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REL/134
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Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. According to Molloy (2010), “To atone means to make up for one’s faults, and this day has traditionally been kept by prayer and strict fasting, with no food or drink during the entire day” (p. 325). Yom Kippur also has an additional name, Yom HaDin, meaning the “Day of Judgment” (www.myjewishlearning.com, 2011, pp. 3). This day is to confess all sins to God and ask for forgiveness to Him and the persons whom one has done wrong to in the past year. Once confessions have are made and forgiveness has been granted, the day extends to cleansing the spirit and bringing blessings to the New Year and one’s faithfulness to God. Enclosed in this essay are the time of year Yom Kippur is, the history, the religious practices, differences between other religious holidays, and this holy day.
Time of Year
Jewish holy days focus on and are commonly centralized on the earth’s rotations around the moon, also known as the lunar calendar. Unlike many other religions and people use, the calendar year as how the earth rotates around the sun (www.jewfaq.org, 2008). The Tanakh (Jewish Bible) quotes, “The tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: You shall practice self-denial” (Leviticus 23:27). Yom Kippur begins at sunset and extends until dusk of the next day, 25 hours in total (www.jewfaq.org, 2008).
History
Myjewishlearning.com (2011) contends, “While most of the holidays originating in the Bible have their logical place on the agricultural calendar, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur do not necessarily fit that mold. The rabbis tell us that the 10th of Tishrei was the day on which Moses completed and brought down the second set of commandments from Sinai, signifying that God had granted atonement for the sin of the Golden calf. This rabbinic interpretation lends
References: Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. (2011). Yom Kippur. Retrieved from http://www.chabad.org /holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4687/jewish/Yom-Kippur.htm Molloy, M. (2010). Experiencing The World 's Religions (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Rich, T. R. (2008). A Gentile 's Guide to the Jewish Holidays. Judism 101. Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm The Jewish Federations of North America, Inc. (2011). History of Yom Kippur. Retrieved from http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46315