Jews from all around the world are celebrating their biggest and the most important holiday – Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiday of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, which represents the culmination of a 10 – day period of repentance.
“According to thousands of years old beliefs, that day, we will take the responsibilities for our deeds, ask for forgiveness all the people that we hurt by any means. Our fate for the next year is determined on the Yom Kippur,” said the president of Banjaluka Jewish Community Arie Livne.
Hoping for the brighter and better New Year, he wished peace and prosperity to all people regardless of their ethnicity or religion, as announced from Banjaluka Jewish cultural center Arie Livne.
This holiday is celebrated on the 10th day of the month of Tishri and it represents the continuation of the celebration of the beginning of the 5776th Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah, which started on the 14th of September this year, according to the Gregorian calendar.
Rosh Hashanah, as well as the Yom Kippur, is different from the other holidays by serious atmosphere. Ten days that these two holidays share are called as the High Holy Days – Yamim Noraim when, according to beliefs, the human society will come in front of the “Heaven court.”
On Yom Kippur, when according to the Jewish beliefs God judges and forgives the sins of the previous year, religious Jews do not drink and do not eat between the two sunsets.
According to the Jewish law, repentance is the obligation of all believers, and it starts in the afternoon hours on the eve before the holiday, and it repeats on a day of Yom Kippur during the evening, morning, afternoon and the final prayer.
It is believed that it is not enough to repent just in the heart – but it also requires verbal commitment on non-committing the sin again.
(Source: novovrijeme.ba)
