10 Things to Know about Kol Nidre

Image: Drawing of Kol Nidre service near Metz for Jewish soldiers during the Franco-German War, by Hermann Junker, 1870. (Center for Jewish History)

Kol Nidre is a famous and much-misunderstood part of the Yom Kippur service.

• Kol Nidre (KN) means “All Vows.”
• Kol Nidre is pronounced COAL nee-DRAY or COAL NEE-dreh.
• Kol Nidre is a legal formula recited at the beginning of the evening Yom Kippur service.
• Kol Nidre is a legal formula declaring that religious vows made in the coming year are null and void.
• The purpose of Kol Nidre is to underline the seriousness of vows, and to nullify vows made out of passion or frivolity.
• Kol Nidre does not affect oaths taken in court or any other secular vows or promises made to human beings.
• Kol Nidre is written and recited or chanted in Aramaic.
• Kol Nidre is recited three times at the beginning of the service on Erev Yom Kippur. For that reason, sometimes people refer to the entire service as “Kol Nidre.”
• We do not know when Kol Nidre was first recited, but we know it appeared in the prayer book of Rav Amram in the mid-9th century CE.
• Today Kol Nidre sets the mood for the beginning of the Yom Kippur services, the most solemn in the Jewish Year. Its significance goes beyond any literal meaning of the prayer; rather, it puts the congregation into the mood to do the serious prayer work of the evening and the day that follows.

To learn more about Kol Nidre, you can read this article in the Jewish Virtual Library.