Yom Kippur

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Yom Kippur Summary

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The Routledge Dictionary of Judaism

Yom Kippur

(Hebrew: “Day of Atonement”) The most personal, solemn, and moving of the Days of Awe, the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, is marked by fasting and continuous prayer. It is the single most widely observed rite of Judaism. On the Day of Atonement it is forbidden to (1) eat, (2) drink, (3) bathe, (4) put on any sort of oil, (5) put on a sandal, (6) or engage in sexual relations (Mishnah Yoma 8:1). The holy day begins with a public remission of vows (see KOL NIDREI), so that the congregants may appear before God unencumbered by vows they, thoughtlessly, take to God:

All vows and oaths we take, all promises and obligations we make between this Day of Atonement and the next we hereby publicly retract in the event that we should forget them and hereby declare our intention to be absolved of them.

Sung on at sunset on the eve of the Day of Atonement, the formula called Kol Nidrei, for the opening words, moves masses of Jews to come to synagogue who otherwise scarcely find their way there. In the synagogue, the Jew then makes confession:

Our God and God of our fathers, may our prayer come before You. Do not hide Yourself from our supplication, for we are not so arrogant or stiff-necked as to say before You … We are righteous and have not sinned. But we have sinned.

We are guilt laden, we have been faithless, we have robbed….

We have committed iniquity, caused unrighteousness, have been presumptuous…

We have counseled evil, scoffed, revolted, blasphemed….

The Hebrew confession is built upon an alphabetical acrostic, as if by making certain every letter is represented, God, who knows human secrets, will combine them into appropriate words. The very alphabet bears witness against us before God.

A further list of sins follows, also built on alphabetical lines. Prayers to be spoken by the congregation are all in the plural: “For the sin which we have sinned against You with the utterance of the lips…. For the sin which we have sinned before You openly and secretly….” The community takes upon itself responsibility for what is done in it.

All Israel is part of one community, one body, and all are responsible for the acts of each. The sins confessed are mostly against society, against one’s fellow men; few pertain to ritual laws. At the end comes a final word:

O my God, before I was formed, I was nothing. Not that I have been formed, it is as though I had not been formed, for I am dust in my life, more so after death. Behold I am before You like a vessel filled with shame and confusion. May it be Your will … that I may no more sin, and forgive the sins I have already committed in Your abundant compassion.

While much of the liturgy speaks of “we,” the individual focus dominates, beginning to end. The Days of Awe speak to the heart of the individual, telling a story of judgment and atonement. So the individual Jew stands before God: possessing no merits, yet hopeful of God’s love and compassion.

The Day of Atonement represents one medium of atonement that the Torah sets forth, others of which are offerings of various kinds and death. Thus: a sin offering and an unconditional guilt offering atone. Death and the Day of Atonement atone when joined with repentance. Repentance atones for minor transgressions of positive and negative commandments. And as to serious transgressions, [repentance] suspends the punishment until the Day of Atonement comes along and atones (Mishnah Yoma 8:8). But there is no such thing as preemptive repentance: He who says, “I shall sin and repent, sin and repent”—they give him no chance to do repentance. [If he said,] “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone”—the Day of Atonement does not atone (Mishnah Yoma 8:9A-B).

This is the complete article, containing 654 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).