Yom Kippur

I want to believe that almost everyday, (if not everyday) there can be holiday or some kind of national celebration from around the world. Today is October 8th, I'm searching online on where and what holiday somebody is celebrating today. And guess what I've found. It is Yom Kippur today. It is a Jewish holiday.

It is a Hebrew name observed by Jews. It's significance is about soul-searching and repentance. In the Hebrew calendar, it is on the 10th day of Tishrei. And on our regular calendar, it started on Sunset of October 8 up to the nightfall of October 9, for this year 2008. The Jews practices abstaining from physical pleasure and refraining from work on this special day. Mostly, it will be fasting and praying.

Some additional prohibited traditions are refraining from wearing leather shoes, bathing and washing, refraining from use of perfumes or lotions, and from sexual relations. To some, it is a total abstention from food and water.

It is customary to wear white on the holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1:18). Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried.

Yom Kippur is an important Jewish holiday. Just like on Rosh Hashanah, nobody works and there are services at the synagogue all day. The entire day is also spent fasting (no eating). Yom Kippur means "Day of Atonement." This is your last chance to change God's judgment, make amends, forgive and forget. There are 10 days to make good with God, starting on Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur. However, this is only for those sins against God, not man. Any amends you have to make with people, have to be done before Yom Kippur starts.

After Yom Kippur, one should begin preparing for the next holiday, Sukkot, which begins five days later.