Q&A: What Exactly Does One Need to Pray on Yom Kippur?
What Exactly Does One Need to Pray on Yom Kippur?
Question
Hello,
Yom Kippur has just passed, but I’m asking so I’ll know for next year.
Could the Rabbi please write out exactly what needs to be said in the various Yom Kippur prayers, if it’s not too much trouble?
I understand that there’s no obligation to pray with a minyan, so what exactly do I need to say at home?
I understand that it may be burdensome to spell everything out, but I’d be very happy if that’s possible.
Thank you, and happy new year.
Answer
Like on any other day. The Amidah and the Shema are the main things. The morning blessings as well. Preferably also Ashrei. On Rosh Hashanah there is an obligation to hear the shofar. On Yom Kippur there is an obligation of confession, which is already included in the Amidah. There is also value in praying with a minyan, even if it is not obligatory. And on the High Holy Days that value is greater still, because communal prayer is more readily answered. See the beginning of On Repentance by Rabbi Soloveitchik regarding the atonement of the community.
Note: On Sabbaths and festivals, there is also the concept of “holy convocations” — “convocation” in the biblical idiom means an assembly gathering — as Nachmanides wrote: “The meaning of ‘holy convocations’ is that on this day they should all be called together and gathered to sanctify it, for it is a commandment upon Israel to assemble in the house of God on a festival day to sanctify the day publicly with prayer and praise to God in clean clothing.” Some have even cited this as Jewish law (Peri Megadim, in Mishbetzot Zahav, if I remember correctly), and in any case it is clear that there is value here beyond an ordinary weekday minyan.