"Howbeit on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; there shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; and ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the LORD."
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, consisting of a 25-hour fast (starting at sundown the night before) and involving at least 16 hours at synagogue. Actually, there's no reason to be in synagogue, but when you are fasting and being miserable, it's nice to be with other people who are fasting and being miserable*.
This was my fourth year celebrating Yom Kippur, and my third in Maidenhead. I was asked to do four security duties, so I spent as much time outside of the synagogue as I did in it. However, on the first day I was sitting in the back row and someone came behind me and squeezed my shoulder. It was a simple greeting--and over so fast I didn't even had a chance to say hello--but it really made me feel like part of the community.
I was on security duty for the last part of the service--the very end of the fast--which is terrible because while everyone is inside eating, you're still stuck outside waiting. Even worse, I was posted behind the synagogue, right next to a Chinese restaurant! Normally I wouldn't give the place a second glance, but that night it smelled divine.
To help you with next year, here are several traditional greetings for Yom Kippur:
A week after Yom Kippur is Sukkot, a bizarre 8-day festival where you are supposed to build a booth outside of your home and live in that (or at least eat in it). You also have to wave a lulav and etrog, whatever the heck those are. The day after that is Simchat Torah, where you celebrate finishing reading the Torah, or you celebrate starting to read it again. Then we're finished until Hanukkah, unless you think Hanukkah isn't really a holiday, in which case you're stuck until Tu B'Shevat at the end of January, which nobody celebrates anyway, even though it's one of only four holidays described in the Bible! Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, consisting of a 25-hour fast (starting at sundown the night before) and involving at least 16 hours at synagogue. Actually, there's no reason to be in synagogue, but when you are fasting and being miserable, it's nice to be with other people who are fasting and being miserable*.
This was my fourth year celebrating Yom Kippur, and my third in Maidenhead. I was asked to do four security duties, so I spent as much time outside of the synagogue as I did in it. However, on the first day I was sitting in the back row and someone came behind me and squeezed my shoulder. It was a simple greeting--and over so fast I didn't even had a chance to say hello--but it really made me feel like part of the community.
I was on security duty for the last part of the service--the very end of the fast--which is terrible because while everyone is inside eating, you're still stuck outside waiting. Even worse, I was posted behind the synagogue, right next to a Chinese restaurant! Normally I wouldn't give the place a second glance, but that night it smelled divine.
To help you with next year, here are several traditional greetings for Yom Kippur:
- L'Shana Tova, which means "good year." This actually refers to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which was last week but can be used until Yom Kippur.
- Yom Tov, which means "good day." Oddly it is only used on high holy days.
- Have an easy fast, which is self-explanatory.
- G'mar Hatimah Tovah, which literally means, "May You Be Sealed for a Good Year." At Rosh Hashanah, you are pencilled into the Book of Life for either a good year or bad year, and you then have 10 days to influence that judgment before it is sealed on Yom Kippur.
Fortunately in March things start rolling again, with Purim, Pesach and Shavuot (where you eat cheesecake). You have a love a religion with a holiday about eating cheesecake.
* In the old days, they had to fast while making animal sacrifices and roasting them over a fire! That must have been hard--even as a confirmed vegetarian, the smell of roasting meat still makes me salivate!
