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Yom
Kippur
Customs and Laws:
A. Yom Kippur is a Yom Tov, a festival day, which is observed like
Shabbat.
B. Afflicting your soul - "...on the tenth of the month, you shall
afflict your souls and do no work at all...for on that day will
G-d forgive you and cleanse you, that you may be clean from all
your sins before G-d" (Leviticus 16:29-30). How does one afflict
one's soul and why? The oral law enumerates five prohibitions as
the way to "afflict your soul" on Yom Kippur: eating and drinking,
washing, annointing, wearing leather shoes and marital relations.
By refraining from these actions, one is reminded that it is the
spirit that must be the focus, not the body. It may seem the opposite
is true, that a person would focus on being hungry or thirsty or
uncomfortable from not washing, but such discomforts are temporary
and on Yom Kippur one can transcend physical discomfort to connect
with the spirit of the day.
1) Eating and Drinking - From sunset on the eve of
Yom Kippur until nightfall the next day it is forbidden to eat
or drink
-
Pregnant and nursing women also fast. However, they should
consult both a doctor and a rabbi about fasting, if they feel
that fasting will create a dangerous situation.
-
One
who is ill must consult a rabbi. If the rabbi says (s)he may
eat, they should only eat that which is necessary and should
refrain from delicacies.
- Girls
below the age of 12 and boys below the age of 13 are not required
to fast.
2)
Washing
- During the fast, one may not wash for pleasure.
- If one
is dirty, one is permitted to wash away the dirt.
- Upon rising
in the morning and after using the bathroom, one should wash
one's hands, but only up to the knuckles.
- One may
wash one's hands when preparing food.
- One may
bathe a baby.
3)
Annointing - It is forbidden to annoint
oneself with oil, thus the use of perfumes, make-up, suntan lotion,
and other such items is prohibited.
4)
Wearing Leather Shoes - During the
fast it is forbidden to wear leather shoes. Some people wear only
socks, but others wear shoes of canvas or other non-leather materials.
5)
Marital Relations - It is forbidden to have marital relations
during Yom Kippur
C.
Wearing White - Many people have the custom of wearing white on
Yom Kippur. Some men, wear a kittel, a simple white robe, over their
clothing. On Yom Kippur evening, men wear their tallit, prayer shawl,
which is usually worn only during the day. Wearing white serves
several purposes:
i) One's burial
shroud is white and one is therefore reminded of one's mortality
and the need to do teshuvah, repentance.
ii) On Yom
Kippur one wishes to resemble an angel, and therefore one symbolically
dresses in white.
The
Yom Kippur Prayers
- Yom
Kippur night - Kol Nidre This
most famous of prayers is the opening of the Yom Kippur service.
It begins before sunset, when the ark is opened and two Torah
scrolls are removed to the bimah where the cantor is standing.
The Kol Nidre service is an annulment of vows that one took in
the past year or that one may take in the forthcoming year. This
annulment refers only to voluntary vows between man and G-d and
does not remove one's obligation to repay debts or fulfill personal
agreements.
- Vidui/Confession-
One aspect of the teshuvah/repentance process is to verbalize
one's sins. This takes place during the confession.
The
confession must be with a true heart - one must truly repent
the action (s)he is confessing.
Vidui
is recited during every Yom Kippur service, including the
afternoon service (mincha) preceding Yom Kippur.
The
Vidui service is made up of a list of 22 sins (one for each
letter of the aleph-bet). Examples of the confessional lines
are:
i) For
the sin that we have sinned before You under duress and willingly...
ii) For
the sin that we have sinned before You with harsh speech...
The confession is recited standing up, head bowed in humility.
As each confession is stated, one strikes the left side of his/her
chest with his right fist.
Focusing
on Vidui
* On first reading through the Vidui, one may think "I didn't
do that!" Each time one reviews the Vidui lines, however, one
can gain a deeper insight into what is being said. For instance,
one confession reads:For
the sin that we have sinned before you by causing subservience
through bribery.
"Subservience through bribery" does not necessarily mean giving
a judge money to change a verdict. Every day people bribe each
other with promises or flattery. When reading the Vidui, perhaps
one may realize that they have coerced someone into doing something
not quite right by promising them something or by encouraging
the continuation of a negative character trait.
