Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur ( YOM kip-OOR, YAWM KIP-ər, YOHM-; Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר‎ Yōm Kippūr [ˈjom kiˈpuʁ], lit. 'Day of Atonement') is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October.

For traditional 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. Some minor Jewish denominations, such as Reconstructionist Judaism, focus less on sins and more on one's goals and accomplishments and setting yearly intentions.

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 'atonements' is one of many Biblical Hebrew words.

Beginning in the classical period, the singular form kippur began to be used in piyyut, for example in Unetanneh Tokef, alongside the standard plural form kippurim. Use of kippur spread in the medieval period, with Yom Kippur (יום כיפור) becoming the holiday's name in Yiddish and Kippur (כיפור) in Ladino.

In older English texts, the translation "Day of Atonement" is often used.

In the Torah

The Torah calls the day Yom HaKippurim (יוֹם הַכִּיפּוּרִים‎), 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 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 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. A prominent portion of the service was the lottery drawn on two goats, with one selected to be sacrificed as an offering and the other sent to Azazel to be thrown off a cliff. This is the origin for the term scapegoat. The rabbis summarized the laws of this service in Mishnah tractate Yoma, and they appear in contemporary traditional Jewish prayer books for Yom Kippur, and are studied as part of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur worship service. The Mussaf prayer on Yom Kippur includes a section known as the Avodah, where a poem is recited describing the details of this Temple service.

Significance

High Holy Days

Yom Kippur is one of the two halves of the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe (Hebrew yamim noraim), alongside Rosh Hashanah (which falls nine days previously). According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah 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 [teshuva], prayer, and charity [tzedakah] 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 past year's actions and seeks forgiveness for wrongs done against both God and other people.

Repentance (Teshuva)

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.

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 Hashanah 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".

In recent generations other interpretations of Teshuvah have been presented. They argue that the traditional, self-punishing practice of dwelling on and weeping over past sins often leads to depression and is counterproductive in the modern era.

Instead of "repentance" (focusing on guilt and remorse over mistakes), they interpret Teshuvah in a more literal sense: "return" to God. This involves proactively filling one's life with Torah, Mitzvot, joy, love, and sincere prayer to G-d. When an individual is wholeheartedly focused on growing closer to the Divine light, the regrettable behaviors of ones past are then naturally recognized as a useless weight holding them back. This recognition triggers a genuine, aching remorse that causes the sin to fall away enabling the person to let go and continue growing. Thus, Yom Kippur should be used to reach towards the light and embrace God's unconditional love, allowing the messy stuff to fall away naturally.

Thirteen attributes

According to the Bible, after the sin of the golden calf, 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. 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 Ne'ila).

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 Ne'ila.

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.

According to Hassidic thought Yom Kippur is related to the deepest level of the human soul. The soul is described as having five different levels, the fifth and most essential of which is called Yechidah, meaning "one and unique". This yechidah is the soul in its state of complete fusion and oneness with its Creator, forming an inseparable whole.

Yom Kippur is the day when this essential bond of yechidah shines within the time and space of our world. It is the one time a year when the Divine unites with the essential oneness of the soul within each person, and in that moment of ultimate connection, all else falls away.

Purification

In Leviticus 16:30, the Torah summarizes the purpose of Yom Kippur as follows:

For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to purify you; from all your sins before the Lord you shall be purified.

There are two forms of impurity in Judaism (see Tumah and taharah): ritual impurity (e.g. when one touches a corpse) and moral impurity (when one commits a serious sin). While the Yom Kippur Temple service did purify the Temple if it had become ritually impure, the emphasis of the day is on the Jewish people's purification from moral impurity.

Leviticus 16:30 mentions purification twice. According to Netziv, the first mention is a promise that God will purify Israel on this day, while the second is a command, calling on Israel to purify themselves through repentance. Thus, on this day Jews do their utmost to repent. But if, by the end of the day, they have reached the limits of their ability and are still morally flawed, God extends them forgiveness and purification anyway.

