Yom Kippur

In Jewish thought

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, wearing leather (including 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.

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Prayer services begin with the prayer known as "Kol Nidre", 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.

Related Topics:
Prayer services - Kol Nidre - Aramaic

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Yom Kippur completes the penitential period of ten days ("the season of repentance and prayer") that begins with Rosh Hashanah (New Year's Day); for though prayerful humiliation be acceptable at all times, it is thought to be peculiarly potent at that time.

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The morning prayer service is preceded by litanies and petitions of forgiveness called selichot; on the Day of Atonement, many selihot are woven into the liturgy.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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