Yom Kippur: It’s the happiest day of the year—but there’s a caveat
By Jamie Asaraf
There’s a common misconception that comes with fasting, especially nowadays when it is associated with dieting and having a certain look. However, in Judaism, fasting is often associated with the rememberance of an event or the commemoration of a victory.
On Yom Kippur, Jews around the world fast while not using electronics or anything that is powered by electricity for 25 hours. Essentially, for 25 hours, Jews bring themselves to live a very minimalistic life, deprived of any modern technologies all the while not eating or drinking anything. So, why is it that Yom Kippur is actually considered the happiest day of the Jewish year?
Most people would consider it a day of suffering if they couldn’t eat, drink, or even turn on their bathroom light. However, in Judaism, these actions stand for something entirely different.
During these 25 hours, Jews spend all day in synogogue praying for forgiveness. It is a day of forgiveness for all of the misdeeds that were committed during the year so that we can start our year with a clean slate to do good deeds and make the world a better place.
Many Jews will have the custom of wearing white on Yom Kippur, symbolizing purity, because on this day we are considered to be Angels so our souls are elevated to a level where we can ask for forgiveness. There is much preparation done before going into Yom Kippur that includes acts of repentance (in Hebrew “teshuva”) and one of the most important periods of time to do this includes the 10 days between Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur.
During the 10 days of repentance, Jews have to opportunity to change, repent, and plan to become better people. And on the 10th day, Yom Kippur, Jews fast and pray all day in synogogue while their fate becomes sealed in the Book of Judgment.
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