Order of the day
Five services in one day
Yom Kippur is the only day of the year with five prayer services. They carry the community from the evening Kol Nidre, through the whole fast, to the closing Neilah.
- Kol NidreA solemn overture just before sunset: before the Torah scrolls, the Aramaic formula annulling vows is recited three times. With it Yom Kippur begins.
- MaarivThe evening service of the first night, with the first vidui — the confession. The community is already in white; the fast has begun.
- ShacharitThe morning service, with the reading of the Torah and Yizkor — the memorial prayer for those who have passed.
- MusafThe additional service. It contains the Avodah: a description of the High Priest's service in the Temple, and the memory of the martyrs of faith.
- MinchaThe afternoon service. The Book of Jonah is read — about repentance, forgiveness and God's mercy toward all people.
- Neilah“The closing of the gates” — a prayer found on no other day. At dusk, as the gates of heaven shut, the final long blast of the shofar sounds.
Neilah
When the gates close
Neilah is the last prayer of Yom Kippur, unique to this day. Its name means “the closing of the gates”: at sunset the gates of Heaven shut, and the community speaks its final words with special awe.
Open for us the gate at the hour the gate is closing.