Yom Kippur arrives at sundown today. Those of the Jewish faith
begin fasting at that point for a 24-hour period in which they will
reflect upon the past year, ask for forgiveness for any sins
committed and look forward to a fruitful new year.
At Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach, an annual daylong food drive
also coincides with the holiday, which ends at sunset Monday. This
year, the synagogue plans to collect 11 tons of nonperishables that
will then be donated to various Orange County charities.
On Friday, City Editor James Meier sat down with Beth Slavin,
Temple Bat Yahm's director of marketing, to discuss the holiday and
the always successful food drive, now in its 11th year.
What makes Yom Kippur the most significant holiday of the year for
those of the Jewish faith?
Well, it's a significant part of a 10-day observance where Rosh
Hashanah begins and actually begins the Sabbath a week prior to the
holiday with a holiday called S'lichot. That is the preparation for
Jews to begin celebrating their new year. Then, a week later, we
celebrate our new year celebration.
It's 10 days of looking upon how each year has gone so quickly
and, for each of us, the year has contained a measure of all of
life's experiences, its accomplishments and satisfactions, its
anguishes and its griefs, its joy and self-confidence. And that's
what we're doing during this 10-day period. We're really doing a lot
of introspective reflection in hope that we can make this year a
better year.
And, of course, on Yom Kippur, God is forgiving us for any sin
that we would have committed and the gates of repentance at the end
of the day while the sun is setting begin to close and, God willing,
we are all sealed in the book of life for a fruitful coming new year.
And this, of course, is the year 5763 of the Hebrew calendar.
Is there anything that makes this particular Yom Kippur more
important or significant than any other?
Well, I think that we all concerns for Israel and the conditions
in the Middle East, and of course what is happening in the world
today in the looming presence of another war and where our president
is going to take our country. That's something that we're all
thinking about at this time.
And, of course, our own country. Certainly celebrating a one-year
anniversary in the Jewish faith at this time of year is quite
meaningful. And we're mindful of how precious and how fragile our
lives are.
What does one specifically do at sundown on Sunday?
Probably the most significant one that most Jews will have
