50 free Yom Kippur trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Yom Kippur trivia quiz covers the holiest day of the Jewish year, from the Temple service in Leviticus to the bicycles on Tel Aviv's empty motorways. The easy questions ask what the name means, which Hebrew month it falls in, how long the fast lasts, what is blown to mark its end and which holiday begins the Ten Days of Repentance. From there it moves through the prayers, the customs and the symbols: Kol Nidre, the white kittel, the five prohibitions, the Book of Jonah, the scapegoat and the crimson cord. The hard end is for people who stay through Ne'ila: the language Kol Nidre is chanted in, the composer who wrote a cello piece on its melody, the biblical event tradition places on this date, the number of prayer services in the day, the melon-seed drink Sephardic Jews break the fast with, the war that began with sirens on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the ballplayer who got a standing ovation in synagogue and the year the United Nations first recognised the holiday. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries on Yom Kippur, Kol Nidre, the Yom Kippur War, the scapegoat, the Book of Jonah, kapparot, breaking the fast, Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Passover and Judaism quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the Hebrew name Yom Kippur literally mean?
Day of Atonement
Its formal biblical name is Yom HaKippurim, 'day of the atonements'; the singular form spread in the Middle Ages.
Q 02Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of which Hebrew month?
Tishrei
That puts it in late September or early October, nine days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
Q 03Yom Kippur is the last of a period of how many 'Days of Repentance' that begin with Rosh Hashanah?
Ten
Together the two festivals make up the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe.
Q 04According to Jewish tradition, God writes each person's fate in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah and does what on Yom Kippur?
Seals the verdict
The Unetanneh Tokef poem puts it as 'On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the Yom Kippur fast it is sealed'.
Q 05The Yom Kippur fast runs from sundown until when?
Nightfall the following day
A few minutes are added at each end, called tosefet Yom Kippur.
Q 06Besides fasting, Yom Kippur's five traditional prohibitions include not wearing what?
Leather shoes
The others are no bathing, no anointing with perfumes or lotions, and no marital relations.
Q 07What instrument is blown at the end of Yom Kippur to mark the conclusion of the fast?
The shofar
Some trace the custom to the biblical command to sound it on Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year.
Q 08The dramatic prayer chanted before sunset on Yom Kippur eve, releasing personal vows, is called what?
Kol Nidre
The cantor stands with two community members at his sides before the open ark; the Ashkenazic melody dates to the 16th century.
Q 09Kol Nidre is chanted in which language in most rites?
Aramaic
Only the Italian and Romaniote rites recite it in Hebrew, as Kol Nedarim.
Q 10Which composer wrote a famous piece for cello and orchestra based on the Kol Nidre melody?
Max Bruch
Arnold Schoenberg also set the prayer, and John Zorn wrote a string quartet on it.
Q 11Kol Nidre plays a climactic role in which 1927 film, the first feature with synchronised dialogue, and its remakes?
The Jazz Singer
Al Jolson's cantor's son must choose between Broadway and singing Kol Nidre in his dying father's place.
Q 12How many prayer services are held on Yom Kippur, more than any other day of the Jewish year?
Five
The usual three plus Mussaf are joined by Ne'ila, the 'closing' service said as the gates of prayer shut.
Q 13The closing service of Yom Kippur, held on no other day, is called what?
Ne'ila
Its name means 'locking', for the closing of the heavenly gates as the day ends.
Q 21According to rabbinic tradition, which biblical event happened on the date of Yom Kippur?
Moses came down from Sinai with the second tablets
Moses announced the people had been forgiven for the golden calf, so the Torah fixed the date as a permanent day of forgiveness.
Q 22The Talmud says Yom Kippur atones for sins against God but not for sins against other people until what happens?
The wronged person has been appeased
Hence the custom of asking forgiveness from friends and family on Erev Yom Kippur.
Q 23Many married Ashkenazi men wear a white robe on Yom Kippur that is also worn on their wedding day and used as a burial shroud. What is it called?
Q 14Which biblical book is read in its entirety as the afternoon Haftarah on Yom Kippur?
Jonah
Its theme is God's willingness to forgive those who repent, as the people of Nineveh do.
Q 15In the Book of Jonah, the prophet spends three days and nights inside what?
A great fish
The Hebrew text never says whale, only 'great fish'.
Q 16The English word 'scapegoat' comes from the Yom Kippur Temple ritual in which a goat was sent into the wilderness to what entity?
Azazel
Lots were drawn over two goats: one was sacrificed, the other carried the people's sins away and was thrown off a cliff.
Q 17Which English Bible translator coined '(e)scape goat' in his 1530 translation?
William Tyndale
The rendering stuck and became the modern word for someone blamed for others' faults.
Q 18A cord of what colour was tied around the scapegoat's horns, and was said to turn white in years when the people's sins were forgiven?
Crimson
It echoes Isaiah's promise: 'if their sins are like crimson, they shall become white as snow'.
Q 19Yom Kippur was the only day of the year the High Priest was permitted to enter which part of the Temple?
The Holy of Holies
He entered several times, first to fill it with incense smoke, then to offer the sacrifices of atonement.
Q 20The section of the Yom Kippur Mussaf prayer that recounts the Temple service in detail is called what?
Avodah
The rabbis codified the service in the Mishnah tractate Yoma, still studied on the day.
Kittel
White symbolises purity and the angels; the same robe is worn to lead the Passover seder.
Q 24In the kapparot ritual performed by some on the eve of Yom Kippur, what is waved over a person's head?
A chicken or money
The chicken is then slaughtered and given to charity, or the money is donated.
Q 25Which filled dumplings are traditionally served at the pre-fast meal before Yom Kippur?
Kreplach
Halakha actually requires eating on Erev Yom Kippur; the festive meal is held before because it cannot be held on the day.
Q 26North American Ashkenazi Jews traditionally break the Yom Kippur fast with what?
Bagels, cream cheese and lox
Sephardic communities often start with a drink made from melon seeds, followed by coffee and biscochos.
Q 27Sephardic communities in Turkey and Greece traditionally break the fast with a drink made from the seeds of what?
Melon
Turkish Jews call it subiye and Greek Jews pepitada.
Q 28The memorial prayer for the dead recited in most communities on Yom Kippur morning is known by what name?
Yizkor
Its name means 'may God remember'; those whose parents have died also light a yahrzeit candle before the day begins.
Q 29What phrase is traditionally recited at the conclusion of Ne'ila, as it is at the end of the Passover seder?
'Next Year in Jerusalem'
It first appears in the Yom Kippur liturgy in the Machzor Vitry of the 12th to 13th centuries.
Q 30In Israel on Yom Kippur, what happens to the country's airports, broadcasters and public transport?
They all shut down
There is no law against driving, but almost nobody does, and secular children take over the empty roads on bicycles.