Jeremiah 17:13 states that "Israel's hope (mikveh) is in God". According to Rabbi Akiva, this verse alludes to a ritual purification bath (also pronounced mikveh), and thus on Yom Kippur God metaphorically becomes a mikveh in which Israel immerses and purifies itself. This idea is symbolized by immersion in an actual mikveh. In the Yom Kippur Temple service, the High Priest would immerse upon putting on and taking off his white Yom Kippur garments; the rabbis counted no fewer than five immersions over the course of the day's service. Among modern-day Jews, too, there is a custom of immersion before Yom Kippur (though not on Yom Kippur itself, as bathing is forbidden in normal circumstances).

When the scapegoat was selected on Yom Kippur to symbolically carry the people's sins to the desert, a crimson cord was tied around its horns. While the practical purpose of this cord was to distinguish the scapegoat from the goat which was to be slaughtered, it also symbolized the sin which the scapegoat was carrying away. Isaiah 1:18 promises that if the Jewish people repents, "if [their] sins are like crimson, they shall become white as snow." According to tradition, in some years the scapegoat's cord would miraculously turn white to indicate that the people's sins were forgiven and purification achieved in that year.

Jewish unity

Yom Kippur is considered a day of Jewish unity. In Kol Nidre, in which vows are released, vows of excommunication against sinning Jews were similarly lifted and these "transgressors" were allowed to pray alongside other Jews. According to the Talmud, "Any fast in which Jewish sinners do not also participate is not a valid fast".

Similarly, the Mishnah describes Yom Kippur as a day on which men and women would once meet each other in the vineyards in order to arrange marriages. While this story is surprising given the generally somber nature of the day, it is based on the Biblical episode where the oath against marrying Benjaminites was circumvented by allowing them to take women from the vineyards as wives, and thus indicates the day's theme of abandoning grudges in order for the Jewish people to be reunited.

Customs

Erev Yom Kippur

On the day preceding Yom Kippur, known as Erev Yom Kippur (lit. 'eve [of] day [of] atonement'), a number of activities are customarily performed in preparation for Yom Kippur. These activities generally relate to the themes of the holiday, but are forbidden or impractical to do on Yom Kippur itself.

According to the Talmud, "Yom Kippur does not atone for sins between a person and his fellow until he has appeased his fellow." Thus, it is common practice on Erev Yom Kippur to request forgiveness from other individuals for misdeeds one has done to them. The Talmud records no less than 14 stories attesting to the importance of the day for repairing relationships with one's spouses, parents, children, coworkers, the poor, and other individuals. The day before a major Jewish holiday is often devoted towards preparing for that holiday (as with burning chametz before Passover or obtaining the Four Species before Sukkot); for Yom Kippur, the appropriate preparation is to seek forgiveness from one's fellow man. Nevertheless, one should not ask forgiveness if this will cause further harm (for example, by bringing up an insult the victim was unaware of).

According to halakha, one must eat on Erev Yom Kippur. A variety of reasons have been suggested for this requirement, among them:

Eating well before the fast will make it easier to complete the fast in good health.

Eating before the fast will actually make the fast subjectively more difficult, due to "withdrawal" from the previous day's feast, and thus increase a person's level of "affliction" on this day (though it is not agreed that a person should in fact attempt to increase their affliction beyond the basic requirements).

In general, Jewish holidays are celebrated with festive meals. Since a meal celebrating Yom Kippur cannot be held on the day itself, it is held beforehand.

One celebrates the forgiveness they are about to receive for their sins, thus demonstrating that they are in fact bothered by their sins, and thus are more deserving of forgiveness.

Kreplach are traditionally served at the pre-fast meal. Also, it is common to ask for and receive lekach on Erev Yom Kippur.

Many Orthodox men immerse themselves in a mikveh on this day. Opinions differ on whether this is a technical act to remove ritual impurity, or else a symbolic one to symbolize one's cleansing from sin on Yom Kippur.