Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר)

Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is my favourite holiday besides Halloween. Though it’s a sombre fast with many restrictions, it’s nevertheless traditionally seen as the happiest, most spiritually high day of the year. I love the euphoric feeling of being so empty, and the heightened, intense spiritual feeling it creates.

Normally fasts are pushed off a day when they fall out on Shabbos (and in the case of Ta’anit Esther, moved up to Thursday), but Yom Kippur is so holy and important, we fast even if it’s on Shabbos. In fact, the day is even holier when they coincide. It’s called the Sabbath of Sabbaths no matter what day it falls on.

Yom Kippur is not only a 25-hour fast (though I’ve gone longer many times!), but a day when all work and pleasure cease so we can focus solely upon self-reflection and atonement. Forbidden activities include bathing, wearing leather, applying perfume and lotion (except for medically-indicated ointments), doing anything sexual (with oneself or a partner), using electricity, driving, writing, and carrying in the public domain.

The obligation to fast begins at bar or bat mitzvah age. Many children gradually build up to fasting all day as they get older; e.g., a preteen might skip breakfast and have a very light lunch. Since health comes before everything, we’re not only permitted to eat if we have a medical condition which would make fasting dangerous, but required to.

Drinking is also forbidden during Jewish fasts, though if you need to take medication, you’re absolutely allowed to swallow water for that purpose.

It’s customary to wear all white, as a symbol of spiritual purity. There’s a special white robe called a kittel, which is mostly worn by rabbis and cantors, but can also be worn by regular congregants. Because of the prohibition against leather, many people wear sneakers. This is also the only time a tallit (prayershawl) is worn at night.

Before Yom Kippur starts, congregants are invited to light candles, our final act of work for at least the next 25 hours. It’s best to drink a lot of water and eat hearty meals in preparation for going without food for so long.

Yom Kippur begins with the beautiful Kol Nidre prayer in Aramaic, which is chanted thrice. It releases us from all vows, obligations, oaths, prohibitions, and consecrations we’ve taken upon ourselves since last Yom Kippur, so we can start the new year off with a fresh slate.

In Italian and Romaniote (Greek) rites, Kol Nidre is recited in Hebrew and called Kol Nedarim.

Every time I listen to this haunting, beautiful, ancient prayer, I mentally hear Al Jolson’s rendition of it in The Jazz Singer, and see that moving scene.

Yom Kippur is the only day of the year with five prayer services—Ma’ariv (evening), Shacharit (morning), Musaf (immediately following Shacharit and a substitute for the sacrifice of animals in the Temple), Mincha (afternoon), and Ne’ilah (the concluding service as the Gates of Heaven are closing).

Some people, myself included, have the custom of staying at shul all day after Musaf and reading in the library or crashing on a davenport until Mincha. It’s easier than walking home and then coming back a few hours later on an empty stomach.

Many shuls have a late-afternoon discussion or meditation session to keep the mood of Yom Kippur alive as long as possible.

As on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur also has the Great Aleynu during the Musaf Amidah (long standing prayer central to the service), where we prostrate all the way to the ground. I love that humbling feeling of being in the Divine presence. We also prostrate ourselves during the Avodah, a poetic description of the Temple service, at the lines about the Kohein Gadol (High Priest) pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, YHVH.

According to rabbinic tradition, the only time YHVH was pronounced was on Yom Kippur in the Holy of Holies. The Kohein Gadol went in with a rope tied around his waist, so if he God forbid died in there, he could be pulled out without the wrong person entering that most sacred of spaces.

Mincha includes the Martyrology service, with stories, poems, and songs about our ancestors being persecuted and murdered. Traditional Orthodoxy only includes the story of the Ten Martyrs killed during the Roman occupation of Israel, which, no offence intended, feels so remote and irrelevant to the lives of the average modern person. Progressive denominations include the Crusades, the Shoah, and other tragic events in our history.

The Haftarah reading at Mincha is the Book of Jonah, read in entirety.

Ne’ilah is traditionally said standing throughout, though I usually sit for at least part of it since getting metal hardware in my right leg, or half-stand, half-sit on the edge of the cinema-type seat. Yom Kippur concludes with the Sh’ma, a threefold repetition of “Praised is God’s name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever,” and a sevenfold repetition of “The Lord is God,” with each line becoming more and more powerful, uttered with all the concentration and intensity we would our final words of life.

A long shofar blast, sustained as long as possible, ends Nei’lah. The Ma’ariv service which follows is typically done lightning-quick so the ceremony of Havdalah can be performed to officially end Yom Kippur and the break-the-fast can begin.