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Yom Kippur

The Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur is Judaism’s day of “starting over”. The fast itself is not about self-denial for its own sake, but about reclaiming our moral sensitivity. By stripping life to its bare essentials, the day exposes how easily we anesthetize ourselves to suffering, injustice, and responsibility. Fasting becomes a form of protest—against distraction, against spiritual laziness, against the illusion that life can be lived superficially. Standing before God without defenses, we are forced to ask, not whether we have made mistakes, but whether we have truly lived—and whether we are willing to change.

10 Tishrei 5787

Begins at Sundown on Sunday, September 20, 2026

Ends at Nightfall on Monday, September 21, 2026

  • A Protest Against Indifference

    In Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

    Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are a protest against the most dangerous of all human character traits: the curse of indifference—they are a protest against taking life for granted.

  • Grace - hands

    Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur

    A Eulogy for a Christian Who Helped my Religiosity

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Liturgy & Ritual and Yom Kippur

    I was asked to eulogize an acquaintance from my childhood and youth in Holland—the mother of friends of mine. As I prepared the eulogy, I realized how much she and her family, and other devout Christians I knew, had influenced me. Despite the clear and definite differences between our religious outlooks, their sincerity and intent inspire me.

  • Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur

    The Curse of Indifference

    In The Jewish Year, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

    Our greatest challenge is that, living under miraculous conditions through no merit of our own, we fall prey to the curse of indifference--indifference to the miserable and impossible situation of our fellow humans who are threatened by suffering and death.

  • The Dangerous “Day After” Yom Kippur

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy, The Jewish Year and Yom Kippur

    The day after Yom Kippur, the synagogue service really should be a completely different experience from what people are used to. Yom Kippur should still be in the bones of all synagogue participants. Its spirit should still be felt with every prayer. It should be completely impossible for synagogue services to return to their old ways, in which prayers are  said as if “nothing happened.”

  • Man against horizon

    Yom Kippur

    Are we Worthy

    In The Jewish Year and Yom Kippur

    This awesome thought is the focal point of Yom Kippur. Am I worthy to have a claim on life? Or, have I been born but lost my right to live? This is by far the most important question for man to ask. The trembling of the earlier generations on Erev Yom Kippur was indeed that of great pachad (fear) – not fear of punishment or death, but of not rising to the challenge of living in God’s presence and fulfilling one’s destiny!

  • Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

    Starting is more important than completing

    In The Jewish Year and Yom Kippur

    Moshe Rabbenu teaches us that real religious life is not defined by where one finds oneself spiritually, but rather by how hard one tries to get there! 

  • Yom Kippur: A Day Like Purim

    In The Jewish Year, Purim and Yom Kippur

    Our sages suggested that Yom Kippur is "a day like Purim". To suggest that Yom Kippur is like Purim is a most unusual way of looking to this awesome day.