| Yom Kippur (lit. 'Day of Atonement') is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei,[5] corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and repentance. The day's main observances consist of full fasting and asceticism, both accompanied by extended prayer services (usually at synagogue) and sin confessions. Alongside the related holiday of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is one of the two components of the High Holy Days of Judaism. It is also the last of the Ten Days of Repentance. Name The formal Hebrew name of the holiday is Yom HaKippurim, 'day [of] the atonements'. This name is used in the Bible, Mishnah, and Shulchan Aruch. The word kippurim 'atonement' is one of many Biblical Hebrew words which, while using a grammatical plural form, refers to a singular abstract concept. In the Torah The Torah calls the day Yom HaKippurim (יוֹם הַכִּיפּוּרִים), and decrees fasting ("affliction of the soul") and a strict prohibition of work on the tenth day of the seventh month, later known as Tishrei. The laws of Yom Kippur are commanded by God to Moses in three passages in the Torah: Leviticus 16:1–34: Aaron may only enter the sanctuary by performing a complex sacrificial procedure, later known as the Yom Kippur Temple service. This service must be performed yearly on the date of Yom Kippur, while the people are to fast and not work on this date. Leviticus 23:26–32: The tenth day of Tishrei is a holy day of atonement. A Temple sacrifice must be offered, while the people must fast and not work, "on the ninth day from evening until evening". Numbers 29:7–11: The tenth day of Tishrei is a holy day; one must fast and not work. The mussaf (additional) sacrifice for the day is specified. Yom Kippur is mentioned briefly in another context: on Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year the shofar was to be blown. According to some, this is the source for the current custom of blowing the shofar at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Temple service When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, Yom Kippur was the occasion of an elaborate sacrificial service, as commanded by Leviticus 16. The rabbis summarized the laws of this service in Mishnah tractate Yoma Significance High Holy Days Yom Kippur is one of the two High Holy Days, or Days of Awe (Hebrew yamim noraim), alongside Rosh Hashanah (which falls nine days previously). According to Jewish tradition, on Rosh Hashanah God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into the Book of Life, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. This process is described dramatically in the poem Unetanneh Tokef, which is recited on Rosh Hashanah in the Ashkenazic and Italian rites and on Yom Kippur in the Eastern Ashkenazic and Italian rites: A great shofar will be blown, and a small still voice will be heard. The angels will make haste, and be seized with fear and trembling, and will say: "Behold, the day of judgment!"... On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the Yom Kippur fast it is sealed, how many will pass and how many will be created, who will live and who will die, who in his time and who not in his time... But repentance, prayer, and charity remove the evil of the decree... For You do not desire a person's death, but rather that he repent and live. Until the day of his death You wait for him; if he repents, You accept him immediately. During the Days of Awe, a Jew reflects on the year, goals, and past actions, how his or her behavior has possibly hurt others and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God and against other human beings. Repentance in Judaism (Hebrew: Teshuva), traditionally, consists of regretting having committed the sin, resolving not to commit that sin in the future, and confessing that sin before God.[21] While repentance for one's sins can and should be done at any time, it is considered especially desirable during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and particularly on Yom Kippur itself. Thus, the Yom Kippur prayers contain extended confessions which list varieties of errors and sins, and to which one can add their own missteps, along with requests for forgiveness from God. According to the Talmud, "Yom Kippur atones for sins done against God (bein adam leMakom), but does not atone for sins done against other human beings (bein adam lechavero) until the other person has been appeased." Therefore, it is considered imperative to repair the harm that one has done to others before or during Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is described in the prayers as "a day of creating love and brotherhood, a day of abandoning jealousy and strife". It is said that "if one does not remove hatred [from their heart] on Yom Kippur, their prayers are not heard". Thirteen attributes According to the Bible, after the golden calf sin, Moses descended from Mount Sinai and broke the Tablets of Stone, which contained the Ten Commandments and symbolized the covenant with God. After God agreed to forgive the people's sin, Moses was told to return to Mount Sinai for a second 40-day period, in order to receive a second set of tablets. According to rabbinic tradition, the date Moses descended with the second set of tablets was Yom Kippur. On this day Moses announced to the people that they had been forgiven; as a result the Torah fixed this date as a permanent holiday of forgiveness. The new covenant, which God announced by proclaiming the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy to Moses, is textually similar to the covenant of the Ten Commandments except that God's nature is described as merciful and forgiving, rather than zealous. When the Jewish people sinned in later eras, prophets would repeatedly quote the Thirteen Attributes to God as a reminder of God's commitment to mercy and forgiveness.[32] This is continued to the present day, as recitation of the Thirteen Attributes remains an important part of the Yom Kippur prayers (in Maariv and Neilah). Closeness to God While many of the observances of Yom Kippur (such as fasting and long prayers) can be difficult, there is also a tradition in which they are interpreted positively, as indications of closeness of God. Various sources compare the observances of Yom Kippur – fasting, barefootness (not wearing leather shoes), standing (in prayer), particular manners of prayer, even the peace that exists between Jews on this day – with the behavior of angels, suggesting that on Yom Kippur Jews become like angels in heaven, purified and close to God and not limited by physicality. Yom Kippur was also unique as a time of closeness to God in the Yom Kippur Temple service. Yom Kippur was the only occasion on which the High Priest of Israel was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple in Jerusalem, where God's presence was said to dwell. On Yom Kippur the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies several times, first to create a cloud of incense smoke in which (the Bible promises) God would reveal Himself without being seen, and later to offer sacrifices of atonement. While the encounter with God and the atonement may appear to be unrelated, in fact they are mutually dependent. On one hand, the priest is only worthy to approach God when in a state of purity, with the sins of the people being forgiven. On the other hand, only by approaching God with an intimate, personal request can God be persuaded to abandon justice for mercy, permitting the purification to take place. According to the Torah, the Yom Kippur Temple service was commanded in wake of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu on the eighth day of the Tabernacle inauguration. Not only was this eighth day the occasion of the Yom Kippur command, but the eighth day was also similar in its nature to Yom Kippur, both in biblical texts (e.g. the sacrifices offered on each day) and in rabbinic interpretation. The purpose of the eighth day was the revelation of God's presence to the people; similarly, the Yom Kippur service was a unique opportunity for the people's representative to obtain closeness with God. A midrash compares the Yom Kippur prayers to a verse from the Song of Songs, describing a woman who rises from bed at night to begin a romantic encounter with her lover. With each Yom Kippur prayer, it is implied, Jews approach closer to God: "I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt" (Song of Songs 5:5) – "I rose up to open to my beloved" – this refers to Yotzer [the morning prayer]; "My hands dripped with myrrh" – this refers to Mussaf; "my fingers with flowing myrrh" – this refers to Mincha; "upon the handles of the bolt" – this refers to Neilah. Using a similar metaphor, the Mishnah describes Yom Kippur as a wedding date, as on this date Moses returned having reestablished the covenant between God and Israel. Along with Tu B'Av, Yom Kippur was historically considered one of the two happiest days of the Jewish year, for on this day Jews receive forgiveness for their sins, and on this date the covenant with God was reestablished.
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