Yom Kippur

Do a tashlich activity; discuss t’shuvah (return/repair).

Children wonder and discover; you facilitate more than you lecture.

• How do we mark Yom Kippur as different?
• Why say sorry at the start of a new year?

Yom Kippur, ten days after Rosh Hashanah, is the Day of Atonement — the holiest day, for saying sorry and returning to our best selves. Adults fast to focus on prayer.

• T’shuvah — return / repentance
• Tashlich — casting off
• Tzom — fast

“Why is it the holiest day?”

It’s our yearly chance to repair, forgive, and start fresh with a clean heart.

• Children understand Yom Kippur practices (fasting, tashlich, services).
• Children know when it falls in the Jewish year.

Frame t’shuvah as hopeful and universal — everyone can repair; no shame.

Folktale. The Two Brothers Who Made Peace (Land-of-Israel legend) — forgiveness shared on a holy hill.

Changemaker. Sandy Koufax — the best pitcher in baseball, who did not play game one of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. He never made a speech about it; he simply was not there.

How is the ‘reset’ of Yom Kippur the same as, and different from, other do-overs?

“We explored t’shuvah and saying sorry. Try at home: share one ‘sorry’ and one ‘I forgive you.’”