Today I am so excited
because I'm going to bring you along and show you what really happens inside our Orthodox Sephardic
Jewish home before and on Yom Kippur including five things you will only see in our Orthodox
Jewish house I will also answer many questions like what clothes do we wear on Yom kippur why
do we wear sneakers how many hours do we really spend praying in synagogue on Yom Kippur and I
think this number will shock you as well as what we eat before Yom kippur including my
best chicken recipe at the end of the video and if you're new here hi my name is Sara Malka and
on my channel I share all facets of my Orthodox Sephardic Jewish Life as a full-time working mom
with small kiddos so don't forget to like this video And subscribe to our Channel let me put on
a pretty tichel/ headscarf and let's jump into it do do do the first thing you will only find in an
orthodox Sephardic jewish home on Yom Kippur will be a Sephardic MACHZOR which is a special prayer
book for Yom Kippur as you can see compared to our regular prayer book for Shabbat it is about
double the thickness when we look inside the marchzor we see the table of content which is
quite impressive in my opinion especially knowing we will pray through every section of our prayer
book so in a nutshell we will read every word from cover to cover of our marchzor or prayer
book over the 25 hour period Yom Kippur lasts there are five main prayers on Yom Kippur one
in the night of Yom Kippur that includes the kol nidre and four during the day which concludes
with the Neilah which means "closing the gate" and the final sounding of the SHOFAR which is a very
intense moment more on this a bit later in the video I put my prayer book aside for the moment
and I will show you another item you will only find in an orthodox Sephardic Jewish house
before and on Yom Kippur because we fast on Yom Kippur for 25 hours to help us ease our physical
hunger we prepare these lemons or oranges with cloves in them it is a family activity and our
children prepare them before Yom Kippur they love preparing them it takes them quite a bit
of time to be able to complete them but they are absolutely proud when they are done while they are
finishing preparing the lemons and oranges here is another thing or more precisely a ritual you
will only see in an Orthodox Jewish home before Yom Kippur and these are the KAPPAROT which means
atonement every member of the family will read the prayer for the kapparot from a marchzor or
prayer book we usually use a chicken to do them but we can also use money the value of either
item will be given to charity we Circle our head with the money or chicken while reciting
a special prayer where we ask G.od that if we were destined to be recipients of harsh decrees in the
new year G.od forbid may they be transferred to the chicken in the Merit of This mitzvah or
commandment to give charity we do the kapparot in the last fews days leading to Yom Kippur
because we are in the living room here is another item we use on Yom Kippur the shofar
which is made of a Ram's Horn we use the Ram's Horn because it recalls The Binding of Isaac
when Avraham was ready to sacrifice his only son stopping only when an angel showed him a
ram whose horns were entangled in a nearby Thicket does the Talmud tells us that when
we blow a Ram's Horn /shofar it is as if we are reenacting this amazing Act of devotion
also the bent shape of a Ram's Horn are emblematic of our contrite State as we
humbly approach G.od and ask Him to forgive us and grant us a good New Year /shana tova
the next item you will see in our Orthodox Jewish Home for Yom Kippur will be white clothes
specially used for Yom Kippur it is customary for orthodox Sephardic women to dress in white
clothes because on Yom Kippur We rise above our physical bodily needs we refrain from eating and
drinking and instead we focus on returning to our spiritual and pure Essence thus we try to resemble
angels and so we wear white clothes to reflect this Purity I wear this dress that is very wide
and comfortable because I'm going to be praying all day and because it has short sleeves I will
wear a long sleeved shell or undershirt to stay modest and if you want for me to do a video on how
I dress modestly at work home on shabbat and the holidays please let me know in the comments below
and here is the item number two you will only find in our Sephardic home for Yom Kippur for me,
it is a special white tichel or headscarf I only wear on Yom Kippur mine is made of
lace and I wear it over a white underscarf I have already made a video on how I cover
my hair and I will leave the link to the video in the description box below and the link above
if you're wondering if only women will wear white clothes on Yom Kippur the item number three you
will only find in an orthodox Sephardic jewish home for Yom Kippur will answer your question
traditionally are Moroccan Sephardic Jewish men will wear white djellaba to invoke the purity of
angels that are sinless for our Hasidic Brothers they will wear a kittel on Yom Kippour for the
same reasons the other tradition we have for Yom Kippur is to wear shoes that are without
leather and this is why you will see many Jews wearing sneakers or running shoes on
Yom Kippur or like me fabric shoes we do not wear leather shoes because in the Book of Leviticus the
Torah commands us to afflict ourselves on Yom Kippur why two reasons but the main one is that we
