Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, in late September or early October.
For traditional Jewish people, Yom Kippur centers on atonement and repentance. The day's main observances consist of full fasting and asceticism, both accompanied by extended prayer services (usually at synagogue) and sin confessions. Some minor Jewish denominations, such as Reconstructionist Judaism, focus less on sins and more on one's goals and accomplishments and setting yearly intentions.
Alongside the related holiday of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is one of the two components of the High Holy Days of Judaism. It is also the last of the Ten Days of Repentance.
Name The formal Hebrew name of the holiday is , 'day [of] the atonements'. This name is used in the Bible, Mishnah,Mishnah Yoma 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, etc. and Shulchan Aruch.Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 416:4, etc. The word (atonements) is one of many Biblical Hebrew words.
Beginning in the classical period, the singular form began to be used in piyyut, for example in Unetanneh Tokef, alongside the standard plural form . Use of spread in the medieval period, with () becoming the holiday's name in Yiddish and () in Ladino.
In older English texts, the translation "Day of Atonement" is often used.
In the Torah The Torah calls the day (), and strictly prohibits work on the tenth day of the seventh month, later known as Tishrei. The laws of Yom Kippur are commanded by God to Moses in three passages in the Torah: : Aaron may only enter the sanctuary by performing a complex sacrificial procedure, later known as the Yom Kippur Temple service. This service must be performed yearly on the date of Yom Kippur, while the people are to fast and not work on this date. : The tenth day of Tishrei is a holy day of atonement. A Temple sacrifice must be offered, while the people must not work, "on the ninth day from evening until evening". : The tenth day of Tishrei is a holy day; one must not work. The mussaf (additional) sacrifice for the day is specified.
Yom Kippur is mentioned briefly in another context: on Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year the shofar was to be blown. According to some, this is the source of the current custom of blowing the shofar at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.Sefer Haagur, Hilchot Yom Hakippurim 951: ...ותוקעין תקיעה אחת זכר ליובל
Temple service
When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, Yom Kippur was the occasion of an elaborate sacrificial service, as commanded by . A prominent portion of the service was the lottery drawn on two goats, with one selected to be sacrificed as an offering and the other sent to Azazel to be thrown off a cliff. This is the origin for the term scapegoat.Sacks, Jonathan. "The Scapegoat", RabbiSacks.org. Accessed June 9, 2026. "In 1530 William Tyndale produced the first English translation of the Hebrew Bible, an act then illegal and for which he paid with his life. Seeking to translate Azazel into English, he called it 'the escapegoat,' i.e. the goat that was sent away and released. In the course of time, the first letter was dropped, and the word 'scapegoat' was born." The rabbis summarized the laws of this service in Mishnah tractate Yoma, and they appear in contemporary traditional Jewish prayer books for Yom Kippur, and are studied as part of a traditional Jewish Yom Kippur worship service.Arnold Lustiger, Michael Taubes, Menachem Genack, and Hershel Schachter, Kasirer Edition Yom Kippur Machzor With Commentary Adapted from the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. New York: K'hal Publishing, 2006. pp. 588–589 (summary); 590–618. The Mussaf prayer on Yom Kippur includes a section known as the Avodah, where a poem is recited describing the details of this Temple service.
Significance High Holy Days
Yom Kippur is one of the two halves of the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe (Hebrew ), alongside Rosh Hashanah (which falls nine days earlier). According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah and "seals" the verdict on Yom Kippur. This process is described dramatically in the poem Unetanneh Tokef, which is recited on Rosh Hashanah in the Ashkenazic and Italian rites and on Yom Kippur in the Eastern Ashkenazic and Italian rites:
During the Days of Awe, a Jew reflects on the past year's actions and seeks forgiveness for wrongs done against both God and other people.
Repentance ()
Repentance in Judaism (Hebrew: ), traditionally, consists of regretting having committed the sin, resolving not to commit that sin in the future, and confessing that sin before God.Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Teshuva 2:2
While repentance for one's sins can and should be done at any time, it is considered especially desirable during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and particularly on Yom Kippur itself.Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Teshuva 2:7 Thus, the Yom Kippur prayers contain extended confessions which list varieties of errors and sins, and to which one can add their own missteps, along with requests for forgiveness from God.
