- laws
- customs
- rituals
- prayer
- text readings
- ideas
- challenges
Where to begin? Here are some articles to start you thinking:
- URJ has some wonderful suggestions for study before and during Yom Kippur. You can see some of them here. I particularly enjoyed the guide to Avinu Malkenu, which traces the changes in the prayer as written in the Reform Mahzor through time, the study guide for Mishnah Yoma, chapter 8, and the story of Pelimo and the Devil. You may prefer other sections of the resource guide
- Rabbi Ami Berlin talks about how Sometimes We are Jonah, examining the Haftorah traditionally read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur
- A universal suggestion that is related to Rabbi Berlin's description of Jonah as isolated from the world for 3 days, and that may be a wonderful idea for our super-connected times is in this article from the Jerusalem Post
- Why is reaching the goals of Yom Kippur so difficult? Donniel Hartman, from the Shalom Hartman Institute, asks: Yom Kippur: Why Doesn’t It Work Outside of the Synagogue?
- Marc Oppenheimer. writing in Slate magazine, compares the ritual of atonement in Judaism with that in Christianity in his article Sin Offerings
- On a lighter note, but one that may appeal to some of your students, here is an article by the granddaughter of the famous baseball player Hank Greenberg about how his Judaism influenced him on the High Holidays - Why My Grandpa Was No Hitter on Yom Kippur
I wish you a meaningful Yom Kippur in whatever way you are marking the day.
