Yom Kippur

The story behind the day

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is held on the tenth of Tishri and closes the ten days of repentance that begin at Rosh Hashanah. Orthodox and Reform sources alike call it the holiest day of the year. It is kept as a fast of roughly a day, with five services, confession of sins and a call to seek forgiveness first from other people and then from God. It rests on a biblical rite performed by the high priest, replaced after the Temple fell by prayer and repentance.^[1–5]

Origins

The Torah names the tenth day of the seventh month as the Day of Atonement, a day on which no work is done and people deny themselves (Leviticus 16 and 23). Its Temple rite belonged to the high priest. Dressed in special linen, he offered a bull for himself and the priests and entered the Holy of Holies with incense. Two goats were drawn by lot, one for the Lord and one for Azazel; the second, laden with the people's sins, was sent into the wilderness, the rite behind the word "scapegoat". Many scholars read Leviticus 16 as a text built up in layers and place the day only in the latest stratum of the priestly material in the Pentateuch.^{[1, 6–9]}

What it marks

In rabbinic teaching the verdict of Rosh Hashanah is held open for those in the middle until this day, so Yom Kippur completes ten days of penitence. The day atones for wrongs against God, but wrongs against other people are not forgiven until the injured person is appeased, which is why a person is told to go first to those he or she has wronged. Many see it as a day of solemnity with an undercurrent of joy, and the Mishnah describes young people dancing in the vineyards.^{[4, 10–12]}

How it came to be

After the Temple's destruction, prayers and synagogue services replaced the sacrifices. In the rabbis' teaching the day itself now atones, though only for those who repent, and Chabad tradition says that every Jew carries out the service in a temple within the heart. The old rite lives on in the liturgy: poems of the Avodah recount the high priest's service, and the confession of sins stands at the centre of the prayers.^{[3, 13–14]}

How it is kept

synagogue in white at Ne'ilah, the ark open — Synagogue in white at Ne'ilah, the ark openIllustration · AI-generated

Jerusalem's empty streets at duskIllustration · AI-generated

The fast runs from shortly before sunset on the ninth to nightfall on the tenth. The rabbis counted five forms of self-denial: eating and drinking, washing, anointing, leather shoes and marital relations. The evening service opens with Kol Nidre. Five services follow across the day: evening, morning, Musaf, afternoon and Ne'ilah. The afternoon reading includes the Book of Jonah, memorial prayers are said in the morning, many worshippers wear white, and a shofar blast closes Ne'ilah and the fast.^{[2, 15–21]}

Sources

Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.