Yom Kippur

“ Yom Kippur, and yet there is a fair in the town, the kind of fair one calls an "earthquake," a fair such as Berel does not remember having seen these many years, so crowded is it with men and merchandise. There is something of everything—cattle, horses, sheep, corn, and fruit. All the Tamschevate Jews are strolling round with their wives and children, there is buying and selling, the air is full of noise and shouting, the whole fair is boiling and hissing and humming like a kettle. ”

“ The rest of the laws of the candle can be found in 298. We eat and rejoice after Yom Kippur because it is mini-holiday (Tu, Mahari"v, Or Zarua) . Some have the practice of doing two days of Yom Kippur. It is possible to renege on this commitment. One should not practice this stringency because it may lead to health danger (Or Zarua) . One who does a fast for a dream on the day after Yom Kippur does not need to fast then the rest of their life (Minhagim) . We do not say Tachanun or Tzidkatecha tzedek from Yom Kippur through Sukkot. ”

“ On the night concluding Yom Kippur many looked forward to the impieties of the morrow as if these had been annulled in anticipation. But most felt that if all else were démodé, Yom Kippur stood august beyond fashion. Even the great jewellery and general emporia of Doomington shut their doors, though they exhibited a note to the effect that cleaning operations were in progress, so that their credit with their more Nonconformist customers might remain unimpaired. ”

“ Smelling-salts passed from hand to hand, and men explained to one another that, but for the deprivation of their cigars, they could endure Yom Kippur with complacency.
Esther passed the Ghetto school, within which free services were going on even in the playground, poor Russians and Poles, fanatically observant, fore-gathering with lax fishmongers and welshers; and without which hulking young men hovered uneasily, feeling too out of tune with religion to go in, too conscious of the terrors of the day to stay entirely away. ”

“ Our hearts should trust that the day of Yom Kippur will bestow upon us blessing and good tidings, and that the Holy on Blessed be He will forgive our sins, and seal our year for blessings and good outcomes. ”

“ There are places that do say many slichot and everything should follow the custom. Regarding saying Avinu Malkenu on Erev Yom Kippur, there is a debate among later halakhic authorities, and my city's custom is not to say it unless Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat. Then, because we do not say Avinu Malkenu on Yom Kippur, we say it on Erev Yom Kippur in the morning. ”

“ He showed abominably concentrated, floridly intelligent, in the thin spring air and among the inconspicuous tea-drinkers. He didn't answer my question; he was thinking, and when he spoke, he asked another:
"Do you ever go to Synagogue?"
"No."
"Nor do I, except on Yom Kippur. I still go then every year—pure habit. I don't believe in it, of course; I believe in nothing—you believe in nothing—we're all sceptics. And yet we belong to Palestine still. Funny, ain't it? How it comes out! Under the apple-blossom and blue sky, as you say, as well as—as—among the tombs." ”

“ To him Christianity meant oppression, persecution, torture. His nature was stern and unbending; there could be no compromise, no palliation; the sinner against Israel was like a venomous serpent that must be crushed without argument. And now his duty was clear.
When the officials of the synagogue met, a few days before Yom Kippur, the Rabbi Tamor, pale and trembling, but firm in his determination, laid before them the case of a young woman who had resolved to marry outside her faith. ”

“ They strictly observed the dietary laws, and solemnized the festivals, and the fast of Yom-Kippur, which they called Ashura. They celebrated the Sabbath with such rigor that in spite of their delight in war, and the opportunity for enjoying it, their sword remained in its scabbard on that day. Although they had nothing to complain of in this hospitable country, which they were able to regard and love as their fatherland, they yearned nevertheless to return to the holy land of their fathers, and daily awaited the coming of the Messiah. ”

“ On this day we eat fish and meat just as we do on a Festival. It appears that this Mitzvah to eat is only in the daytime before Yom Kippur, and not the previous night of the ninth, for since the purpose is to create strength to better withstand Yom Kippur, the benefits will only be felt from the immediate day before, and not the previous night. ”

