Yom Kippur hoalso well-known as the Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the year for religious Jews. Its central themes are atonement & repentance. Jews traditionally scrutinize this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting & intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period well-known in Judaism as the High Holy Days.
Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrei. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fortune for the coming year into a book on Rosh Hashanah & waits until Yom Kippur to seal the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his/her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God and against other human beings.
The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public & private petitions and confessions of guilt. At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers one's self absolved by God. The Yom Kippur prayer service includes a number of unique aspects. One is the actual number of prayer services. Unlike a regular day, which has three prayer services, the evening prayer, Shacharit, the morning prayer & Mincha, the afternoon prayer, or a Shabbat or Yom Tov, which have four prayer services.
Yom Kippur has five prayer services i.e. Ma'ariv; Shacharit; Musaf; Mincha and Ne'ilah, the closing prayer. The prayer services also include a public confession of sins & a unique prayer dedicated to the special Yom Kippur avodah (service) of the Kohen Gadol in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Yom Kippur is measured one of the holiest of Jewish holidays and it is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Many secular Jews fast & attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, where the number of worshippers attending is often double or triple the normal attendance. Many other Jews choose not to fast.