Yom Kippur Books

The Davvaning of Yom Kippur is complicated. Often even experienced davvaners somehow lose the place. This Artscroll Machzor is very clearly laid out. It makes it possible to follow the Davvening with relative ease. It also provides commentary on difficult passages and key words and concepts. It has an overall introduction to 'Yom Kippur' its meaning and significance. I myself do not davvan with the 'Artscroll' but have it with me as a help in understanding certain parts of the Davvaning, whether through the translation or the commentary.
I have one problem with all the Artscroll Prayerbooks. i.e. They do not include the prayers for Shlom Ha-Medinah. And as I live in Israel I would also wish them to include the prayers for the soldiers of Israel.
Still in terms of parallel- text and commentary this 'Machzor' is excellent, and can truly be of help to the individual seeking to pray to and serve Hashem on this holiest of days.

This is the official machzor for Conservative Judaism. The text, in both English and Hebrew, is mostly traditional; but references to the Ancient Temple in Jerusalem and animal sacrifices have been modified; Now the text recalls the glory of the ancient Temple service, but stresses that in our day it is ethical living, following mitzvot, and repentence that bring salvation, not animal sacrifice. It has less Ashkenazic piyuttim (religious poetry) than other machzorim, but it includes a selection of religious poetry from the Sephardic rite. It also includes a few prayers from ancient machzorim. In terms on content and translation, it is the most meaningful and authentically Jewish High Holy day prayerbook that I have yet come across.

This is the official machzor of thr Conservative machzor. It presents the services for both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kipur together in a single volume. The main body of the text is mostly traditional, and people who went to Orthodox and Conservative synagogues will be familiar with it. However, there are a number of important modifications. In keeping in line with Conservaive theology, references to the Temple and animal sacrifices have been modified: The text recalls the glory of the ancient Temple service, but stresses that in our day it is ethical living, following the will of God, and repentance that bring salvation, not animal sacrifice.

It has less Ashkenazic piyuttim than other machzorim: it is not so huge and encyclopedic like Orthodox works, yet it is much more comprehensive than Reform or Reconstructionist works. A nice touch is that it includes a selection of religious poetry from the Sephardic rite, as well as some nice prayers from some ancient machzorim. There are a number of welcome egalitarian changes as well.

This was the standard Machzor for years in many Orthodox congregations.
I think of earlier editions of this work with affection.
Birnbaum is clear and concise in his comments. The main thing is the holy text for davvaning, and it is here.

The true meaning of the repentance Yom Kippur can be hard to explain to small children, and this book helps.

In prior years, Minnie was too young to go to Yom Kippur services, so when her father tells her that her Yom Kippur birthday will be wonderful in its own way but wonders what that means. She knows the holiday is serious but not what that means.

She fights with her sister, who will not return her doll, and her brother who tells her Yom Kippur will require that she sit still and think about the things she's done wrong during the year. She calls him a liar and runs to her Mom, who reassures her that the kind of birthday she will have is a surprise.

On the day itself, she runs for breakfast, but gets no presents. Mom and Dad are fasting, and go to Temple with Arnold. She waits for a long time, bored.

When they come back, they take her to Temple in the afternoon. Here she sees the Stars of David, the sparkling eternal light over the ark holding Torah scrolls, and the rabbi and cantor (who is a woman).

The rabbi tells the story of Jonah, which is one of two Torah portions for Yom Kippur. Minnie doesn't like the story--until the rabbi explains, "Most people don't do bad things like Jonah did to God, but little things to other people."

When you remember those little things that hurt others, he says, you must apologize as soon as possible. Minnie remembers her fights with her sister and brother, whispers apologies to them--and feels better. As services end, Minnie thrills at the sound of the shofar, the long blast.

Then, the rabbi recites a Kiddush. The congregants come out with a big birthday cake, that says "Happy Birthday Minnie." Minnie hugs her dad.

