Yom Kippur

This year we will again be holding our Yom Kippur services at a new holiday location. We will be meeting at the Brio Escape, 230 W. Clubhouse Dr., Washington. We’re pretty excited about it and masks are optional. Service will begin at 4:00 pm followed by a break the fast buffet. We’re pretty excited about it and masks are optional. Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism.

The Torah commands all Jewish adults (apart from the sick, the elderly and women who have just given birth) to abstain from eating and drinking between sundown on the evening before Yom Kippur and nightfall the next day. The fast is believed to cleanse the body and spirit, not to serve as a punishment.

According to tradition, God judges all creatures during the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, deciding whether they will live or die in the coming year. Jewish law teaches that God inscribes the names of the righteous in the “book of life” and condemns the wicked to death on Rosh Hashanah; people who fall between the two categories have until Yom Kippur to perform “teshuvah,” or repentance. As a result, observant Jews consider Yom Kippur and the days leading up to it a time for prayer, good deeds, reflecting on past mistakes and making amends with others.