Yom Kippur

Shortly after the hapiness of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, comes another holiday of equal importance: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Considered to be the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur is an often-misunderstood holiday because of how it is observed. To observer a strict 26-hour long fast day, hours and hours of extensive prayer, and several other austere restrictions, there are plenty who believe that Yom Kippur is a somber, joyless day, but that’s not entirely true, as you shall soon see!

What is Yom Kippur?

Yom Kippur is a very important day in the Hebrew calendar. While most know it as the ‘Day of Atonement,’ Yom Kippur can also mean the ‘Day of Cleanse,’ for on this day, we are commanded to ‘afflict our souls’ and ‘do no work’ so that G-d might forgive us, cleanse us, and purify us of all our sins. To some, this idea of ‘afflicting our souls’ may sound strange or scary, but truthfully, Yom Kippur’s ‘afflicting’ customs have a much grander purpose to them and in practice, are not so impossible to do, particularly in modern times. Although not the easiest or most enjoyable Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur is such a special and purifying time that even many non-religious Jews find themselves observing it! In fact, for a significant number of secular Jews, Yom Kippur is the only day of the year where they will fast, visit the synagogue, or recite a single prayer, demonstrating just how important this major holiday is.

So, what are the actual customs of Yom Kippur?

As previously mentioned, during Yom Kippur, we are obligated to rest from work and ‘afflict our souls.’ We do this is by abstaining from the following physical comforts:

• Eating or drinking;
• Wearing leather shoes;
• Intimate spousal relations;
• Washing or bathing;
• “Anointing” oneself (using perfumes or lotions)

Each of these ‘afflicting’ restrictions serves a purpose, mostly to illustrate how deeply remorseful we are for past misdeeds. There is also a symbolic reason behind why we give up these activities on Yom Kippur: there is an idea that we should seek to deprive ourselves of physical comforts because we want to imitate G-d’s angels, who are pure and flawless beings without physical needs. As Yom Kippur is the ultimate day for self-reflection and cleansing of the soul, being compared to angels on this day seems like the right idea.

With this “Cleansing” it is important to be forgiven for our sins and in turn it is important to donate to charity on this day. We suggest old jewelry to be passed down to our loved ones and white is to show the pureness.

Here is a link to our white gold jewelry to help make Yom Kippur a little more fashionable.