What kind of holiday is Yom Kippur?

Question

I have never heard of this before and no one else has a question up in this section....

Answer 1

it is a day of observance, in which all the indiscretions that a Jew may have done the past year are forgiven, it is known as the day of atonement  and it is the highest of holidays after Pesach(Passover)

Answer 2

It is NOT a holiday.

It is the Day of Atonement where we ask G-d for forgiveness for our own transgressions and for the transgressions of all children of Israel.

Answer 3

Yom Kippur, also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews have traditionally observed this holiday with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer.

here's a lot of information about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_kippur

hope i helped you

God Bless

Answer 4

its not really a holiday its a fast day where Jews ask forgiveness from god

to learn more try

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_kippur  

or

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm

Answer 5

it's a day when Jewish people ask for forgiveness.

Answer 6

its a fast day where Jews ask forgiveness from G-d

we put G-d instead of the other one to show respect for G-d's name

its just somethings a lot of jews do

i don't think all jews do it though

more resources:

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsou...

http://www.holidays.net/highholydays/yom...

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/yom...    

Answer 7

Yom Kippur commemorates the day when G-d forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf. Forty days after hearing from G-d at Mount Sinai, "You shall not have the gods of others in My presence; you shall not make for yourself a graven image," Jews transgressed and committed the cardinal sin of idolatry. Moses spent two forty-day stints on top of the mountain pleading with G-d for forgiveness, and on the tenth of Tishrei it was finally granted. From that moment on, this Day of Atonement is observed annually as a commemoration of our special relationship with G-d, a relationship which is strong enough to survive any rocky bumps it might encounter. This is a day when we connect with the very essence of our being, which remains faithful to G-d regardless of our outward behavior.

Yom Kippur is the only day of the year which boasts five mandatory prayers. According to Kabbalah, the Jewish soul possesses five components. The day reaches its apex during the fifth prayer, the ne'ila, when we access our yechida, the highest level -- indeed the very core -- of our souls.

u ppl r not 2 bright. giving me a thumbs down to a Jew...WOW WAY 2 GO!

Answer 8

Yom Kippur is definitely a holiday. It is the day which G-d gives us the opportunity to repent and to fix the relationship with Him that we have messed up by not following the Torah. The Torah, to make a long story short, was given for the benefit of mankind. The Jews were the only ones that accepted and keep the Torah. (Others have taken from it and corrupted, but only Jews follow the Torah as given.) Yom Kippur is the day we get a special chance to reconnect with G-d as He waits with arms open wider than on any other day of the year.

To get a ton of valuable information about Yom Kippur, go to jewishresourcecard.com

Answer 9

I think you've gotten a good range of answers about the actual day.

I'm laughing over the argument about whether or not it's a holiday, so  thought I should clear it up:

It's a holy day.  It's not a "holiday" meaning celebrating or going someplace fun or anything festive - it's the most solemn day of the calendar.  However, it is a "holiday" according to the definition that it is a special day of religious importance, during which Jews are not allowed to work.  If this were Hebrew, the argument wouldn't come up - it's a "yom tov" (holy day), and not a "chag" (festival).  But since English only has one word for holidays, and most Christian and secular holidays are fun and generally involve some sort of partying or parades or at least chocolate, the word seems hollow when used for Yom Kippur.   You wouldn't send someone a card wishing them a "Happy Yom Kippur," for example, like you could with any other holiday.

In the Torah, Yom Kippur is also called "Shabbat Shabbaton," or the Sabbath of Sabbaths.  While most of the Jewish holidays only have limited restrictions on work - you can cook, and carry things, for example - on Yom Kippur all the Sabbath work restrictions are in effect, plus five more (fasting is the most well known), to emphasize the holy nature of the day.  Is the Sabbath a holiday?  No, not really - but it's still a holy day.  And Yom Kippur is the once a year culmination of that holiness.

Answer 10

it's not a holiday, nothing is really being celebrated. it's a jewish fast, for "heshbon nefesh" which means thinking of all the things you did wrong the past year and asking god and others for forgiveness if you've done any harm.  

Answer 11

I am jewish, so for that I think these answers are ridiculous. It's a day when we fast  and go to the synagogue (Jewish church-like-thing) and ask G-d for forgiveness of our sins in the past year. It's when we say we're sorry so that we can have good things happen to us in the next year. But you only need to fast if you were bat/bar mitsvahed (A celebration when a jewish boy or girl turns thirteen, meaning that they became an adult) So if you are under that age you don't have to fast. It's strange, I know a lot about christian holidays, but they know nothing of ours.

Answer 12

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year--the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement -- "For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d" (Leviticus 16:30).