Question: What is the purpose of fasting on Yom Kippur? AskTheRabbi.org answered: Fasting is a way of ignoring our physical needs and focusing entirely on our spiritual side. This is in marked contrast to how we often act during the rest of the year, when we tend to our physical needs, often neglecting (and sometimes…
Harry Rothenberg advises us to count our blessings before the Day of Atonement View this video directly on VIMEO
One of the best-known features of Yom Kippur — sometimes the only thing people know about this day — is the fact that we are forbidden to eat and drink. What is the meaning and purpose of these prohibitions on Yom Kippur? An anthropologist visiting a synagogue on Yom Kippur might think that since no…
There are interesting lessons to be learned from an unusual aspect of the Yom Kippur prayers. View this video directly on VIMEO
Why did the Torah specifically forbid leather shoes on Yom Kippur (rather than ban sitting in a comfortable chair, for example)? For a deeper insight into the meaning of this prohibition, we must examine what shoes symbolize in the Torah. The first place they are mentioned in the Torah is at the beginning of Moses’…
What is the significance of the selection of the 2 goats on Yom Kippur? View this video directly on VIMEO
Rabbi Mordechai Becher discusses going from the AWE of Yom Kippur to the LOVE of Sukkot View this video directly on Vimeo.
One of the best-known features of Yom Kippur — sometimes the only thing people know about this day — is the fact that we are forbidden to eat and drink. What is the meaning and purpose of these prohibitions on Yom Kippur? An anthropologist visiting a synagogue on Yom Kippur might think that since no…
How can we increase our chances for a good judgment on Yom Kippur? View this video directly on VIMEO
The Torah designates the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei) as the “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” the day that we call Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the seventh month on the tenth of the month you shall afflict yourselves and you shall not do any work…. For on this day He shall provide…