Yom Kippur 2013

Yom Kippur 2013: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Jewish High Holiday

Considered the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur is observed from sundown on Sept. 13 to nightfall on Sept. 14, 2013. YouTube

Considered the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur is the day when Jews reflect on the past year and atone for their sins.

The Day of Atonement begins at sundown on Sept. 13 and continues until nightfall on Sept. 14, or 10 Tishrei 5774, according to the Hebrew calendar. Synagogue attendance peaks during the High Holiday, when Jews seek forgiveness for sins committed between man and God and make a pledge to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the new year.

For those who are unfamiliar with the important Jewish holiday, below are five answers to common questions surrounding Yom Kippur:

1. What does Yom Kippur mean?

Yom Kippur literally means “Day of Atonement.” It is a day devoted to “afflict the soul,” repent and reflect on sins committed in the past year. It marks the end of the 10 Days of Awe that began on the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah -- a period of serious introspection.

Yom Kippur is outlined in Leviticus 16:30, which reads, “For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before God.”

2. What do you say?

A customary greeting on Yom Kippur includes wishing individuals an “easy fast,”Gmar Chatimah Tovah (may you be sealed in the Book of Life for a good year) and L’Shanah Tovah (for a good year) in Hebrew.

3. Why fast?

Fasting is one of three essential components of Yom Kippur. The practice comes from Leviticus 23:27 that describes "afflicting your souls," which is interpreted as abstaining from the body’s main needs, including food and drink. It is seen as an “an expression of pure faith in God.”

Jews fast for 25 hours beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. Food and drink are prohibited, but children under 13 and people who are ill or pregnant do not have to fast.

4. Are there other customs?

Jews mark the sacred and solemn day in multiple ways. The day is characterized by fasting, continuous prayer and repentance. The Talmud, a collection of rabbinical law, also outlines other restrictions including refraining from washing and bathing, putting on makeup or perfume, wearing leather shoes and having sex. Many wear white as a sign of purity and canvas shoes during the day.

5. What happens in synagogue?

Spending time in synagogue is one of the most important parts of Yom Kippur. The prayer book used on Yom Kippur, called a mahzor, means “cycle" since the calendar repeats its cycle each year.

In Orthodox synagogues, services begin around 8 or 9 a.m. and continue until about 3 p.m. Congregants usually go home and return to synagogue at 5 or 6 p.m. for the afternoon and evening services, which continue until sunset. Over the course of the day, two forms of confession are performed. The prayers, Ashamnu and Al Chet, involve asking for forgiveness from God. The former is a shorter, more general list of sins while the latter is a longer confession with a more specific list.

There are five prayer services over the course of the day:

Kol Nidrei, also known as “All Vows,” takes place on the eve of Yom Kippur. The prayer involves asking God to annul all personal vows made in the next year. While this only applies to religious vows made between man and God, over the centuries anti-Semitics saw the prayer as reason to believe Jews were untrustworthy.

While it is seen as a prayer, Kol Nidrei is technically a legal formulation designed to release individuals from promises between man and God. It is recited three times and it is the only time in the entire Jewish calendarwhen a tallit or prayer shawl is worn at night.

The morning prayer, Shacharit, includes a reading from Leviticus followed by Yizkor -- a memorial service for those who have lost one or both parents.

Musaf, which is held immediately after the morning service, includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service performed in ancient times. The priests, or kohanim, who are direct descendants of Aaron from the Hebrew Bible, perform a three-fold blessing on the Jewish people. It is customary for men to cover their eyes with their prayer shawls and for women to gaze into their prayer books, since one must not look directly at the kohanim.

Minchah, or the afternoon service, includes reading the entire Book of Jonah, which emphasizes the importance of repentance and prayer.

Neilah, or the “closing of the gates,” is the final service of Yom Kippur. Symbolically, it represents the closing of the gates of heaven and God’s readiness to hear the prayers of the Jewish people. During the service the doors of the Ark containing the Torah, or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, are opened. Neilah ends with the sounding of the shofar, or ram’s horn. The blast signals the end of the Day of Atonement and marks the time when congregants head home for the highly anticipated “breaking of the fast” meal.

