Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. This year, Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Sunday, September 27, 2009.

Yom Kippur is a long fast day, meaning that one refrains from eating between sundown to the next sundown. Fasting is obligatory unless one's health would be jeopardized by not eating. The principal of pikuach nefesh (saving of life) takes precedence over fasting.

Yom Kippur is described in Torah as Shabbat Shabbaton (Leviticus 16:31), which means the Shabbat of complete rest. All work is forbidden on Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur atones only for the sins between us and G~d. To atone for the sins against another, you must first confront that person and ask for forgiveness.

The Yom Kippur synagogue service is composed of 5 separate services: (1) Kol Nidre, the evening service; (2) Shacharit, the morning service; (3) Musaf, the additional service; (4) Mincha, the afternoon service; and (5) Ne’ilah, the concluding service.

The Kol Nidre means “All Vows.” The Kol Nidre annuls all vows made to G~d. At this service, we ask G~D to annul all personal vows we may have made to Him. The service begins with the cantor singing the following words in Aramaic:
“All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publically renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither pledges nor oaths.”
This pertains only to religious vow. It does not affect vows taken between individuals. For example, if a person promised G~d to do penance for a certain period of time, and he makes such a promise with the full intent of doing so, yet he fails, this nullifies his vow to G~d.
It is very important to note that the Kol Nidre has no effect upon the promises we make and break with others. Those promises remain in effect, and if broken, we must ask forgiveness to the individual(s) we harmed or affected.

The Day Services: Shacharit, Musaf, and Mincha Services:

The daytime services focus on forgiveness from sin and repentance. In Jewish tradition, G~d immediately forgive us for sins that affect our relationship with Him and no one else. For sins that affect others, we must first apologize and seek forgiveness from those individuals whom we have harmed. After doing so, then our Yom Kippur prayers can absolve us from those sins. During the service we go through the process of recognizing confessing our sins.

The Ne’ilah Service

The Ne’ilah Service is the concluding service of Yom Kippur. The word “Ne’ilah” means “closing” and refers to the symbolic closing of the gates of heaven. There is a spiritual urgency to this prayer and the Shofar, the ram’s horn, is blown.

Following the Ne’ilah Service, because people have been fasting all day, there is generally a Break Fast meal, shared with the congregation.