Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, because you have proven that you are mostly asshole.

Thank you for pointing out the main difference between followers or Yeshua (christians) and every other religion in the world… when you ge to the end of your humanity, try the free gift of a graceful God, instead of earning.

Our ancient covenant with God has always required that we bring holiness into the world through our deeds, every day, from the minute we get up each morning until we go to sleep at night. For many observant Jews, the performance of God’s 613 commandments is its own reward, but it also assures a place in the world to come.

Your implicit derogation of “works” is a Christian concept, completely foreign to us. One more nail in the J4J coffin.

How good is good enough?

The problem is that your premise is incorrect. In Judaism, atonement for sin does NOT require (or, today even permit) that blood be shed. Even when the Temple stood, blood sacrifice was not the sole nor even necessarily a sufficient atonement for sin.

For Jews, atonement for sin is made through teshuva, in the manifestation explained here, and also through prayer and the performance of good deeds. This is one of the fundamental tenets of Judaism and it is as important in distinguishing Judaism from any form of Christianity as our differences concerning the identity and nature of the Jewish messiah.

If you’re really interested in a detailed and thoughtful answer to your question, you’ll find it here.

I was involved 25 years ago answering it on the soc.culture.jewish FAQ then. The basic answer is that the question itself involves a misconception. Blood in and of itself does not cause atonement nor is it required for repentance. The Torah says that it can only be used for sacrifices, but it is not the only (nor the most important) component. When the temple is rebuilt (and while it was in existence) certain sacrifices were part of the atonement process. However, there were sacrifices that involved no blood (such as the korban minchah – flour sacrifice). Also, this misconception is part of what caused the first temple to be destroyed. People at one time began to think of the sacrifices in the pagan manner, as a magical process that would automatically causes atonement to occur. They would sin, bring the appropriate sacrifices and then continue to sin. That is why the prophets explained that the sacrifices were considered “idol worship” even when brought to G-d.

In the Yom Kippur prayer we say

U’Teshuvah, U’Tefillah, U’Tzedakah Maavirim es Roa Ha’gezeirah

Repentance, Prayer, and “Charity” avert the evil decree.

The propet Hoshea (14:3) says “uneshalma parim sefaseinu” – Our lips shall pay the calves. That is, once the temple was destroyed, our prayers – speaking of the sacrifices that we can no longer bring, will be treated by G-d as if we had brought them.

As the prophet Hosea says in one of the special haftarot for Shabbat Shuvah:

“K’chu imachem d’varim “Take words with you v’shuvu el-Ad-nai, and return to the Lrd, imru eylai, Say to Him: kol-tisa avon, ‘Forgive all guilt v’kach tov, and accept what is good;

So it would appear that we do need words when we go and speak to G-d. But which words? The words of prayer? Of praise? Of repentance? Of our hearts? Of our minds?

No, it’s not the words themselves. As I said before, it’s how we use them, and what we use them for. Bull should not be coming from our lips. Rather..

un’shalma parim s’fateinu” instead of bulls we will pay [the offering of] our lips.’” (JPS)

…what comes from our lips shall be like the offering of bulls to G-d. Hosea wasn’t just telling us that Temple sacrifices can be replaced by words. These words are our sacrifice to G-d. Thus we must treat what we say in our communications with Gd carefully, keep them as unblemished as the bulls we would offer up.

Question 11.8.1: Sacrifices: When did Jews stop making animal sacrifices?

Answer:

Jews stopped making animal sacrifices when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Jews are forbidden to offer any sort of sacrifice outside of the Holy Temple.

Question 11.8.2: Sacrifices: What replaced animal sacrifices in Jewish practice?
Answer:

It is important to note that in Judaism, sacrifice was never the exclusive means of obtaining forgiveness, and was not in and of itself sufficient to obtain forgiveness. For some transgressions sacrifice was not even effective to obtain forgiveness.

Jews believe that sacrifice is the least important way to gain forgiveness from G-d. Repentance is more important. Very few sins required sacrifice (per Leviticus). For example., the animal sacrifices are only prescribed for unwitting or unintentional sin (Leviticus 4:2, 13, 22, 27; 5:5, 15 and Numbers 15:30). The one exception is if an individual swore falsely to acquit himself of the accusation of having committed theft (Leviticus 5:24-26). Intentional sin can only be atoned for through repentance, unaccompanied by a blood sacrifice (Psalms 32:5, 51:16-19).

This is re-enforced: “And you shall call upon Me, and go, and pray to Me, and I will hearken to you. And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Given its relative unimportance even in Biblical days, what comprised an acceptable Jewish sacrifice?

Many people think that Jewish sacrifice required blood sacrifice. This is not true. The primary commandment about blood is that it shouldn’t be eaten. (Leviticus 17:10) “And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set
My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.” This can be paraphrased: “Don’t eat blood.” The next phrase (Leviticus 17:11) goes on to say, “For the soul of the flesh is in the blood and I have assigned it for you upon the altar to provide atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that atones for the soul.” This explains why blood is not to be eaten, and that when it is used as part of a sacrifice it must be sprinkled on the altar of the Temple. Note that it doesn’t say, “blood is the only way to atone” it says that you shouldn’t eat the blood because its only use is for sacrifice. Since this is a little confusing lets use an example: we can say that all little boys are people, but does that mean that all people are little boys?. So Leviticus says “Don’t eat blood. You can use it for sacrifice,” but it doesn’t say that blood is the only acceptable sacrifice.

What is an acceptable sacrifice? Well, we know what isn’t: the Torah strictly forbids human sacrifice, unlike most religions of the Biblical era.

What kind of sacrifices were allowed? Throughout the Book of Leviticus, only distinct species of animals are permitted for use in blood sacrifices. There is also atonement by a cereal offering (Leviticus 5:11-13), atonement by gold (Num. 31:50), and atonement by the burning of incense: “So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the L-RD.” (Numbers 17:11). Remember that prayer and repentence must accompany sacrifices.

When Jews were not near the Temple (they lived too far away, or were captives as in Babylon) sacrifice was not done by them. King Solomon said that even in the days of the Temple prayer could be used by those away from the temple to obtain forgiveness (I Kings 8:46-50).
Synagogues from the time of the Temple have been excavated by archeologists. They were used, as they are today, for prayer. Once or twice a year sacrifices were sent to the Temple from these Synagogues.
Now that there is no Temple there are no sacrifices. In accordance with the words of Hosea, we render instead of bullocks the offering of our lips (Hosea 14:3); i.e., prayer and repentence.

Since there is no longer a temple in Jerusalem, there are no longer any animal sacrifices, and since atonement for sin requires that blood be shed to cover the sin, where does a Jew find atonement for their sins today?