Reviewing
the confession lines and reading them with a slightly different
outlook will make the Yom Kippur experience all the more meaningful.
Through this service, we realize how important our every action
is.
- The
Torah Reading on Yom Kippur
During
the Morning Service two Torah scrolls are removed from the ark.
An account of the Yom Kippur Service of the High Priest in the
Holy Temple is read from the Book of Leviticus, followed by a
listing of the special sacrifices of the holiday in the Book of
Numbers. The Haftorah is from the Book of Isaiah
The
Afternoon Service - Yom Kippur is the only holiday on which
there is a weekday afternoon Torah reading. The section is taken
from the portion of Acharei Mot in Leviticus and deals with
the laws of forbidden sexual relations. The Haftorah is the
story of Yonah (Jonah)
Yonah
is one of the prophets of the Bible: G-d chooses Yonah go to
the Assyrian city of Nineveh and warn them that they will be
destroyed unless they change their ways. Instead of following
G-d's command, Yonah flees onto a ship, hoping to avoid this
mission. G-d sends a great storm. The people on the ship, fearing
for their lives, discern that Yonah is the cause and, at Yonah's
instruction, throw him overboard. Yonah is swallowed by a large
fish (commonly interpreted as a whale). He lives inside the
fish for three days, praying to G-d and accepting G-d's will.
When he is returned to dry land, he goes to Nineveh and gives
them G-d's message. The people repent and are saved. Yonah,
however, leaves the city depressed that this city of idol-worshipers
heeded G-d's warning when his fellow Jews do not. He sits outside
the city waiting to see what will happen. While he sleeps, G-d
makes a vine grow over him to shade him from the heat. Yonah
awakes and rejoices over the vine; but that night, G-d sends
a worm to destroy the vine, causing Yonah to weep. G-d then
rebukes him for having pity on a plant that appeared and disappeared
in one night, but not having pity on the hundreds of thousands
of souls of Nineveh.
We read from the Book of Yonah on Yom Kippur because it highlights
the idea of teshuvah, repentance.
-
Yonah realized that he had done wrong in trying to run away
from G-d's command. Yonah actually follows the pattern for
teshuvah: He recognizes his mistake while on the ship during
the storm; He verbally confesses that he was wrong by telling
the men on the ship that he is the cause and instructing them
to throw him overboard; He regrets his actions as expressed
by the prayers he says while in the belly of the fish; and,
when once again commanded by G-d to go to Nineveh, he does
so.
- The
men on the ship, seeing the power of the G-d of Israel, repent
their worship of idols and convert to Judaism.
- The city
of Nineveh heeds Yonah's warning. The king of Nineveh decrees
that his subjects must don sackcloth and repent. G-d sees
that the people actually change their actions. The city is
saved, highlighting the fact that G-d desires and accepts
repentance from all people.
- Yizkor
- The Memorial Service
- The Yizkor
Memorial Service is recited on the last day of each festival
- Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, and on Yom Kippur (as Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur are considered like one holiday). The
Yom Kippur Yizkor Service, however, is considered more significant
than the other holidays.
- While
those who have passed away are unable to grow spiritually,
the deeds of their children earn merit for their souls.
- During
the Yizkor Service, it is customary for people to offer a
pledge to charity in memory of their loved one(s).
- In Ashkenazic
custom, those whose parents are both living leave the sanctuary
during Yizkor. In Sephardic custom, everyone remains in the
sanctuary while the cantor recites Yizkor.
- Ne'ilah
- The closing prayers
- As the
sun begins its descent on Yom Kippur, the Gates of Mercy,
opened during the period of Teshuvah, are closing, and it
is the last hour before the sentence is sealed.
- Only
on Yom Kippur is a fifth Silent Amida added to the day, and
this is during the Neilah service.
- As the
day closes, the Neilah Service concludes with the blowing
of the Shofar, heralding the closing of the Heavenly gates
and announcing our optimism that our prayers were accepted
and that the day will have a positive outcome.
After
the Fast
After the Havdallah (separation of holy and
weekday) ceremony, everyone returns home and partakes in a festive
meal. Because one wishes to extend the holiness of the day, many
begin preparing for the next holiday, Sukkot, by starting to build
their sukkah right after Yom Kippur
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