Yom Kippur: Day Of Atonement

Yom Kippur means "Day of Atonement" and refers to the annual Jewish observance of abstaining, prayer and repentance. It is part of the High Holidays, and is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. In the Torah, the Jewish people are told, "the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: You shall practice self-denial."(Leviticus 23:27) Yom Kippur is on the 10th day of the month of Tishri in the Jewish calendar.

Fasting is seen as fulfilling this biblical commandment. The Yom Kippur fast also enables us to put aside our physical desires to concentrate on our spiritual needs through prayer, repentance and self-improvement.

Yom Kippur is the moment in Jewish time when we dedicate

The fasting lasts for 25 hours and begins on the evening before Yom Kippur. Jewish leaders read sermons at Jewish community centers on Yom Kippur. Some centers in states such as New York have interactive beginners’ services in Russian. Yom Kippur also includes a remembrance service, called Yizkor, during which people read the names of the dead, reflect on their lives and their legacies, honor them through memory. Some Jewish Americans may take the day off work or organize time off during this time of the year, to observe the belief that no work is permitted on Yom Kippur.

It is customary to wear white on Yom Kippur, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that one’s sins should be wiped away. Some people of Jewish faith also believe that humans are compared to angels on this day. It is customary to not wear gold jewelry as gold serves as a reminder of sins associated with the golden calf, a story passed down among the Jewish community.

Many Jewish men wear a kittel or sargenes and a tallit on Yom Kippur. A kittel is a simple white robe that is also used as a shroud and is worn by bridegrooms in some Jewish communities. A tallit (tallis, taleysm) is a prayer shawl with tzitzis strings tied through each of the four