כַּפָּרָה
kaparah
Religious / SynagogueMeaning1. An act you do to show you are sorry for doing something wrong, so that God will forgive you.
2. A special ceremony some religious Jews do before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
HistoryThis word comes from the Bible. The root letters k-p-r mean "to cover" or "to wipe clean". The idea was that doing a special act, like giving a gift to God, could "cover" a bad thing you did and make it clean again.
On Yom Kippur, people ask for forgiveness for their bad actions.