| Fast of Gedaliah - When A Jew Kills A Jew|
After the capture of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, Gedaliah, the son of Achikam, was appointed by the Babylonians as governor of the impoverished remnant in Judah. Members of Gedaliah's family (a prominent family of scribes) had previously held prestigious positions in that kingdom and, apparently, they followed a policy of submission to the new rulers.

Nevertheless, Gedaliah and those who surrounded him, who had not been exiled after the destruction of the First Temple, marked the last remaining vestment of Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael. At that time, however, the king of the Ammonites, attempting to weaken Babylonian influence in the region, sent a Jew by the name of Yishmael ben Netaniah to assassinate Gedaliah. Several thousand Jews (and Babylonians) living in the center at Mizpeh were also murdered. A few survivors were able to flee and to take the prophet Jeremiah with them to Egypt, to avoid possible, unjustified, repercussions at the hands of the Babylonian rulers.

To mark this tragic end to Jewish autonomy and settlement in the Land of Israel, the "Fast of the Seventh [Month]" was proclaimed in the prophetic writings (Zecharia 7:5). According to tradition, this occurs on the third of Tishrei.

| Before Yom Kippur |
Shabbat Shuvah
The Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuva [lit. "The Shabbat of Returning"] after the words Shuva Yisrael which appear in the extra prophetic reading in the synagogue on that Shabbat.

In most congregations in Israel and the Diaspora, it is customary for the rabbi to address the congregation on this Shabbat and to arouse an atmosphere of accounting for both individual and communal actions. The rabbi usually includes himself in the exhortations, in the spirit of the words of the prophet Hosea "Return, Israel, to the Lord your God...," taken to include even the righteous.

Kapparot
There is an interesting custom that many orthodox Jews practice before Yom Kippur called "Kapparot".

One way to think of this custom is the symbolic transference of one's sins onto an animal (a chicken) which is then slaughtered [vicarious death] and given to the poor. The custom is first recalled in the period of the gaonim of the ninth century and finds its source in the common meanings of the Hebrew root "gever" which can mean both "man" and "cock".

The rabbis have cautioned that one should not think that "kapparot" [lit. "expiation"] atones for misdeeds. Rather, a person is supposed to think of the possible punishments deserved according to the strict letter of the law, and the mercy offered in being spared from them...

The chicken is waved over the head while appropriate verses are read or chanted (see the Yom Kippur prayer book). It is customary to redeem the "kapparot" for money which is then given to the poor. Some people - perhaps the squeamish or those who find it hard to contemplate sacrificial notions - wave money over their heads to the value of 18 (= "life" in Hebrew).