Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls ten days after Rosh Hashanah. When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the High Priest effected atonement for the entire people through an elaborate ritual. Today, in the absence of the Temple, each of us stands, alone, together, naked as it were, before God. Yom Kippur is the dramatic culmination of the entire season of teshuvah, repentance. On Yom Kippur, Jews abstain from eating, drinking, bathing, sexual relations, and the wearing of leather (a sign of luxury) for 25 hours. Jews dress in white and traditionally spend most of the day in synagogue.
Who will make chicken soup for the dejected?
I smashed my father’s statues and stood alone in the fragmenting dark
“When I feel most broken / pulled apart / when every door unhinged / is opened / but feels closed”
A full ritual to help you practice atonement and cleansing going into Yom Kippur
The El Maley Rakhamim prayer reconstructed to honor the lives lost to racial violence
An original, dramatic Avodah service for Yom Kippur
“For the Regretter, a regretting song”
“Holiness dwells in this day / and our souls are overwhelmed”
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