Area Jews to observe Yom Kippur

Rabbi Joshua Waxman will wear a plain white robe when he steps in front of his congregation to lead Yom Kippur services tonight.

It is the same garment he wore when he got married and the same one he plans to be wrapped in when his body is prepared for burial.

It is the same color that will cover the Torah and replace the traditional black of the yarmulkes for the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

"For me, putting on this garment is a very powerful spiritual practice," said Waxman, of Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congegation in Fort Washington. "It is a reminder that this is not a day like other days."

The white robe called the kittel (Yiddish for robe, according to Waxman) embodies in its color and simplicity the traditions of the holiday known as the Day of Atonement. The robe will be worn by rabbis, cantors and congregants throughout the region as the Jewish High Holidays come to a close with the observance of Yom Kippur.

The holiday caps the Days of Awe, the 10-day period that began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Jews seek forgiveness from God and from those they have wronged during the last year. The goal is to begin the new year renewed, cleansed from sin and closer to God.

The kittel is a symbol of that ideal in its connection with the concepts of death and renewal in Jewish history and tradition, said Rabbi Paula Goldberg, a rabbinic scholar based at Shir Ami Bucks County Jewish Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Newtown.

The high priest wore white linen garments in the Bible on the Day of Atonement to pray for forgiveness in the Temple, Goldberg said. Also, Jews are buried in white shrouds in a tradition signifying equality in death. And, the prophet Isaiah says in the Bible "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

"The kittel is a reminder that we are mortal and there is no time like the present to clear our lives and start on a better path," Goldberg said.

During the holidays, the robe's color of white and its theme of purity weaves its way throughout the synagogue. The Torah is draped in a white cover for the holidays and white yarmulkes are worn in recognition of the holy days.

The white robe is worn not only on Yom Kippur, but also on Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, said Saul P. Wachs, the Rosaline P. Feinstein professor of education and liturgy at Gratz College in Melrose Park. Bridegrooms wear it on their wedding day

"It was kind of a paradox," said Waxman who wore the robe at his wedding. "It's clearly a time of great joy and festival and on the other hand it makes you aware of your mortality."

The kittel is a tradition among Jews with roots in Eastern and Central Europe, and is not a tradition among Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, said Rabbi Albert Gabbai, of Mikveh Israel, a Sephardic congregation in Philadelphia. Gabbai wears black robes year round.

Across denominations, the popularity of wearing the garment varies, rabbis and scholars say.

All married men who are Orthodox wear the kittel and Orthodox women will wear white, said Rabbi Moshe Travitsky, of Kehillas B'nai Shalom synagogue, an Orthodox congregation in Bensalem.

Among Conservative, Reform and Reconstruction congregations, the garment is mostly worn by clergy, said David Brodsky, assistant professor of Rabbinic Civilization at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote.

Rabbi Gregory Marx and cantor David Green, of Congregation Beth Or, a Reform synagogue in Maple Glen wear white robes, pants, shoes and socks.

Green says dressing for the holiday is like a athlete preparing for a game.

"You're gearing yourself up mentally and physically for the challenge you have ahead," he said.

Tonight, at Congregation Beth Tikvah, a Conservative synagogue in Marlton, Rabbi Gary Gans will wear a kittel he purchased in Israel in 1988.

It will be just one day after the funeral of Gans' aunt, Edith Goldberg. Before her burial, Goldberg's body was washed and wrapped in white shrouds, Gans said.

For years, Gans had declined to wear a robe during services. It wasn't his style, he said. But he relented and he is glad that he did.

"It feels different," Gans said. "It makes the holidays special and unique for me."

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