Yom Kippur Provides Unique Experiences for Students

Yom Kippur Provides Unique Experiences for Students

Yom Kippur is a holiday about reflecting on one’s year, a time of remembering and remorse, but also a time for new memories to be made.

Practices and traditions vary depending on denomination, but personal experience can be completely unique.

Sophomore Ilana Jach, who identifies with the Reform movement, follows most of the classic traditions. She doesn’t use her phone, does her best not to wash her hands or face, and tries to make amends with those she’s wronged over the past year, by way of Facebook apology. Jach sees in the holiday a chance to genuinely atone and start over with a clean slate.

Junior Avital Krifcher, a more Orthodox student, saw in the holiday an opportunity not only to atone, but also to reflect on her life, calling it the “most meaningful chag.”

“It’s a great time for me to really think back on myself, and think about what person I have been this year, and what kind of person I want to be in the upcoming year,” Krifcher wrote in an email.

Krifcher’s Yom Kippur revolves around traditions, but not solely the blowing of the Shofar or the breaking of the fast. The traditions which resonate with her are more homemade ceremonies, like sitting next to her mother and grandmother in the sanctuary at Beth Sholom Congregation, walking home with her family afterwards, and spending the time between services at a friend’s, “just trying to bide [their] time before [they] can eat again.”

Eighth grader Jonah Gershman, who identifies with the Conservative movement, also believes the holiday is more than simply prayer and worship. When he thinks of Yom Kippur, the image that comes to mind is “open streets.”

“When I lived in Israel, they would close off all the streets there on Yom Kippur, and me and my friends would scooter up and down the streets,” Gershman said.

Back in America, he and his family walk to synagogue every Yom Kippur.