The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur begins this Friday, October 11 in the evening until the following evening. It corresponds to a 25-hour fast.
The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur begins this Friday evening. It takes place 10 days after the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah (commonly called Shana Tova), and therefore corresponds to the tenth day of the month of Tishrei, the first month of the Jewish year marked by several major holidays. It will end on Saturday evening. Yom Kippur dates and times change each year. The lunar months are shorter than the months of the Gregorian calendar, which is why the 10th of the month of Tishrei varies depending on the year.
As for the times, the fast begins this Friday, October 11 at 6:50 p.m. and ends on Saturday, October 12 at 7:54 p.m., i.e. 25 hours of fasting. It therefore precedes sunset on the first day and ends at sunset the following day. This is considered obligatory by religion for men over 13 and women over 12. During this holy day, five obligatory prayers are held in the synagogue for those who wish to obtain divine forgiveness.
► Check Yom Kippur schedules by city on a specialized site
Yom Kippur, an austere holiday like Rosh Hashanah
Like Rosh Hashanahanother very important holiday in the Hebrew calendar, Yom Kippur is an austere holiday. Called “the Shabbat of Shabbats,” the holy day ends with a large, festive family meal to break the fast. Please note, however, that the observance of Yom Kippur may vary slightly depending on the community. For Sephardic Jews, this is the “white fast”. They dress in white to symbolize their desire for purity and liberation from sins.
In their liturgy, we find rather joyful music, compared to that of the Ashkenazi Jews. For the latter, the attitude is more solemn. The original joy of the day is admitted but the remembrance of the martyrs and the deceased holds an important place.
Fasting dates and times actually change every year. If Yom Kippur is not celebrated on the same date from one year to the next, it is because it depends on the Hebrew calendar, which refers to Genesis of the Bible. It is made up of 12 or 13 lunar months depending on the year, and weeks of seven days starting on Sunday and ending on the day of Shabbatthat is to say Saturday.
The lunar months are shorter than the months of the Gregorian calendar (alternatively 29 or 30 days): this is why the 10th of the month of Tishrei is a fluctuating date if we refer to the usual calendar.
The holiday of Yom Kippur is actually celebrated shortly after Rosh Hashanah (aka Shana Tova), the holiday marking a new calendar year in the Hebrew calendar and ushering in 10 days of penitence: the Day of Atonement always occurs 10 days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah (see why here) and begins the evening before these +10 days. It’s a non-working day but no holidayseen by believers as the holiest celebration of the year.
“The Day of Atonement” is a religious holiday. It commemorates the day when God forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf, recounted in the bible book of the Exodus. According to these writings, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Tablets of the Law, the Hebrews created an idol in the shape of a calf from the melted jewelry of the women and children. The prophet, discovering the worship of the idol, which the third Commandment prohibits, would then have broken the Tables of the Law in anger. Moses then spent 40 days twice at the top of the mountain to obtain forgiveness from God for his people. On the tenth day of the month of Tishrei it was granted.
Yom Kippur is the tenth day of ten days of penitence for Jews. This period from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, “Teshuvah”, is dedicated to introspection and repentance. During these ten days, it is recommended to do everything possible to rectify wrongs committed against others.
There is several ways to wish Yom Kippur. We can say “Gmar H’atima tova” (pronouncing the “H” like the Spanish “j”), or even, and it is much easier to remember, “Good Kippur”. If you want to assure a Jewish loved one of your best wishes after Yom Kippur, i.e. after the sounding of the Shofar, an ancestral wind instrument that is sounded to break the fast, then you can also say “Hag Samea’h”. This formula that the Jewish faithful also exchange among themselves designates a festival called Sukkot, and celebrated a few days later. A Hebrew term, “Sukkot” refers to a pilgrimage festival, the prescription of which appears in the Torah, the sacred book for Jews. It is during Sukkot that what believers consider to be divine support during the “Exodus of the children of Israel” is celebrated. Sukkot lasts seven days, punctuated by commemorative rites.
Yom Kippur means “day of atonement.” During this day of fervor, the Jews abstain from work and inflict the young. The deprivation of food and drink begins on the eve of Yom Kippur, half an hour before sunset (“tosefet Yom Kippur”) and ends after sunset the next day. The fast lasts a total of 25 hoursand it is obligatory for every Jew, for men from the age of 13 and for women from the age of 12. However, fasting is not authorized for people likely to suffer from it, such as sick people, people suffering from diabetes or women who have given birth within the last three days. More generally, five prohibitions must be observed in order to detach oneself from the material world:
- the ban on eating and drinking
- the ban on having marital relations
- the ban on washing
- the prohibition of anointing the body with oils and lotions (which symbolize superficial pleasures)
- the ban on wearing leather shoes (which symbolize material goods and comfort)
It was also forbidden to work, with Jews having to go to the synagogue for a long time to pray and ask God for forgiveness for their faults and those of the community. Believers individually ask for forgiveness from anyone they may have hurt and apologize for the offenses committed against them. Yom Kippur requires five prayers required throughout the day. The celebration of Yom Kippur varies depending on the community. Sephardim, for example, dress in white to affirm their desire to free themselves from their sins.
The end of the fast is signified in the synagogues by the ringing of the shofara wind musical instrument made from a ram’s horn. Believers then come together as a family or within their community to “break the fast”. The dishes prepared to celebrate the end of the festival differ according to tradition: Sephardim are accustomed to eating dry cakes accompanied by lemonade while Ashkenazim generally prefer a hot drink and cheese or smoked fish. After a light meal, a chicken dish or broth is served.
Ashura is a fast performed by many Muslims. They thus follow, recalls the specialized site Saphir News, a prophetic tradition enjoining believers to abstain from eating and drinking during the 9th and 10th days of the lunar month of Muharram (first month of the Muslim calendar). “Ashura” (“ten” in Arabic) is an Islamic festival commemorating different prophetic episodes which would have taken place on that day, according to the hadits to which we refer, specifies Kamel Meziti, historian: “the atonement of Adam and Eve , after their ‘fall’ on Earth, (…) the landing of Noah’s ark (Nûh); the salvation of Abraham (Ibrahim) saved from the fire of Nimrod or that of Jonas (Yûnus) saved from the entrails of the whale…”
Why talk about Ashura in a page about Yom Kippur? Because this celebration is a link between Judaism and Islam. According to the Sunnah (prophetic tradition), in 622, the prophet Muhammad went to meet the Jews of Medina on the day of Yom Kippur, as a reminder of the feast of atonement during which they fasted. Muhammad asks them why they are doing it and they respond that they commemorate “the day when God gave victory to Moses and the sons of Israel over Pharaoh and his men.”
Muhammad then retorts that he is linked to the ancient biblical prophets, and that he is therefore “more entitled” to fast on that day. From there, the Prophet will order Muslim believers to fast on that day, considering Moses as “closer” to them, and thereby incorporating Ashura into Islam.
In Islamic tradition, a hadith refers to the recommendation of the fast of Ashura: “As for the fast on the day of ‘Ashura’, I hope that Allah will accept it as an atonement for the year which preceded” (Sahih Muslim)