Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred dates in the Jewish religious calendar

Yom Kippur means means Day of Atonement and it is a day to reflect on the past year and ask God’s forgiveness for any sins you may have committed. Fasting is seen as a vehicle for reflecting on your sins and it dates back to Biblical times.

“The purpose of fasting is to bring one to repent, and true repentance brings about a change in actions. However, repenting without fasting is not enough,” Jewish educator Aliza Bulow told aish.com Anyone who must eat due to health reasons will not be required to fast. Children under the age of nine are also exempted. “The same Torah which commands us to fast on Yom Kippur tells us that guarding our health is far more important than fasting on this holy day,” Jewish website Chabad says.

You must start fasting at 7.01pm on the 15, and stop at 8pm the following day. The fast lasts for 25 hours because it must start and end at sundown, the extra hour allows for some subjectivity with when nightfall is. The is also the case in the Jewish faith for Shabbat, the weekly Sabbath day which lasts from sunset on Friday to Sunset on Saturday. Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (September or October in the Gregorian calendar). It marks the culmination of the Days of Repentance or Days of Awe, a 10-day period of introspection that follows Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which celebrates the anniversary of the creation of the world

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