“ This is because a fast is more difficult to endure directly after a period of pleasure. Since there is a command on the day before Yom Kippur to eat, drink, and feel content the following day's fast will certainly feel more difficult. Therefore it is, in a sense, as though the fast were on the ninth and tenth. Though one's ability to withstand the fast is certainly strengthened and improved by eating beforehand, it is the discomfort experienced that is heightened by the immediate change of state. ”

“ A few days before Yom Kippur she said, 'The more I read my Bible, the more I am beginning to [377] feel my being born a Jewess can never save me; I must have something better than my fastings and prayers.' Every visit I paid her I could see a considerable change in her sentiments respecting the Lord Jesus. It was pleasing to me, who had prayerfully watched her for so many months, to observe how gradually her Jewish prejudices disappeared, her views of the Gospel becoming more and more clear, and her love for Jesus increasing daily. ”

“ Of Gorin's stories which touch the Russian-Jewish conditions in New York, "Yom Kippur" is one of the most notable. It is the tale of a pious Jewish woman who joins her husband in America after he has been there several years. The details of the way in which she left the old country, how she had to pass herself off on the steamer as the wife of another man, her difficulties with the inspecting officers, etc., give the impression of a life strange to the Gentile world. On arriving in America, she finds her husband and his friends fallen away from the old faith. ”

“ Who was more precise than he in observing the feasts and fasts of the Hebrew calendar? or in attending services at the Synagogue? Was smoke ever to be seen issuing from his chimneys on the Sabbath? Old as he was, did he not abstain from food on the fast of Gedalia, and on that of Tebeth, and on that of Tamuz, as well as on the Ninth of Ab and on Yom Kippur? Had he not, year after year, been elected and re-elected Parnass of the congregation? All honor to him, then, for a wise man and an upright man in the way of the law! ”

“ From three to seven days, if she says "I need," we feed her. From then on, she is treated like any other person. These days are not counted by 24 hour periods. For example, if she gives birth in the evening on the seventh of Tishrei, we do not feed her on Yom Kippur unless she says "I need"; even though she will not complete three whole days until Yom Kippur evening, because she has entered the fourth day after childbirth, she is considered to be after three days. ”

“ And also Yom Kippur, the actual Yom Kippur. And also Sukkot, the real Sukkot. I also heard that they were shouting, "Chodsheikhem umo`adeikhem son'ah nafshi/ My soul hates your new moons and your festivals." "What [right] do you [plural] have to judge the world? Rosh Hashanah itself will judge." And they all fled; they fled with all the leaders of the generation.
And I saw that engraved on the chair were the forms of all the world's creatures, and each one was engraved with his mate next to him, and for this reason matches are immediately made, for each one found and saw his partner there. ”

“ One runs this way and one that way, this one is driving a cow, that one leading home a horse by the rein, the other buying a whole cart-load of corn. Berel is all astonishment and curiosity: how is it possible for Jews to busy themselves with commerce on Yom Kippur? on such a holy day? As far back as he can remember, Jews used to spend the whole day in Shool, in linen socks, white robe, and prayer-scarf. They prayed and wept. ”

“ Through this Mitzvah that G-d commanded us the same idea is taught to future generations, that though we may have sinned all year long, on Yom Kippur our sins are forgiven, as long as we return to Him with repentance. ”

“ If one wants to pray even if they have not wiped, it is also permitted to wash up to the knuckles. Rem"a: Similarly, a priest who ascends to bless the community washes his hands even if they are already pure, because every washing that is not done for pleasure is permitted (Hagahot Maimoni chapter 2 from the laws of Yom Kippur and Mahari"l) . ”

“ This Day served as a test to prove whether a man of Hebrew birth clung to the Jewish faith or not; for if he retained the very smallest respect for the tenets of his religion, he would at least put in an appearance at the synagogue, and refrain from tasting food. However lax he might be throughout the year, on this Day he would try to make reparation, lest he should be struck off from the inheritance of Israel; for if he failed to observe Yom Kippur, he could no longer claim—amongst his own people—to be a Jew. ”

“ Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 606 Reconciling with friends on Erev Yom Kippur
שיפייס אדם חבירו בערב יום כפור
606:1 Transgressions between people are not subject to atonement on Yom Kippur unless the offender appeases the offended party. Even if one aggrieved another with words alone, this appeasement is necessary. If one cannot effect appeasement at first, one must return a second and a third time, taking along three people each time. If the offended party will not be appeased after three visits, one may desist. ”

“ Ever since he has had a taste of the miller, he doesn't want to go home without some dainty morsel. So he flies about, peering in every direction like a lost bird.
Therefore, take care, good people, that something evil doesn't befall you.
And now, good-bye! If I haven't told the story to suit your taste, don't think ill of me, I'm only plain man.
↑ Ten days after the Jewish New Year, which is celebrated in the early Autumn, comes Yom Kippur, or the day of Purification, called by the peasants of Little Russia the "Day of Atonement." ”

“ As to the beggars, I never imagined there could be so many in one country. We generally get enough beggars coming to us on Fridays and before holy days, but at Yom Kippur and Purim they come in crowds. Most of them are Sephardim and Yeminites. It is true you give each of them only a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you a blessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are not given there according to the style of the house, they upbraid the people, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at the doors with paras and cakes, etc. ”

“ Midrash Rabbah Devarim, chap. 15.
We are reminded of this tradition in the conclusion service for Yom Kippur, where we repeat, "Speedily thou shalt open the hidden gates to those who hold fast Thy law." The allusion is to "the gates of the Temple," which "are supposed to be sunk in the ground."
Rabbi Akiva once met on a journey a remarkably ugly man toiling along under a great load of wood. Rabbi Akiva said unto him, "I adjure thee to tell me whether thou art a man or a demon." "Rabbi," said he, "I was once a man, and it is now some time since I left the world. ”

“ Mohammed had frequent intercourse with the Jews, and received from them the first impetus to found a new religion in place of the crude worship of the old Arabs. He laid particular stress on converting the Jews to the new religion, which was to be a universal theocracy. For this purpose he adopted some of the Jewish ideas, customs, and modes of worship, the strict monotheistic idea, the fast of Yom Kippur and the turning toward Jerusalem in prayer. ”

“ The ‘Amen’ response is treated similarly (it is not a personal obligation) , except for those in the ‘Mussaf Shemona Esrai’ of Rosh Hashana, where fulfilling the obligation of Shofar is connected to the order of the blessings. In our community, where we do not blow Shofar in the quiet ‘Shemona Esrai’ [of Mussaf] , the main prayer is the prayer leader’s repetition. This applies to his reciting of the ‘Mussaf’ of Yom Kippur as well, because the Yom Kippur Temple service is mentioned therein. ”

“ It is part of the religious observance of the chief Jewish holiday that every worshiper presenting himself at the synagogue to be cleansed from sin must first have washed his body clean.
Hence the numerous tenement bath-houses on the East Side are run night and day in Yom Kippur week to their full capacity. There are so many more people than tubs that there is no rest for the attendants even in the small hours of the morning. ”

“ Avowed atheists put in an appearance despite all their logic. There were few Jews in Doomington that day beyond the circumference of a circle whose radius was half a mile in any direction from the Polisher Shool.
Hence it was surprising to see Alec Segal in a shop doorway far up Cambridge Street on the afternoon of Yom Kippur. It added to the surprise to find Harry Sewelson join him after some minutes, for the four parents of these youths, emancipated to the pitch of transferring a kettle to and from the fire on shabbos, were yet very far from the transgression of this ultimate sanctity ”

“ The punishment of excision, or karet, is the subject of some dispute among rabbinic authorities. It either represents an early death, childlessness, or a post-mortem spiritual punishment.
Sent He-goat: A unique service performed on Yom Kippur, the Sent He-goat is selected out of a pair by lottery, after which it is sent off to "carry the sins" of Israel to the wilderness; there it is killed by a fall from a cliff. ”