Five Reasons to Spend Yom Kippur in Shul — And Only One Is the Break-Fast!

Five Humorous Reasons for an In-Depth Yom Kippur Experience

1. Because once a year, we need a day when our phones fast too.

No calls, no texts, no emails, no breaking news. For 25 hours, the world somehow survives without us, and we discover that perhaps we can survive without the world. Yom Kippur gives us the rare opportunity to hear our own soul.

2. Because Yom Kippur is the only day we spend hours discussing food without eating any.

By Mincha, even the words “bread of affliction” can start sounding delicious! But the fast isn’t about punishing the body. For one day we tell the body, “We love you, but today the soul gets the front seat.”

3. Because we finally attend a meeting where everyone admits they made mistakes.

Imagine if business meetings began with Al Chet: “For the mistakes we made in budgeting… communication… and replying ‘all’ when we shouldn’t have!” On Yom Kippur, nobody pretends to be perfect. We admit together that we can all do better—and that’s what makes growth possible.

4. Because there are five services, just in case G-d didn’t hear us the first four times.

Actually, each service takes us deeper: Maariv, Shacharit, Mussaf, Mincha and Neilah, corresponding in Chassidic teaching to increasingly profound dimensions of the soul. We don’t simply pray longer on Yom Kippur; we pray deeper.

5. Because Neilah proves that Jews always stay until closing time.

We’re hungry, tired, our feet hurt—and suddenly nobody wants to leave. Why? Because at Neilah we reach Yechidah, the deepest point of the soul, where our bond with G-d is never broken. Then comes the great cry, Shema Yisrael, followed by the shofar.

And perhaps that’s the real Yom Kippur experience:

We come in thinking about when the fast will end, and somewhere along the way, we discover something inside ourselves that we hope will never end.