Can i work on yom kippur

Followers of the Jewish faith believe that tzedakah, or charitable giving as a religious obligation, is a source of merit and protects against harsh decrees. The most famous — and admittedly peculiar — custom that has developed around Yom Kippur involves swinging a chicken over your head three times to absolve yourself of sin. Known as Kapparot, this is usually done the day before Yom. Some Jewish employers will send messages of support to their staff and their families celebrating this important religious period as Jersey employers we do at Christmas.

Yom Kippur and the workplace. What is Yom Kippur? When is Yom Kippur? What do people do during Yom Kippur? Key workplace considerations during Yom Kippur Most Jews ask for the day off.

Annual leave may be used by employees wishing to observe the Yom Kippur. Those working may be noticeable for example not eating at lunchtime and so it is often sensible for employees to inform their managers of the fact they are fasting.

Fasting may affect people in different ways for example some people may understandably become a little irritable or slightly tired at times and some understanding from managers and colleagues can be helpful. In fact, children under the age of nine and women in childbirth from the time labor begins until three days after birth are not permitted to fast, even if they want to.

Older children and women from the third to the seventh day after childbirth are permitted to fast, but are permitted to break the fast if they feel the need to do so. People with other illnesses should consult a physician and a rabbi for advice. Most of the holiday is spent in the synagogue , in prayer. People then usually go home for an afternoon nap and return around 5 or 6 PM for the afternoon and evening services, which continue until nightfall.

The services end at nightfall, with the blowing of the tekiah gedolah, a long blast on the shofar. See Rosh Hashanah for more about the shofar and its characteristic blasts.

It is customary to wear white on the holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow Is. Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried. The liturgy for Yom Kippur is much more extensive than for any other day of the year. Liturgical additions are so far-reaching that a separate, special prayer book for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. This prayer book is called the machzor. The evening service that begins Yom Kippur is commonly known as Kol Nidre, named for the prayer that begins the service.

It refers only to vows between the person making them and G-d, such as "If I pass this test, I'll pray every day for the next 6 months! This prayer has often been held up by anti-Semites as proof that Jews are untrustworthy we do not keep our vows , and for this reason the Reform movement removed it from the liturgy for a while. In fact, the reverse is true: we make this prayer because we take vows so seriously that we consider ourselves bound even if we make the vows under duress or in times of stress when we are not thinking straight.

This prayer gave comfort to those who were converted to Christianity by torture in various inquisitions, yet felt unable to break their vow to follow Christianity. In recognition of this history, the Reform movement restored this prayer to its liturgy.

My employer, on the other hand, follows the American Christian-centric calendar and includes Christmas as a holiday off work but no other religious holidays. This year, Yom Kippur occurs in the middle of the week, bringing up a number of questions for me. How can I participate in observing this day with my husband? What will this day look like for our family when we have kids and one or both of us are expected to work?

I would love to participate in fasting and reflecting on Yom Kippur, but my work demands this year overshadow that desire. Zach will attend morning services and then fast and reflect at home. I love this beautiful service of rebirth, and I look forward to participating with my husband. I expect that in a future with children, we may want to take off work to observe the holiday together as a family and develop, as a family, values related to Yom Kippur , like repentance, forgiveness and resolve to live the next year differently.

In that way our children can evaluate and connect to the beliefs and rituals themselves, not just to what Mom does or Dad does. Like many other things in our life as an interfaith couple, our religious observances as a family unit are growing and evolving.