What to Wear on Yom Kippur It is customary to wear white clothing on Yom Kippur. In some communities Jews wore a kittel, which is white and resembles a robe. Some wore it on Rosh Hashanah as well. There are many explanations for wearing the kittel. There is a humility in wearing a simple garment. Rather than focusing on our physical needs (we abstain from eating and drinking among other restrictions) it is a day dedicated to self-reflection and teshuva (repentance) so we wear a kittel to reflect a sense of purity. And while expressing humility, wearing white also reflects a level of confidence. We stand before God, at the time of judgement, confident in our hope that we will be judged fairly and that we will be inscribed in the Book of Life for the coming year. May we all enter Yom Kippur feeling both a sense of awe alongside a humble confidence toward the [...]

A Stunning Revelation about Yom Kippur The most sacred day of the year for a Jew is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is the day that we are closest to God. It is the day we seek forgiveness from God for our sins. We “afflict our souls” — so we don’t eat or drink, wash or anoint our bodies, we abstain from leather shoes, and abstain from marital relations. It is the day that God and each one of us look over the ledger of our deeds of the previous year. The holiest days of the year of other religions are devoted to many worthwhile ideals and commemorations, but it is unique to Judaism that the holiest day of the year is devoted primarily, indeed almost exclusively, to how we have acted. It is a stunning revelation that the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, mandated in the [...]

While the idea of a heavenly ledger goes back to the Bible, the “Book of Life” as we know it is found in the Talmud. The Talmud teaches “three books are opened in heaven on Rosh Hashanah: one for the fully wicked, one for the fully righteous, and one for the intermediate. The fully righteous are immediately inscribed in the Book of Life, the fully wicked in the Book of Death and the fate of those in between is held in abeyance until Yom Kippur.” (Rosh Hashanah 16b, Babylonian Talmud) The lesson for Rosh Hashanah is that we can improve upon who we are. We can come closer to our potential. We are to imagine God as judge and ruler, on the throne of justice. God looks at what we have done, our ledger, and then decides our fate. A closer look at the High Holy Days liturgy notes we have [...]

Zochreinu l’chayim, Melech cafeitz bachayim…Remember us for life, Sovereign who delights in life, And inscribe us in the Book of Life for Your sake O loving God. Appearing first on Erev Rosh Hashanah, this is one of the initial and unique additions to the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. It sets the tone for the High Holy Days. The words are a short and direct petition that is inserted into every Amidah at every High Holy Days service. When we ask God to “Remember us” we are asking God to remember the merit of our ancestors and in doing so grant the blessing of life to us, our ancestors’ children. With these words—Zochreinu l’chayim, “remember us for life”—the scene is set for the High Holy Days. The focus is that God will grant us another year of life. With humility that our future is uncertain we enter these holy days with optimism and hope. — [...]