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Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, begins at sundown Sunday and ends at sundown Monday.
In "temple" times, it was the only day of the year the high priest would go into the "holiest of holy" and pray for the congregation and himself. He wore a rope tied around his waist because if he should faint, it was the only way he could be retrieved, said Rabbi Eddie Fox, Congregation B'nai Jacob-Conservative, Fort Wayne.
During Yom Kippur, Jews think of their sins and ask for forgiveness from God and from the people they may have wronged. It is the most important and sacred Jewish holy day.
From the the Jewish perspective, Fox said, when a Jew does something wrong against a person, they can't go to God - they must go to the person, bare their soul and ask for forgiveness. This is called "Teshuvah" (return to God). If a person refuses to forgive the person who asked for forgiveness, Fox said, it's their own problem and "the point of (asking for forgiveness) is that they don't do it again."
If a person sins against God, for example breaking a commandment, Fox said, they must go to God, bare their soul and plead for forgiveness.
During Yom Kippur, Jews fast, don't drink, don't have sexual relations with their spouses and don't wear leather. They don't wear leather because leather comes from one of God's creatures and wearing leather would be an effort to make oneself look good.
Fox said more people are in synagogues during Yom Kippur than any time of the year. He said it may be the only time they see those people in the synagogue.
"If a Jew is going to be found in a synagogue," Fox said, "it's on Yom Kippur."
"Some people will come in and sit down all day long," said Fox. Services begin Monday at 8 a.m. and last until sundown, when the fast is broken. A break is taken at approximately 2 p.m. During services, the shofar is blown and many holy passages are read.
"You feel cleansed, you feel wonderful," said Fox.
The shofar is a horn from a ram. The horn cannot be from a bull because a bull's horn would remind God of the golden calf, Fox said. The shofar comes from the story of Abraham, who was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac, because God told him to, as a test of his faith. At the last minute, God stopped Abraham.
According to Genesis 22:12-14: "He said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son."
Through the story, Fox said, the world was taught not to have human sacrifices. The shofar also produces a shrill sound that "wakes you up from not being all that you can be," said Fox. "That's why we blow the shofar."
There are three ways to have God change his decree, Fox said.
First is prayer. When Jews pray, they pray for "we" not "I," Fox said.
Secondly, a person can do acts of kindness and love.
Third is Teshuvah.
The laws about Yom Kippur are found in Leviticus 16, 23:26-32 and 25:9 and Numbers 29:7-11.
Fox said, "(Yom Kippur) is not a solemn time, but it's a very serious time." He said it's a time when they take "God's bar of soap and scrub all the negative things off us."
