The great Talmudic sage, Rabbi Akiva, was taken captive by the Romans on Tishrei 5 of the year 3894 from creation (134 CE). His subsequent torture and execution is recalled in the stirring Eleh Ezkarah poem of the Yom Kippur service.

The 10-day period beginning on Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur is known as the "Ten Days of Repentance"; this is the period, say the sages, of which the prophet speaks when he proclaims (Isaiah 55:6) "Seek G-d when He is to be found; call on Him when He is near." Psalm 130, Avinu Malkeinu and other special inserts and additions are included in our daily prayers during these days.

The Baal Shem Tov instituted the custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms). Click below for today's three Psalms.

Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102

Links: About the Ten Days of teshuvah; Voicemail; more on teshuvah

People know Yom Kippur as a day of repentance and forgiveness. But Yom Kippur takes you far beyond that.

Because repentance means regretting who you’ve become. Yom Kippur is a day when you are embraced for who you truly are.

You are a pure, divine soul. Today, in that embrace, you experience the bond that divine soul has with G-d, and you want to live that way.

So you rid yourself of some unbecoming things you picked up on the road, and you return home, picking up some beautiful mitzvahs along the way.

On Yom Kippur you return home to the One Who embraces you because you are who you are.