Yom Kippur is a very special day, most of the commandments of this day are regarding fasting. The essence of this day is forgiveness and atonement, we ask G-d to forgive us for our sins, and of course we ask the people we hurt during the year to forgive us. Here are the customs and laws of eve of Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur.
Eve of Yom Kippur
Eve of Yom Kippur is a special day. Besides being busy day for preparations for the fast, it is considered as 'Yom Tov' (holiday). Here are special laws related with this day.
Ask for forgiveness: Yom Kippur is the day that the Creator forgiving sins we've done over the past year, But Our sages say that G-d forgives only for offenses between the man and the creator of the world, and not for crimes between the man and his friend. Therefore, if we hurt someone over the past year, it's time to apologize and ask his forgiveness. When a person who hurt you begs for your forgiveness, you should forgive him wholeheartedly and not to resent him.
Kapparot
If one will only think how many bad deeds he did over the year, he will think that he deserves a punishment. Therefore, on Eve Yom Kippur there is a custom to take a chicken and slaughter it, to show us that whatever is happening to the chicken is really what we deserve. And this will arouse us to repent all of our sins and ask for forgiveness.
The Kapparot takes place on Eve Yom Kippur morning. For a man or a boy you should take a rooster, and for a woman or girl you take a hen. For pregnant woman you should take one rooster and two hens. If one has no chicken, he can take a fish or money.
How to do the Kapparot?
You should hold the live chicken or the money and say: "Children of man who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in misery and chins of iron – He will bring them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and will sunder their bonds. Foolish sinner, afflicted because of their sinful ways and their wrongdoings; their soul loathes all food and they reach the gates of death – they cry out to the Lord in their distress; He saves them from their afflictions. He sends forth His word and heals them; He delivers them from their graves. Let them thank the Lord for his kindness, and {proclaim} his wonders to the children of man. If there be for a man {even} one interceding angle out of a thousand {accusers}, to speak of his uprightness in his behalf, then he will be gracious to him and say: Redeem him from going down to the grave; I have found expiation {for him}. Swing chicken around your head three times and say: This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation. This chicken shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace".
Repeat another two times; for a total of three times. After reciting this, we slaughter the chicken (if you used money, we give it to charity), and we give the meat to the poor. The intestines, we put out for the birds, in order to show mercy on them, and with this G-d will have mercy on us.
If G-d sentenced us that the next year we'll have to seek help from others, we prefer to do this symbolically, on the eve of Yom Kippur. Therefore, we ask - and receive - a honey cake. In addition, the requesting reminds us that whatever we receive in the coming year we receive from G-d, with his kindness.
As mentioned, the eve of Yom Kippur is considered a holiday. It is a Mitzvah increase in eating and drinking on this day, and during the day we eat two meals. The first is called "Yom Tov meal," and the other eaten before the fast is called "a feast before the fast" because it's the last meal before the fast. At this meal, eat only light foods and avoid from drinking beverages containing alcohol. You can eat the meal until the lighting of the candles.
Men should go to the Mikveh (a pool of water that you dip in there in order to purify) to purify himself for the holy day.
On Minchah (afternoon pray), we say the wording of confession, where we confess and regret all different types of sins in detail, and we ask G-d to forgive us. We repeat this a few times during "Yom Kippur".
Although on each weekday of the "Ten Days of Repentance" (days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) we gives extra charity, the eve of Yom Kippur we do it more than always. The Baal Shem Tov (the founder of the Hassidic movement) said: "The Sound of clinking coins in the charity collection bowls, keep away all prosecutions."
Before going to the synagogue, the father blesses his sons and daughters: "G-d will make you as Ephraim and Manasseh," he says to his sons, and "G-d will make you as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah" He wishes his daughters they will go the way our mothers.
As with any holiday, women and girls light candles. Before lighting, they say the following blessings: "Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Yom Kippur light." "Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion." When Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, like this year, we mention the Sabbath in the first blessing, and say: "Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments, and commanded us to kindle the light of Shabbat and Yom Kippur."
Yom Kippur
The Lubavitcher Rebbe in end of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year. On this day we fast, and seek the creator of the world to forgive us for our sins. "For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to purify you; you shall be cleansed of all your sins before the G-d." says the verse (Leviticus 16).
For twenty five hours we do not eat, drink, or bath or shower, do not have sex and do not wear leather shoes. G-d forgives a person on this day for all his sins, besides the sins of between a person and his friend. G-d would forgive only if you ask for forgiveness from your friend. But whoever does not ask from his friend to forgive him, G-d will not forgive him for this that he sinned to his friend, until he apologizes, or returns what he took away from his friend. If his friend had died he should return it to his children. But if the friend doesn’t have a family he should help poor people with this money. And if he hurt his friends' feelings and his friend is not alive anymore, he should go to his grave with ten people and apologize there and ask for forgiveness in front of them by the grave. Yom Kippur is like Saturday so you should not drive a car or light a fire or anything electronic, also do not shut down anything electric. On this special day we should pray and ask for forgiveness from G-d five times.
Commandments ofYom Kippur
Men aged 13 and above, and women aged 12 and above must fast on Yom Kippur. The fast begins just before sunset on the ninth of Tishrei (this year: September 29th), and ends at nightfall after the tenth of Tishrei (this year: September 30th). If for various health reasons one cannot fast, please contact a rabbi to rule on how to proceed.
In addition to fast, refrain during the fast from doing the following: wearing leather shoes, washing of any kind (it is permitted to wash only the fingertips), marital intercourse, and anoint the body in body anointments and the like.
Many communities tend to wear white clothes on Yom Kippur, since on this day we refrain from eating and drinking and we are like angels. In addition, it is customary not to wear gold jewelry in order not to remind of the "Golden Calf sin" that was made from gold (see: exodus 32).
Special prayers for Yom Kippur: the fast opens with the prayer "Kol Nidrei" and ends with prayer "Neilah". During Yom Kippur we confess our sins and ask the creator of the world for forgiveness and atonement for them. The culmination of the prayers comes at the end of the fast, when the crowd calls out "Hear O Israel the Lord our Godis one", "Blessed is the name of honorof his kingdomforever", "the Lord is G-d." These moments Jews strengthen their faith of thousands of years in G-d – the one and only, and are willing to give over their lives in order not to veer this belief. At the end of the 'Neilah' prayer, we blow one long blow in the shofar, and declare "Next year in Jerusalem!"
