Yom Kippur Prayer Service

Prayer services on Yom Kippur are lengthy and solemn. The level of public solemnity on Yom Kippur surpasses that of any other festival, including Rosh Hashanah. On Yom Kippur, Jews pray for forgiveness for sins between themselves and God, and Jews correct wrongful actions between themselves and other people.

Most of the holiday is spent in prayer in the synagogue. A Machzor prayer book is used for the special High Holy Day prayer service. Jews pray Kol Nidrei and Maariv on the evening of Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur day, Shacharit, the Torah Reading, Yizkor and Musaf are recited. After a short break, those observing Yom Kippur meet again to pray Mincha and Neilah. After the Maariv prayer service, it is time to break the Yom Kippur Fast.

To differentiate the Yom Kippur prayer service from other days and to show the solemnity of the prayers, special melodies are used for some of the prayers and the talit prayer shaw is worn for evening prayers.