Yom Kippur
2007 9-21--9/22
Yom Kippur: wikipedia
Yom Kippur: JVL
General observances Five prohibitions are traditionally observed, as detailed in the Jewish oral tradition (Mishnah tractate Yoma 8:1): Eating and drinking Wearing leather shoes Bathing/washing Anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions Marital relations Total abstention from food and drink usually begins 18 minutes before sundown (called tosefet Yom Kippur lit. Addition to Yom Kippur ), and ends after nightfall the following day; the oral canon imposes this additional requirement to fast for part of the previous day. Although the fast is required of all healthy adults, in certain cases in which the person fasting would be harmed, it may be forbidden by the oral regulations. Virtually all Jewish holidays involve a ritual feast, but since Yom Kippur involves fasting, Jewish law requires one to eat a large and festive meal on the afternoon before Yom Kippur, after the mincha prayer is given; traditional foods consumed during the festive meal include kreplach and rice, and many groups also have the custom of consuming a further meal involving fish, before the main festive meal. Variations on the traditions for Yom Kippur exist between different Jewish communities. For example, Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish, Portuguese and North African descent) refer to this holiday as the White Fast, since it is traditional among them to wear only white clothing on this day, displaying desire to have their sins forgiven; the Talmud interprets the Torah as using a change of color from red to white for the purpose of symbolizing the forgiving of sins. Many men in Orthodox Judaism immerse themselves in a mikvah on the day before Yom Kippur.