The important message--to treat others well and always to make amends--comes through loud and clear. Alyssa A. Lappen

'Yom Kippur' is the holiest day of the Jewish year. It is a day devoted to prayer, fasting , and to atoning for one sins before G-d. In this anthology of writings edited by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins a wide selections of writings on various themes of the Holiday is presented.There are chapters on 'Kol Nidre' , on 'Sin', 'Atonement','Forgiveness' 'Hear O Israel' " Hear O God Our Voice' 'Scriptural Readings ' Yizkor' 'Martyrology' 'Service- In the Temple and Today' 'Yom Kippur Customs' 'Jonah and Human Responsibility' 'Closing the Gates' 'Next Year in Jerusalem'.
I read this book preliminary to 'Yom Kippur'.And I think it can be of real help to most readers who wish to know and understand more about this holiest of days.

This sweet book is best for very young children, who will enjoy the mild and simple text and its young siblings' observations of the "birthday of the world," and more. The beautiful and inventive mixed-media illustrations will speak to parents and kids alike. Definitely worth reading and admiring.

I love these Rookie Readers for teaching about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and other holidays. Kids can work on their reading skills and learn something interesting at the same time.

particularly those who work what we in the Intelligence Community call "indications and warning."

"The Watchman Fell Asleep" is --in my opinion-- destined to be a "classic" in the literature of intelligence failures, surprise attacks, and denial and deception.

The subject is likely to be obscure to most Americans, the short, sharp war between Israel and Egypt and Syria that took place in 1973 (Israelis call it the "Yom Kippur War" or "War of Atonement" and Arabs use the terms "Ramadan War" or "October War."

Bar-Joseph's book addresses a fundamental question: how did it come to pass that Israel was strategically surprised by the Egyptians and Syrians (leading to Israeli casualties that make others in its other conflicts pale in comparison)?

Bar-Joseph makes a convincing case that this was the result of Israeli errors far more than Arab cleverness. He describes the mindset of complacency that seized hold of Israel after its easy victory in the Six Day War. This "konzeptsiya" held that the Egyptians and Syrians would not go to war for years to come in the wake of that stinging defeat. It was a logical, coherent, well-thought out mindset ...but it was wrong.

I've read some about the war, but Bar-Joseph's book is full of new revelations:

-the identity of the high-level source who gave the Mossad a definitive warning of Sadat's intent to attack in October 1973

-the fact that although Israel had obtained the Arabs' tactical battle plans on both the Egyptian and Syrian fronts, the Israeli commanders either did not exploit or were unaware of this hard won knowledge (which reinforces a central belief of mine: the best intel in the world is useless if people aren't allowed to see it and make use of it)

Perhaps even more important than revelations such as these is Bar-Joseph's discussion of various cognitive and analytic errors that the Israelis fell victim to. The one that I found most interesting was the proposition that the head of Israeli military intelligence and his favorite analyst both were personalities that favored "closure" to a dangerous degree (in other words: they did not like being uncertain and once they had made their minds up, they resisted changing them until almost the very end).

To sum up, this is a wonderful addition to the literature of intelligence books out there. Given the fact that it happened just three decades ago, it is probably more pertinent and accessible to today's readers than earlier books about Pearl Harbor.

So I congratulate the author and encourage my colleagues in the IC to read this as well as anyone else with an interest in why intelligence failures like the 1973 War happen.

I found my hardcover copy of this book at a garage sale many years ago for -- dare I say it? --- only 25 cents. Well, their loss was my gain, because it's a FANTASTIC collection of inspirational materials about Yom Kippur, ranging from biblical and talmudic references on how to observe the holy day, to prayers, anecdotes, essays, excerpts, and fiction by such authors as Leo Baeck, Abraham Isaac Kook, Max Artzt, Louis Jacobs, Franz Rosezweig, Herman Wouk, Nahum Glatzer, Israel Zangwill, David Kranzler, Isaac Peretz, Rabbi Soloveichik, Ruth Brin, Martin Buber, and a host of others. Nowhere else can you find so many wonderful insights about Yom Kippur by so many great authors, all between the covers of one book!

Especially interesting to me was the chapter, "Yom Kippur in Many Lands," where you can read about how this day is (or was, in some cases) observed among Jews in Lybia, Ethiopia, India, Persia, Old Russia, the London Ghetto, the Warsaw Ghetto, the Dachau concentration camp, among soldiers in Korea and Vietnam, etc. Any one of these stories will inspire you to deepen yoour own Yom Kippur experience. This book is a priceless treasure that you will return to again and again for years to come.