Yom Kippur 2019: What time does Yom Kippur end?

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in Judaism and is the day in which many Jewish people feel the closest to God. The holy day is also known as the Day of Atonement and is a time when food and drink are abstained from. Jewish people are also not permitted to wash, wear leather footwear or have sex. 

What time does Yom Kippur end?

Yom Kippur starts in the evening of Tuesday, October 8 and ends in the evening of Wednesday, October 9. 

The holy day lasts for approximately 25 hours and in the UK starts at 6.08pm. 

Yom Kippur then ends 25 hours later at 7.07pm. 

These 25 hours are dedicated to fasting and prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. 

The traditions during Yom Kippur are as follows:

  • No eating and drinking
  • No wearing of leather shoes
  • No bathing or washing
  • No anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions
  • No marital relations

Yom Kippur falls on the tenth day of the seventh month of Tishrei and is also known as the Sabbath of Sabbaths. 

The holiest of days commemorate the end of 10 High Holy Days in the Jewish calendar. 

According to Jewish tradition, God seals each person’s fate for the coming year in a book – The Book of Life – and waits until Yom Kippur to do so. 

Yom Kippur is dedicated to public and private atonement in the hopes that sins are forgiven. 

Five prayer services are held in the synagogue during Yom Kippur and these are:

  • Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur
  • Shacharit, the morning prayer, which includes a reading from Leviticus followed by the Yizkor memorial service
  • Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service
  • Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah
  • Neilah, the “closing of the gates” service at sunset, followed by the shofar blast marking the end of the fast

As Yom Kippur ends, those at the synagogue take part in joyful song and dance, one custom being to sing the lively “Napoleon’s March”.

After this, a single blast is blown on the shofar, followed by the proclamation, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

A shofar is an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram’s horn, used for Jewish religious purposes. 

Then an after-fast meal is eaten, with traditional high-carb food such as sweet noodle pudding, shuffles, eggs and cheese are eaten. 

source: express.co.uk