No matter how you say it, it just sounds wrong!

The reason I mention both in the title is that they both occurred today and one played in the other which I will explain.

Last week I told you about the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, the High Holy Days, culminating ten days later on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur is observed with a fast from sunset the day before, last night, to sunset touch. Traditionally it is observed in prayer and most often in synagogue, or temple. Fasting helps us focus on prayers and reflections of our lives.

As the day of atonement, it is a time for us to ask forgiveness from people we may have wronged and as we hope that our names were written in the book of life on Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, the book is sealed and our fate is sealed for the next year.

In greetings, as we talked about greetings during Rosh Hashanah, and during Yom Kippur, you would wish someone an easy fast and a good Yom Tov.

There are a LOT of rules associated with Yom Kippur, I’ve attached a link to give you more information and insight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

Everyone participates in their own way, I used to go to services more often, and…Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have the highest attendance rates in synagogues, those who may not be very religious, tend to go for these two holidays as they are the most holy and on Yom Kippur, we observe a special service for those who are no longer with us. It is a somber time, but a joyous one that we are here to celebrate another year of life and be with those we are close to.

Traditionally you “break fast” with a piece of challah (a traditional Jewish braided bread) or maybe a piece of rugelach, a wonderful Jewish pastry. My sister used to keep a small ziplock full of rugelach, that our grandma M used to bring us from a great Jewish bakery in Brooklyn for the holiday, in the car and the second service were over, she’d be in the car eating a sweet while we drove home for a wonderful dinner of traditional foods that my mother and grandmother would cook.

(I’m smiling thinking about it…home made chicken soup, gefilte fish, kreplach, brisket and/or chicken and wonderful desserts: grandmas home made apple sauce and rugelach)

As I said, I do not go to synagogue like I used to, but I do observe the fast and I never work on Yom Kippur, I observe in my own way.

I liked the title of my post at first, but I realized now that I only want to devote this post to Yom Kippur and I will tell you about the run tomorrow. (Run for your Lives is a 5k obstacle course I ran today).

So, as I said in my post on Facebook, my wish to you…”Wishing all my friends and family an easy fast, may you find the answers you seek this day of atonement and may you be inscribed in the book of life for another year”