The enigma of Yom Kippur: It is a courtroom decked in white, a fast day and a festival, the holiest day of the year but also a time that is beyond holiness. It is day designated for repentance, but also a place in which the very concept of "sin" is non-existent. It occurs once a year, but it is also the "one of the year" — the singular essence of the year's every day.

If we cannot explain Yom Kippur, let's talk about it — in the eighteen stories and essays assembled here.

Insights:

Day One
by Yanki Tauber

How to Change the Past
by Yanki Tauber

At-onement
by Tzvi Freeman

Vistas
by Jay Litvin


Stories:

Kano
by David Ben-Dor

The Paper Chicken
Rabbi S. Y. Zevin

Forgiveness
by Jay Litvin

Kol Nidrei
by Yanki Tauber

The Yom Kippur Drunk
by Yanki Tauber

The Cantonists' Minyan
by Tuvia Bolton

The Shofar and the Wall
by Moshe Tzvi Segal

My Father's Machzor
by Zusha Greenberg


Essays:

The 120-Day Version of the Human Story
from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Dynamics of Teshuvah
by J. Emmanuel Shochet

The Four Meanings of Sin
from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Reverse Biology
from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Three Mistranslations
from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Uncle Irv
by Jay Litvin