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Home Tips > Tips By Category > Tips you can implement daily Yom Kippur falls on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, the seventh of the Religious Calendar. It is one of the Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"). The day is commemorated with a 25-hour fast and intensive prayer.
Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the Jewish day of repentance. It is considered to be one of the holiest and most solemn days of the year. Its central theme is atonement from sins against both God and one's fellow man. Five prohibitions are traditionally observed, as detailed in the Jewish oral tradition (Mishnah tractate Yoma 8:1):
- Eating and drinking
- Wearing leather shoes
- Bathing/washing
- Anointing oneself with oil
- Marital relations
Total abstention from food and drink usually begins half-an-hour before sundown (called "tosefet Yom Kippur," the "addition" of fasting part of the day before is required by Jewish law), and ends after nightfall the following day. Although the fast is required of all healthy adults, fasting may be forbidden in certain cases in which the observer would be harmed.
Yom Kippur is observed in different ways in different Jewish communities. For example, 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, displaying desire to have their sins forgiven (in the Torah, the forgiving of sins is symbolized by a change of color from red to white).
Yom Kippur is considered one of the holiest of Jewish holidays, and its observance is held even among the majority of secular Jews who may not strictly observe other holidays. Many secular Jews will fast and attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, where the number of worshippers attending is often double or triple the normal attendance. In Israel, public non-observance (such as eating or driving a motor vehicle) is taboo. As a result, some secular Israelis use the opportunity to ride bicycles, especially on the eve of Yom Kippur. Furthermore, there is no broadcast television, no public transportation, and the airports are closed.
Jewish law requires one to eat a large and festive meal before Yom Kippur starts after the mincha prayer. Virtually all Jewish holidays involve a ritual feast; in the case of Yom Kippur, since one cannot eat a festive meal on the day itself one therefore eats the festive meal on the afternoon prior to the fast. Traditional foods consumed during that meal include kreplach and rice. Many others also have a custom to eat another meal before that, consuming fish. Also, many Orthodox men immerse themselves in a mikvah.
Men (and some Reform and Conservative women) don a tallit (four-cornered prayer garment) for evening prayers, the only evening service of the year in which this is done Many married men also wear a kittel, or white shroud-like garment, which symbolizes inner purity. Prayer services begin with the prayer known as "Kol Nidre," which must be recited before sunset, and follows with the evening prayers (ma'ariv or arvith), which include an extended Selichot service.
The morning prayer service is preceded by litanies and petitions of forgiveness called selichot; on Yom Kippur, many selichot are woven into the liturgy. The morning prayers are followed by an added prayer (musaf) as on all other holidays, followed by mincha (the afternoon prayer) and the added ne'ilah prayer specifically for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur comes to an end with a recitation of Shema Yisrael and the blowing of the shofar, which marks the conclusion of the fast.
Traditionally, Yom Kippur is considered the date Moses received the second set of Ten Commandments. It occurred following the completion of the second 40 days of instructions from God. At this same time, the Israelites were granted atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, hence its designation as the Day of Atonement. The rites for Yom Kippur are set forth in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus (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 or drink could be consumed, and on which all work is forbidden.
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