modern [[Biblical criticism|Biblical scholars]] regard the [[Moloch]] offering, which involved human immolation, as being related to the ''whole offering''.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>
A '''holocaust''' is a religious [[animal sacrifice]] that is completely consumed by fire. The word derives from the [[Ancient Greek|Hellènic]] '''holocauston''' (''ὁλόκαυστον'' = ''ὁλον'' [wholely] + ''καυστον'' [[burnt]]).
==Occasions==
''Whole offerings'' were made on occasion of
* each morning and evening: the sacrificial animal was required to be a [[domestic sheep|lamb]] or year-old [[goat]]
* each [[Shabbat]]
* [[Rosh Chodesh]] (each new moon)
* [[Rosh Hashanah]] (each new year)
* [[Passover]]
* [[Shavuot]]
* [[Yom Kippur]]
* [[Sukkot]]
* Certain [[sin offering]]s:
** on the appointment of a priest
** on the termination of a [[Nazirite]]'s vow
** after recovery from [[Tzaraas]] (often translated ''leprosy'', following the [[Septuagint]]'s translation as ''lepra'')
** shortly after [[childbirth]]
** after [[Niddah]] (temporary marital separation due to [[menstruation]]) or recovery from [[zivah]] (abnormal bodily discharges)
* voluntary occasion: the sacrificial animal could be young [[Cattle|bull]]s, [[Sheep|ram]]s, year-old [[goat]]s, [[Turtle Dove|turtle doves]], or [[Rock Pigeon|pigeons]]
==Ritual==
The animals, having first been checked to ensure they were free from disease and unblemished (a requirement of the sacrifice), were brought to the north side of the altar, and killed (by either the offerer, or a priest). The animal's blood was carefully collected by [[kohen|the priests]] and then sprinkled around the altar. Unless the animal was a bird, its corpse was flayed, the skin given to the priest (who was permitted to keep it); in later times more powerful priests forcibly took possession of the skins from the lesser priests, and so it became decreed that the skins should be sold with the proceeds being given to the [[Temple in Jerusalem]].<ref>Tosefta 19</ref> The flesh of the animal was divided according to detailed instructions given by the [[Talmud]],<ref>Tamid 31</ref> and would then be placed on the wood on the altar (which was constantly on fire due the large number of sacrifices carried out daily), and slowly burnt. After the flesh (including any horns and goat's beards) had been reduced to ashes, usually the following morning, the ashes were taken by the priest to a [[ritual cleanliness|ritually clean]] location outside the sanctuary, and dumped there.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>
==Origin==
In [[classical rabbinical literature]], there are several different etymologies given for the term ''olah'',<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> though all agree that it literally translates as ''(that which) goes up'', as do modern linguists. Some classical rabbis argued that the term referred to ''ascent of the mind'' after making the sacrifice, implying that the sacrifice was for atonement for evil thoughts, while others argued that it was a sacrifice ''to the highest'', because it was entirely given over to the deity.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> Modern scholars, however, argue that it simply refers to the burning process, as the meat ''goes up in flames''.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>
The ''whole offering'' is believed to have evolved as an extreme form of the ''[[slaughter offering]]'', whereby the portion allocated to the deity increased to all of it.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> In ''slaughter offerings'', the portion allocated to the deity was mainly the [[fat]], the part which can most easily be burnt (fat is quite [[combustion|combustible]]); scholars believe it was felt that the deity, being [[aether]]eal, would appreciate aethereal food more than solid food—the burning of the fatty parts of animals being to produce smoke as a ''sweet savour'' for the deity.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> Some passages in the [[Book of Judges]], dated by textual scholars to periods earlier than the [[Priestly Code]], appear to show the development of the principle and practise of ''whole offerings'';<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> in the story of Gideon, a ''slaughter offering'' of a young goat and unleavened bread is destroyed when fire sent from heaven consumes it; in the story of [[Samson]]'s birth, his father, who was intending to make a ''slaughter offering'' so that he could give a meal to an angel, is told by the angel to burn it completely instead.
Most biblical scholars now agree that the intricate details of the ''whole offering'', particularly the types and number of animals on occasion of various feast days, given by the [[Torah]], were of a late origin, as were the intricate directions given in the Talmud.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref> ''Whole offerings'' were quite rare in early times, but as the ritual became more fixed and statutory, and the concentration of sacrifice into a single sanctuary (particularly after [[Josiah]]'s reform) made sacrifices quite distinct from simply killing animals for food, ''whole offerings'' gradually rose to great prominence.<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>
In Greek and Roman [[paganism|pagan]] rites, gods of the earth and underworld received dark or golden [[animal]]s, which were offered by night and burnt in full.
Some of the [[Korban|Jewish sacrifices]] specified by the [[Torah]], the ''[[olah]]'' was completely burnt. These, ''whole offerings'', were referred to in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as ''`olah'', a term translated as ''holocauston'' in the [[Septuagint]]. Today, some English [[Bible translations]] render the word as ''holocaust'', and others translate it as ''burnt offering''. For example, [[Exodus]] 18:12a is translated in the [[New American Bible]] as ''Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a holocaust and other sacrifices to God'', while it is translated in the [[New International Version]] as ''Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God''.<ref>[http://www.berkeleyinternet.com/holocaust/ Holocaust word<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In the mid-nineteenth century the word began to be used by a large variety of authors to reference large [[catastrophe]]s and [[Wiktionary:massacre|massacres]].{{Fact|date=June 2008}} In the 20th century it became strongly associated with the [[Final Solution]] of the [[Nazism|Nazis']] [[Third Reich]].
==See also==
* [[Fire ritual]]
* [[Holocaust]]
* [[Oblation]]
==References==
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[[Category:Animal sacrifice]]
[[Category:Jewish sacrificial law]]
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