Q 01/05

What does the Hebrew name Yom Kippur literally mean?

A) Day of Remembrance

B) Day of Atonement

C) Day of Rest

D) Day of Judgment

Answer · why

B) Day of Atonement

Its formal biblical name is Yom HaKippurim, 'day of the atonements'; the singular form spread in the Middle Ages.

Q 02/05

Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of which Hebrew month?

A) Tishrei

B) Kislev

C) Nisan

D) Adar

Answer · why

A) Tishrei

That puts it in late September or early October, nine days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

Q 03/05

Yom Kippur is the last of a period of how many 'Days of Repentance' that begin with Rosh Hashanah?

A) Forty

B) Seven

C) Three

D) Ten

Answer · why

D) Ten

Together the two festivals make up the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe.

Q 04/05

According to Jewish tradition, God writes each person's fate in the Book of Life on Rosh Hashanah and does what on Yom Kippur?

A) Erases the entries

B) Seals the verdict

C) Opens the book

D) Reads it aloud

Answer · why

B) 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 05/05

The Yom Kippur fast runs from sundown until when?

A) Sunrise the following day

B) Sundown two days later

C) Noon the following day

D) Nightfall the following day

Answer · why

D) Nightfall the following day

A few minutes are added at each end, called tosefet Yom Kippur.