afflict ourselves to demonstrate the extent of our regret for our past misdeeds and affliction means
that we are to deny ourselves certain luxuries including wearing leather Footwear our son and
daughters are now done with their lemons and oranges decoration with the cloves and they will
put them in a reusable bag and we will keep them in the refrigerator until we're ready to use them
on Yom Kippur rest assure that after Yom Kippur we will dry them out fully and use them in our
potpourri and they will smell delicious for months and months before Yom Kippur we prepare ourselves
physically and spiritually and that includes the item or ritual number four you will only see done
in a Jewish Orthodox home and that is for men to go to the MIKVEH or ritual bath a few hours
before Yom Kippur to purify their body the MIKVEH is a special ritualistic bath where live waters is
usually from rain and regular waters are mixed together according to strict Jewish laws women
also immerse in the mikve after their monthly cycle or after birth and if you want for me to
do a full video on how and why we use the mikveh please let me know in the comments below another
spiritual preparation we do before Yom Kippur is to pray a special minha or afternoon prayer
shortly before Yom Kippur this prayer is also so special because beside the usual prayers we do we
add in the amidah the VIDDUY or confession in the prayer we confess all our sins to G.od and we ask
for forgiveness for all of them they include anything from stealing to lying to overeating
to waste food while we recognize our sins in front of G.od we bow our head and we tap our
chest gently fist closed on our heart with every sin we express and ask for forgiveness to G.od we
will repeat our confession of sins or vidduy five times during Yom Kippur and with every one of them
the intensity to ask for forgiveness increases and we will often cry during our confession or
vidduy especially in the Neilah prayer which is the closing of the gates of repentance for Yom
Kippur on a side note as Orthodox Jews and more specially for men they will stay about 11 hours
praying and 15 hours in total in synagogue between the DIVREI TORAH or lectures and the
prayers everyone is welcome to SHUL or synagogue women and children alike as long as everyone
stay quiet our girls are too young to fast so I will prepare them snacks to eat discreetly in
the back of the Shul/synagogue as well as little books and toys to stay busy while we are praying
another thing you will only see in our Orthodox home before Yom Kippur is the ongoing food being
served as it is a commandment the day before Yom Kippur to eat all day long as much as we can so
we will eat everything from baklava babka Star Pizza fruits bread and so much more for our last
meal just before Yom Kippur we will eat challah of course with our delicious chicken and lintria
(pasta) the recipe is so easy and delicious and it keeps us satiated for the longest time during
Yom Kippur thank G.od I will of course leave the recipe in the description box below i Pat dry my
chicken and drizzle it with olive oil making sure all the surfaces are covered with the oil and I
set everything aside I prepare my spice mix then I will add one tablespoon of the spice mix to a can
filled halfway with beer here I'm using a soda can filled with beer because I only had a glass bottle
of beer I add my reserved spices and two cloves of garlic and set everything aside in a Ziploc
bag I'm going to add my spices then I will add my chicken to the Ziploc bag this is the easiest way
I found to make sure that I will coat my chicken fully with the spice without making a mess
once the chicken is fully coated I put my chicken on the can in a baking dish lined with aluminum
foil where I have put thoroughly washed and seasoned baby potatoes to make sure the spices
stay put and to make the skin super crispy I spray some oil at the surface of the chicken
I will bake everything for about an hour and a half in the oven
and I will serve the chicken with pasta/lintria just before Yom Kippur
the last item or in this case the last ritual you will see in our Orthodox sephardic Jewish
home before Yom Kippur is to ask each member of our family MECHILA or for forgiveness as we all
did something to bother each other during the year we ask for forgiveness to each other as
G.od can pardon our sins that we did regarding our service to Him but we have to ask directly
for forgiveness to the people we have hurt we will also call our friends and family and
anyone we did hurt during the year and ask for forgiveness to make sure we come to Yom Kippur
as pure as we can and complete our teshuva or repentance to G.od through our heartfelt prayers
to Him during the Yom Kippur service hoping to be inscribed and sealed for a great New Year
thank you for being here it means the world to me know that in my book you are a true friend and my
life would not be the same without you I will take this opportunity to ask you for forgiveness if I
have hurt you in any way know that I am truly sorry and I hope you will forgive me and if
you are here with me until the end please write in the comments I LOVE FORGIVENESS so I know I
was not alone and if nobody told you today know that YOU ARE LOVED and YOU ARE ENOUGH
Just the Way You Are until next time stay safe stay blessed and don't forget to FRUM IT UP