Yom Kippur is a day (and night – the holiday starts at night and ends on Monday about an hour after sundown) of fasting and prayer. Our congregation Etz Ahaim is Sephardi, and the liturgy is different from that of the Ashkenazi synagogues that my husband and I experienced in our childhoods. The “piyut” or poem that stands out most in my head is Oked Vahanekad (which is for Rosh Hashana). I couldn’t find a good source on the piyutim of Yom Kippur, but here is a link to piyutim of the High Holidays in general with some mp3s available to listen.
It is customary to ask forgiveness of others before Yom Kippur, so if I have done or said anything to offend you, please forgive me.
Gmar chasima tova!
Have an easy fast.
The best.
I can’t imagine you saying anything to offend anyone Leora…
Shanah tovah! I hope the fast went well.
Is that Etz Ahaim’s parochet (the curtain that covers the Aron Kodesh)? Since it’s not white, I assume the picture isn’t from this time of year?
It is actually the curtain for the Beit Medrash of Etz Ahaim, where they often say mincha or maariv. The main Aron Kodesh is usually covered by a wooden door of trees. It just happened to be a picture I had that “sort of” fit.
I didn’t see this before YK started on this side of the Atalantic so I hope you had an easy fast. Thank you for the link to the piyutim.
Ilana-Davita,
Thank you, and I would like to write more about the piyutim of our synagogue. I’m going to see if I can listen to the CD of the chazzan and write a post from that.