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| Observed by: | Jews | |
| Name | Hebrew: יום הכיפורים | |
| Meaning: | "Day of atonement and repentance" | |
| Begins: | 10th day of Tishri | |
| Ends: | 10th day of Tishri | |
| Occasion | Jewish judgement day (for each person), day of atonement The end of the Days of Awe | |
| Symbols: | Shofar and fasting | |
| Related to: | Rosh Hashanah | |
Yom Kippur (יום כפור yom kippur, day of atonement) is the Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement. The Bible calls the day Yom Hakippurim ( Hebrew, "Day of the Atonements"). It is one of the Yamim Noraim ( Hebrew, "Days of Awe"). The Yamim Noraim consist of Rosh Hashanah, which is the first two days of the Ten Days of Repentance, and Yom Kippur, which is the last of the ten days.
In the Hebrew calendar Yom Kippur begins at nightfall starting the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (which falls in September/October), and continues until the next nightfall.
Yom Kippur will occur on the following dates in the next few years:
Note: the holiday begins at sunset the preceding day.
The rites for Yom Kippur are set forth in the sixteenth chapter of LeviticusLeviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). Christians refer to the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament. The English name is derived from the Latin Liber Leviticus which is from the Greek (i. (cf. Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-31, 25:9; Numbers 29:7-11). It is described as a solemn fast, on which no food could be taken, and on which all work is forbidden. Sacrifices were offered in the Temple in JerusalemThe Jerusalem Temple ( Hebrew: beit ha-mikdash was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot''. It was located on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. According to the Bible, the First Temple was built.
Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of repentance, considered to be the holiest and most solemn day of the year. Its central theme is atonement and reconciliation. Eating, drinking, bathing, cosmetics, leather shoes, and conjugal relations are prohibited. Fasting - total abstention from all food and drink - begins a bit before sundown (called 'tosephet' Yom Kippur, the 'addition' of fasting a bit of the previous day is required by Jewish law), and ends after nightfall the following day.
Prayer servicesJewish services are the prayers recited as part of observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. The individual is required to recite three prayers daily, or more begin with the prayer known as " Kol NidreThe following has been imported from the 1906 public domain "Jewish Encyclopedia". It already has been edited and Wikified, but does not yet incorporate modern scholarship. Please help by modifying as needed. Kol Nidre (ashk. or Kal nidr (sef. is a Jewish", which must be recited before sunset. Kol Nidre, Aramaic for "all vows," is a public annullment of all vows that will be made during the coming year. According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, and the Wikipedia entry taken therefrom, the relevant English text of the prayer is, "All vows, obligations, oaths, and anathemas, whether called 'konam,' 'konas,' or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent." Some authors argue that this applies only to "individual" vows.Yom Kippur completes the penitential period of ten days that begins with New-Year's Day, the season of repentance and prayer; for though prayerful humiliation be acceptable at all times, it is thought to be peculiarly potent at that time.
The morning prayer service is preceded by litanies and petitions of forgiveness called selihot; On the Day of Atonement, many selihot are woven into the liturgy.
According to Maimonides "All depends on whether a man's merits outweigh the demerits put to his account", so it is therefore desirable to multiply good deeds before the final account on the Day of Atonement (ib. iii. 4). Those that are found worthy by God are said to be entered in the Book of Life, hence the prayer: "Enter us in the Book of Life". Hence also the greeting "May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for a happy year." In letters written between New-Year and the Day of Atonement, the writer usually concludes by wishing the recipient that God may seal his fate for happiness. In late Judaism, features that were originally peculiar to New-Year's Day were transferred to the Day of Atonement.
The Day of Atonement survived the cessation of the sacrificial service in the year 70 CE. "Though no sacrifices be offered, the day in itself effects atonement" ( Midrash Sifra, Emor, xiv.). Jewish texts teach that the day avails nothing unless repentance be coupled with it. Repentance was the indispensable condition for all the various means of atonement.
Penitent confession was a requisite for expiation through capital or corporal punishment. "The Day of Atonement absolves from sins against God, but not from sins against a fellow man unless the pardon of the offended person be secured" (Talmud Yoma viii. 9). Hence the custom of terminating on the eve of the fastday all feuds and disputes. Even the souls of the dead are included in the community of those pardoned on the Day of Atonement. It is customary for children to have public mention made in the synagogue of their departed parents, and to make charitable gifts on behalf of their souls.
Contrary to popular belief, Yom Kippur is not a sad day. Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish, Portuguese and North African descent) refer to this holiday as "the White Fast". Consequently, many Jews have the custom of wearing only white clothing on this day, to symbolize their 'white' purity from sin, akin to angels.
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