Miley Cyrus

http://www.mileycyrus.com/

Inventor wags his oversized finger at Miley Cyrus

Steve Chmelar, who says he came up with the idea of an oversized hand in 1971, expressed disappointment about Cyrus' use of a "foam finger" during a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Miley Cyrus' raunchy dance has helped an Iowa inventor finally get credit for what he calls "the finger."

Steve Chmelar, 59, of Ottumwa says he is the originator of an iconic tool ofsports fandom, claiming to hold the prototype for what later became the "foam finger," those oversized hands with one finger held aloft seen at nearly everysporting event.

Cyrus caused controversy after she used a foam finger in a stimulating way on herself and singer Robin Thicke during a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 25.

Not long after, Chmelar's telephone rang. A Fox Sports reporter had dug up his name from a Wikipedia post on foam fingers. Chmelar told Fox he was "disappointed" in Cyrus' finger placements and said she "certainly misrepresented its intent to encourage team support." The story spread rapidly on celebrity TV, online's entertainment sites and mainstream media. He found himself being interviewed by cable network HLN on Tuesday as well as the BBC.

Chmelar, vice president of commercial sales for Carroll Construction Supply in Ottumwa, is an unlikely character for cultural commentary.

But his emergence as an Iowa inventor may be more interesting than Cyrus' gyrations.

Chmelar said he came up with the idea for the finger as a student in Ottumwa in 1971 when his high school's basketball team went to the state tournament.

"I remember we used to hold our arm erect with a finger signifying No. 1," he said. "I thought if I could make that much bigger, it would get more attention."

In his parents' garage, he made a giant hand out of galvanized wire and hardware cloth wrapped in papier-mache, the finger standing 20 inches high. Fans loved it when he held it aloft at the game and waved it out of the bus window on the way back from the championship game, which Ottumwa lost to Davenport West.

A photograph of Chmelar and the big hand appeared in The Des Moines Tribune on March 18, 1971, and in his school's annual. The team and coaches signed the hand before he stored it in his parents' attic. Much to his wife's chagrin, he dug it out when he got married and hung it in their home's basement. There it was largely forgotten.

Steve Chmelar, 59, of Ottumwa, Iowa has emerged nationwide as the originator of an iconic tool of sports fandom, claiming to hold the prototype that became the first "foam finger," those oversized hands with one finger held aloft at nearly every sporting event.(Photo: courtesy photo)

But a year ago, the subject of the big hand arose with relatives, and Chmelar hunted down the original photo in the annual and even came to Des Moines to look up the photo in newspaper archives. With the help of his son-in-law, they added to a notation under "foam finger," in Wikipedia, a user-created online encyclopedia, claiming some credit as the creator of the first version of what later became the famous foam finger.

Legally, credit goes to Geral Fauss, a high school teacher from Texas who created the first finger that was made of foam in 1978. He created a business, Spirit Industries Inc., to sell it, and it spread to nearly every sporting venue in the nation. The company still sells them today.

Fauss said he'd never heard of Chmelar, or seen the photograph, but is used to being challenged about the finger. He's been through eight lawsuits and says "nobody could predate" his invention.

"I saw (Cyrus') dance, and I'd rather it had been with Hank Williams singing on 'Monday Night Football,' " said Fauss, who lives north of Houston. "But since then I've got 20,000 orders duplicating the design. I guess little girls are going to use it for Halloween, although I can't imagine that."

Chmelar never sought any monetary gain and insists that "technically, mine is not a foam finger, but it became that. I know enough about patents. I have one. I'm an idea guy and have created a lot of different things," he said, including auditorium seating for high schools and universities that became Riser Solutions.

Chmelar still has the original hand, although the newspaper used on the papier-mache has dried and become brittle.

He didn't watch the Video Music Awards — "it's not something I watch" — but did so online after he got the first reporter's call.

"I was disappointed to see it," he said. "It's almost like a national icon in sportsvenues and is very powerful to motivate teams. For it to be used as a prop for a raunchy dance routine wasn't very satisfying."

He was amazed how the story spread, and his simple analysis, using the word "disappointed," morphed into "alarmed" and "horrified" in some online media reports.

The good-humored Chmelar doesn't come across as alarmed. But he is exacting. He studied Cyrus' original dance and noticed something else:

"It was actually a left hand, and Miley wore it or on her right. So it was on backwards," he said.