On the evening of September 28th, SJUA were able to fund a communal Breaking of the Fast for those KKSY members who managed to get to synagogue for their Yom Kippur Service.The food served included, chicken, rice, posho, fish, cake made from flour and sugar. Approx 30 members sat eating together and spoke about what Yom Kippur stands for, and what it means to them.
It is not a Ugandan custom to have a communal meal. Normally Ugandans just eat with their immediate family and closest friends. SJUA have introduced to KKSY, the Jewish custom of sharing a meal as a community, something that is now being done there, on a regular basis.
This year the members of KKSY celebrated Yom Kippur on Monday, September 28. Also known as the Day of Atonement, it is a time when Jews spend a full day in the synagogue praying and scrutinizing their actions over the past year. They resolve to do better in the next year, both in fulfilling the commandments between them and God (such as observing the Shabbat) and between one person and another (such as being honest in business dealings).
When people talk about Kippur, they often focus on the restrictions designed to encourage introspection and a sense of humility. Yom Kippur is a day of fasting when men and women abstain from any eating or drinking. Congregants do not wear leather shoes. They do not use perfume. Yet solely focusing on these restrictions, obscures the optimistic tenor of the day. Jewish thought assumes that people can improve their conduct. People do not have to repeat past mistakes. Each person at KKSY (as in all communities) has a chance at better behavior and a better future.
In one prayer said several times during the day, congregants confess as a community to a variety of sins. Here the important point is that the prayer not only seeks to get us to reform as individuals but as an entire community.
As the sun sinks on the horizon, the congregation says the Ne’ilah prayers whose optimistic closing words include the phrase “for God has accepted your work.” The day ends with a blast from the Shofar last heard on Rosh haShanah, the Jewish New Year.
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