A mitzvah to eat
Eating on the ninth of Tishrei is itself a mitzvah. The seudah mafseket, the last meal, is eaten before sunset.
Holidays10 Tishrei · Twenty-five hours
Kol Nidre and Lekha Eli, the Avodah of the High Priest, El Nora Alila at Ne'ilah, and a day of return.
NextBegins at sundown Sunday, October 10 · ends at nightfall Monday, October 11, 2027
"On this day He will atone for you, to purify you from all your sins; before the Lord you shall be pure" (Leviticus 16:30). Yom Kippur is the day on which God forgave Israel after the golden calf and gave Moses the second tablets.
We fast, dress in white and spend the day in prayer, but it is not a sad day: the Sages call it one of the happiest days of the year, because it ends with forgiveness.
One condition comes first: Yom Kippur atones for sins against God; for wrongs against people, we must first make peace with them (Mishnah Yoma 8:9).
The day before
Eating on the ninth of Tishrei is itself a mitzvah. The seudah mafseket, the last meal, is eaten before sunset.
Maran, Rabbi Yosef Karo, wrote that the custom of kapparot with a chicken should be stopped (Shulhan Arukh 605:1); many Sephardim do kapparot with money given to the poor, while some communities kept the older custom following the Kabbalists.
About MaranSeek out anyone you may have hurt. If they refuse, ask again, up to three times.
Many Sephardic congregations hold a symbolic "malkot" of 39 light strokes after Minha, which includes the Vidui, before the final meal.
Light the holiday candles before sunset, with the blessing "lehadlik ner shel Yom HaKippurim" and Sheheheyanu. A candle that burns through the day is used for Havdalah.
The five afflictions
From before sunset until nightfall the next day. The ill, and women after childbirth, must ask a doctor and a rabbi: guarding life comes first.
Washing for pleasure is not allowed. Washing the fingers in the morning and after the bathroom is permitted.
No creams, lotions or perfumed oils.
We wear cloth or rubber shoes, without leather.
Husband and wife keep apart, as on the nights of separation.
Many Sephardic men and women wear white, like the angels and like the High Priest in the Holy of Holies.
From night to night
Before Kol Nidre many Sephardic congregations sing "Lekha Eli Teshukati" by Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra. Kol Nidre is said three times, and after Arvit many read the "Keter Malkhut" of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol.
The morning service with its piyyutim, the Vidui and the Torah reading of the High Priest's service.
The heart of the day: the hazzan retells the service of the High Priest in the Temple, and the congregation bows when the Name is pronounced.
The Book of Jonah is read as the haftarah: a whole city that returned and was forgiven.
As the gates close, the Sephardic world sings "El Nora Alila" by Rabbi Moshe ibn Ezra. We ask to be sealed, not only written, for a good life. In Sephardic congregations the Kohanim also bless the people at Ne'ilah.
Confession
A short alphabetical confession, said standing with a light strike on the heart at each word, in every Amidah of the day.
The long list of sins "we have sinned before You," said by everyone in the plural: we pray for each other.
"Adonai, Adonai, El rahum vehanun": the words God taught Moses to say, repeated throughout the day's Selichot.
Watch: the Thirteen AttributesIn the synagogue
The service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur. Maftir: Numbers 29:7–11.
Haftarah: Isaiah 57:14–58:14, "Is this the fast that I have chosen?"
The laws of holiness in family life.
Haftarah: The Book of Jonah, with Micah 7:18–20
At nightfall
Ne'ilah ends with the Shema, "Barukh shem" three times, "Adonai hu haElohim" seven times and one long blast of the shofar.
Over wine and a flame that burned throughout the day. No spices are used, except when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat.
Moroccan families often begin with tea or coffee and sweet anise bread; in Ladino homes, pepitada, a drink made from melon seeds. Then a full meal.
Many begin building the sukkah that very night, going from one mitzvah to the next.
SukkotSide by side
Lekha Eli Teshukati
Tefillah Zakkah
Keter Malkhut of Ibn Gabirol
Shir HaYihud in some communities
Hashkavah for the departed, by local custom
Yizkor
El Nora Alila; Birkat Kohanim
El Nora Alila in many communities; no Birkat Kohanim in the Diaspora
Usually with money, following Maran
Often with a chicken, following the Rema
Sephardic U media
Keep learning
Questions
Maran wrote that kapparot with a chicken should be stopped. Many Sephardim use money, given to the poor, and say the kapparot verses over it; some communities kept the chicken custom following the Kabbalists.
Eating and drinking, washing, anointing, wearing leather shoes and marital relations.
An Aramaic declaration annulling vows, said three times before Arvit as the day begins. Many Sephardic congregations sing Lekha Eli before it.
Most Sephardic congregations do not say the Ashkenazi Yizkor. Hashkavah, the memorial prayer for the departed, is said by local custom.
The piyyut by Rabbi Moshe ibn Ezra that opens Ne'ilah in Sephardic congregations, asking forgiveness "at the hour of closing."
To be like the angels, and like the High Priest, who wore white linen in the Holy of Holies.