Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement
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The Lord said to Moses, "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.
Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire.
Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God."
Leviticus 23:26-28
Sealed in the Book of Life
Yom Kippur, the most sacred and solemn day of the Jewish year, brings the Days of Repentance to a close.
On Yom Kippur, God makes the final decision on what the next year will be like for each person.
The Book of Life is closed and sealed, and those who have properly repented for their sins will be granted a happy New Year.
A special day
The special day is marked by Jews in several ways:
- They abstain from food or drink for 25 hours
- They do not wear perfume
- They don't have sex
- They don't wash
- They don't wear leather shoes
In the synagogue
The most important part of Yom Kippur is the time spent in the synagogue. Even Jews who are not particularly religious will want to attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, the only day of the year with five services.
The first service, in the evening, begins with the Kol Nidre prayer.
Kol Nidre's words and music have a transforming effect on every Jew—it's probably the most powerful single item in the Jewish liturgy.
The actual words of the prayer are very pedestrian when written down—it's like something a lawyer might have drafted asking God to render null and void any promises that a person might make and then break in the year to come—but when sung by a cantor it shakes the soul.
To emphasise the special nature of the service the men in the synagogue will put on their prayer shawls, which are not normally used in an evening service.
Another element in the liturgy for Yom Kippur is the confession of sins (vidui). Sins are confessed aloud by the congregation and in the plural.
The fifth service is "Neilah", and brings the day to a close as God's judgement is finally sealed.
The service beseeches God to hear the prayers of the community. For this service the whole congregation stands throughout, as the doors of the Ark are open.
At the end of the service the shofar is blown for the final time.