According to the Talmud, "Yom Kippur atones for sins done against God (), but does not atone for sins done against other human beings () until the other person has been appeased."Yoma 85b Therefore, it is considered imperative to repair the harm that one has done to others before or during Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is described in the prayers as "a day of creating love and brotherhood, a day of abandoning jealousy and strife". It is said that "if one does not remove hatred [from their heart] on Yom Kippur, their prayers are not heard".Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 131:4
In recent generations other interpretations of teshuvah have been presented. They argue that the traditional, self-punishing practice of dwelling on and weeping over past sins often leads to depression and is counterproductive in the modern era. Instead of "repentance" (focusing on guilt and remorse over mistakes), they interpret teshuvah in a more literal sense: "return" to God. This involves proactively filling one's life with Torah, Mitzvot, joy, love, and sincere prayer to God. When one is wholeheartedly focused on growing closer to the Divine light, the regrettable behaviors of one's past are naturally recognized as a useless weight holding them back. This recognition triggers a genuine, aching remorse that causes the sin to fall away, enabling the person to let go and continue growing. Thus, Yom Kippur should be used to reach toward the light and embrace God's unconditional love, allowing the messy stuff to fall away naturally.
Thirteen attributes According to the Bible, after the sin of the golden calf, Moses descended from Mount Sinai and broke the Tablets of Stone, which contained the Ten Commandments and symbolized the covenant with God. After God agreed to forgive the people's sin, Moses was told to return to Mount Sinai for a second 40-day period, in order to receive a second set of tablets., According to rabbinic tradition, the date Moses descended with the second set of tablets was Yom Kippur. On this day Moses announced to the people that they had been forgiven; as a result the Torah fixed this date as a permanent holiday of forgiveness.Seder Olam Rabbah 6Yaakov Medan, The First Yom Kippur
The new covenant, which God announced by proclaiming the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy to Moses, is textually similar to the covenant of the Ten Commandments except that God's nature is described as merciful and forgiving, rather than zealous.Yoshi Fargeon, מה בין י"ג מידות לעשרת הדברות? When Jewish people sinned in later eras, prophets would repeatedly quote the Thirteen Attributes to God as a reminder of God's commitment to mercy and forgiveness.E.g. , , This continues to the present day, as recitation of the Thirteen Attributes remains an important part of the Yom Kippur prayers (originally recited in all prayers of the day, but in most Eastern European communities recited today only in Maariv and Ne'ila).See Daniel Goldschmidt, Machzor for the High Holdays, volume 2 (Yom Kippur) in the introduction.
Closeness to God While many of the observances of Yom Kippur (such as fasting and long prayers) can be difficult, there is also a tradition in which they are interpreted positively, as indications of closeness of God. Various sources compare the observances of Yom Kippur—fasting, barefootness (not wearing leather shoes), standing (in prayer), particular manners of prayer, even the peace that exists between Jews on this day—to the behavior of angels, suggesting that on Yom Kippur Jews become like angels in heaven, purified and close to God and not limited by physicality.
Yom Kippur was also unique as a time of closeness to God in the Yom Kippur Temple service. It was the only occasion on which the High Priest of Israel was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple in Jerusalem, where God's presence was said to dwell. On Yom Kippur the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies several times, first to create a cloud of incense smoke in which (the Bible promises) God would reveal Himself without being seen,, and later to offer sacrifices of atonement.
While the encounter with God and the atonement may appear unrelated, in fact they are mutually dependent. On one hand, the priest is only worthy to approach God when in a state of purity, with the sins of the people forgiven. On the other hand, only by approaching God with an intimate, personal request can God be persuaded to abandon justice for mercy, permitting the purification to take place.
According to the Torah, the Yom Kippur Temple service was commanded in wake of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu on the eighth day of the Tabernacle inauguration. Not only was this eighth day the occasion of the Yom Kippur command, but the eighth day was also similar in its nature to Yom Kippur, both in biblical texts (e.g. the sacrifices offered on each day) and in rabbinic interpretation.Yoel Bin-Nun, היום השמיני ויום הכיפורים, Megadim 8:9-34 (1989) The purpose of the eighth day was the revelation of God's presence to the people; similarly, the Yom Kippur service was a unique opportunity for the people's representative to obtain closeness with God.
A midrash compares the Yom Kippur prayers to a verse from the Song of Songs, describing a woman who rises from bed at night to begin a romantic encounter with her lover. With each Yom Kippur prayer, it is implied, Jews approach closer to God:
Using a similar metaphor, the Mishnah describes Yom Kippur as a wedding date, as on this date Moses returned, having reestablished the covenant between God and Israel. Along with Tu B'Av, Yom Kippur was historically considered one of the two happiest days of the Jewish year, for on this day Jews receive forgiveness for their sins the covenant with God is reestablished.Babylonian Talmud Taanit 30b-31a
According to Hasidic philosophy Yom Kippur is related to the deepest level of the human soul. The soul is described as having five different levels, the fifth and most essential of which is called Yechidah, meaning "one and unique". This yechidah is the soul in its state of complete fusion and oneness with its Creator, forming an inseparable whole.
Yom Kippur is the day when this essential bond of yechidah shines within the time and space of our world. It is the one time a year when the Divine unites with the essential oneness of the soul within each person, and in that moment of ultimate connection, all else falls away.
Purification In , the Torah summarizes the purpose of Yom Kippur as follows: