Spirituality LIOLIDAY 101 Cezanne DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS • Dail • Degas uguin Magritte Matisse Modigliani Monet Picasso Renoir Yom Kippur: Day Of Atonement Rodin Van Gogh Elizabeth Applebaum Special to the Jewish News W Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art Masterpiece after masterpiece after masterpiece. See them now. For tickets visit www.dia.org or the DIA Box Office. Members receive FREE tickets. Join today! 313.833.7971 r cL. (911 Bank of America This exhibition has been oroanized by the Cieveland Museum of Art In Detroit, the exhibition is proudly sponsored by Bank of America. Additional support has been provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the City of Detroit. iIh Arnedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884-1920). Portrait of a Woman (detail), C. 1917-18. Oil on canvas; 65 x 48.3 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 1451.358.0 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (German, 1884-1976). Self-PortTait ;vith Hat (detail); 1919. On on canvas; 73.3 x65 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Dr. William R. Valentiner 1965,440. 0 2008 Artists R ig hts Society (ARS), hew York I VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. 1412420 s u dio 36.com PRETTY PLATTERS 0% OFF* `While supplies last. Valid thru 10/08/08 Hundreds of items are on sale! Enter the code: PLATTER at check out. stuL to36.com • 866.583.2422 C4 October 2 • 2008 hen: This year, Yom Kippur begins on Wednesday, Oct. 8, and ends after sunset the following day. Why We Celebrate: Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement (yom in Hebrew means "day',' and kippur means "atone- ment") when we seek expiation for our sins. The commandment to observe Yom Kippur is in Leviticus 16:29 and Numbers 29:7. More about the holiday can be found in Leviticus 16:30-34, 23:26-32 and Numbers 29:8-11. The prominent image for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the Book of Life, in which appears the name of every person. On Rosh Hashanah, God decides the fate of each soul, and on Yom Kippur, God seals it. Although it is generally said that Yom Kippur — unlike holidays such as Pesach, Shavuot, Chanukah and Purim — does not commemorate a histori- cal event, traditionally, we believe that Yom Kippur is the anniversary of God's forgiving the Jewish people their first disastrous, national sin: the infamous episode of the golden calf. Moses chastised the people, destroyed the tablets of the Torah and went back up the mountain a second time to pray for God's forgiveness and to receive new tablets (Exodus 32:30- 35). God returned to the encampment of Jews, then ascended the mountain a third time (Exodus 34). This is reck- oned as the first day of Elul, the month immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah. Moses prayed for God to grant the Jewish people complete atonement and, after 40 days, God erased the collective sin of the Jews. Moses returned to the people with new tablets of the Torah on the 10th of Tishrei,Yom Kippur. Rites and Rituals: The command- ment to observe Yom Kippur directs Jews to "afflict" themselves. The rabbis interpreted this to mean no food or drink, no wearing of leather, no bath- ing for pleasure, no marital relations and no anointing with oils (in ancient times, people used oil to clean, soften and perfume the skin). The prohibition against food and drink includes chew- ing gum and smoking. Persons on medication or who have health concerns should always speak with their rabbi and physician before fasting. Services for Yom Kippur are the lon- gest of any day in the year, and in many congregations prayer fills virtually the entire day. A significant feature of the Yom Kippur liturgy is the Vidui, or confes- sion. This consists of Ashamnu ("We have trespassed"), an alphabetically arranged list of sins, and Al Chet ("For the sin"), a long inventory of transgres- sions, accompanied by beating of the breast. The confession is recited at all of the services of Yom Kippur. Along with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is the only day when we prostrate ourselves in prayer as was done in the days of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The prostration, now performed in modified form, is during the cantor's repetition of the Musaf service. Yom Kippur includes two unique prayer services: Kol Nidre, which begins Yom Kippur and in which we nullify all personal vows for the coming year, and Neilah, which closes the holiday. Unlike on Rosh Hashanah, we do not blow the shofar on Yom Kippur; instead, the holiday ends with a shofar blast. Customs and Traditions: It is tra- ditional on Yom Kippur to wear white to remind us of our mortality because burial shrouds are white. White also is a symbol of purity, and we hope that God will forgive our sins and restore us to lives of virtue. It is customary to greet one another with the words Gmar chatimah tovah ("May your fate be sealed for the good"). EI