Jewish Holidays

i

Yom Kippur is one of the holiest and most solemn days of the year for Jewish people. During this Day of Atonement Jews usually observe this holiday with a 25 hour period of fasting and intensive prayer and will spend most of the day in a synagogue. Most synagogues will experience the highest attendance rate on this day. The day occurs on the tenth day of Tishri, which is ten days after Rosh Hashanah which is a Hebrew month that correlates with September through October on the secular calendar. During Yom Kippur the day is set aside to "afflict the soul" and atone for sins of the past year. It is Jewish belief that Yom Kippur was the only time that the high priest could enter the holy of holies and call upon the name to offer a blood sacrifice for the sins of people. Jewish people believe Yom Kippur is essentially the last day on has to get straight with God before he inscribes your name in the book of judgment after Yom Kippur it is said that God decides the fate of your soul.

The way that Yom Kippur was brought to is a historical holiday started a while ago. The biblical account of Yom Kippur describes a day dedicated to atonement and abstinence. Leviticus 23:27 "You should do no work throughout the day for It is a day of atonement on which expiation is made on your behalf before the lord your God. Indeed, any person who does not practice self-denial throughout the day shall be cut off from his people..." Rabbis do follow on the theme of self-denial and daily pleasures that the Jewish community must obtain from on Yom Kippur such as bathing, drinking, wearing leather soled shoes, sexual relations and eating.

Traditions are always practiced when celebrating Yom Kippur. On the day before Yom Kippur Jewish people will usually rise early to perform the ceremony of kapparot. During this ritual a person will usually swing a live chicken or sometimes a bundle of coins over their head three times, which is supposed to be a symbol of transferring ones sins to the chicken or coins afterwards the chicken is slaughtered and donated to the poor for consumption at the pre-fest meal. Both men and women participate In this ritual that dates back to 800 years ago, women receive a hen and men receive a rooster while the animal is spun around the head a few words are also recited "This is my exchange, my substitute, my atonement; this rooster (or hen) shall go to its death but I shall go to a good, long life, and to peace." Even though a lot of people are Jewish and practice Judaism there a cultural differences which stop other followers from observing the holiday the same way, some feel that the ritual has no significance to it and if a bird could simply take your sins away there would be no need in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Contemporary Rabbis argue that no ritual can purify anyone from sin and to obtain higher levels of perfection you must indeed repent. The day before