Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, falls on 10 Tishrei and runs from sunset to the following nightfall. Marking the culmination of the Ten Days of Repentance, it centres on prayer, confession, fasting where safe, and making amends to people one has harmed.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. Beginning at sunset and ending after nightfall the following day, it is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar and completes the Ten Days of Repentance that begin with Rosh Hashanah. Its foundation is described in Leviticus: in the time of the Jerusalem Temple, the high priest performed rites of purification and atonement for the community. After the Temple's destruction, Jewish observance centred on prayer, repentance, confession and acts of repair rather than Temple sacrifice.

The evening service is known for Kol Nidrei, a solemn declaration concerning vows. Through the day, worshippers recite communal confessions and prayers, including the distinctive Musaf service recalling the ancient Temple ritual. Many communities also include Yizkor remembrance for deceased relatives. The final service, Ne'ilah, evokes the closing of the gates at the day's end; a shofar blast commonly marks its conclusion. The traditional fast lasts roughly twenty-five hours and is accompanied by restrictions on work and certain bodily comforts. Jewish law places preservation of life first: children and people for whom fasting is medically unsafe are not expected to endanger themselves.

The central lesson is teshuvah, returning to a better way of life. The Mishnah teaches that wrongs against other people are not repaired by prayer alone: one must seek their forgiveness and make appropriate amends. Yom Kippur is therefore neither a festival of entertainment nor a claim that a single ritual automatically erases wrongdoing. Its quiet intensity joins accountability before God with responsibility toward neighbours, and closes with the possibility of beginning again.

The holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish year, devoted to teshuvah (repentance), atonement, ethical responsibility and repairing relationships with God and other people. Mishnah Yoma 8:9 stresses that interpersonal wrongdoing requires reconciliation.

A roughly 25-hour fast for those medically able; abstention from work and traditional bodily comforts; Kol Nidrei, confession, Musaf, Ne'ilah and a concluding shofar blast. Seek forgiveness from people harmed before the day. Protecting health and life takes precedence over fasting.

Observed by Jewish communities worldwide on 10 Tishrei, from local sunset to the next nightfall. Prayer melodies, remembrance customs and communal arrangements differ among Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and other Jewish communities. In Israel, much ordinary public activity stops; local practice varies.