Key Prayers to Recite On Jewish
Day of Atonement
THE APPOINTED TIME
Key Prayers to Recite On Jewish Day of Atonement The Appointed Time Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur, we share a holiday meal called seudat mafseket, the concluding meal before the fast begins. We begin the meal with haMotzi, the blessing over the challah.
Uncover the challah and say:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam, hamotzi lechem min haaretz.
We praise You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
Cut or break off pieces of challah for each family member to eat. After we are finished eating the meal, we officially begin the holiday by lighting and blessing candles with the following blessings:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech haolam asher kid'shanu
b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik neir shel yom hakippurim.
We praise you, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who hallows us with mitzvot, and commands us to kindle the light of Yom Kippur.
Next we recite the blessing marking a special occasion:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam,
shehehchehyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higianu laz'man hazeh.
We praise You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season.
After lighting the candles, the holiday and the fast officially begin. There is no holiday kiddush -- blessing over the wine, for Yom Kippur.
As well as fasting, Jews across the world will mark the holiest day of the Jewish calendar with intensive reciting of prayers. Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement, will begin this year at sundown Tuesday and conclude shortly after sundown the following day. For many, it means 25 hours of contemplation on the year just gone and the one to come. Here is a selection of the most important prayers from the five services.
Kol Nidre
Kol Nidre annuls the pledges made the previous year. It is read, in Aramaic not Hebrew, at the evening service that begins Yom Kippur.
“All vows, prohibitions, and oaths, consecrations, whether called ‘konam,’ ‘konas’ or any synonymous term, which we may vow, or swear, or consecrate, or prohibit upon ourselves, from the previous Day of Atonement until this Day of Atonement and from this Day of Atonement until the next Day of Atonement we do repent. All of them are undone, abandoned, canceled, annulled and void, and not in effect. Our vows are no longer vows, and our prohibitions are no longer prohibitions, and our oaths are no longer oaths.”
Al Chet
A special version of the Al Chet, a confession of sins featuring a series of statements, is recited several times during the course of Yom Kippur. Each line begins with “For the sin which we have committed before you…”
"For the sin which we have committed before you under duress or willingly. And for the sin which we have committed before you by hard-heartedness.
For the sin which we have committed before you inadvertently.
And for the sin which we have committed before you with an utterance of the lips.
For the sin which we have committed before you with immorality.
And for the sin which we have committed before you openly or secretly.
For the sin which we have committed before you with knowledge and with deceit.
And for the sin which we have committed before you through speech."
Yizkor
Yom Kippur is one of four occasions during the year that the Yizkor is read. While traditionally a memorial prayer for a deceased parent, it can also be used for other relatives.
“May God remember the soul of my father/mother, my teacher who has gone to his world, because I will — without obligating myself with a vow — donate charity for his/her sake. In this merit, may his/her soul be bound up in the bond of life with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah; and with the other righteous men and women who are in the Garden of Eden; let us say, Amen.”
Sheema
During the final service of Yom Kippur, the daily prayer, the Sheema is said three times. On this special occasion, the second verse is read aloud rather than in an undertone.
“Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.”
The Neilah service as a whole is unique to this day and it concludes with the sounding of the shofar – a ram’s horn – to signal the end of Yom Kippur.
In Christ,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
No comments:
Post a Comment