By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Oct 12, 2005
The State of Israel will almost completely shut down from Wednesday afternoon for the biblically-mandated Day of Atonement that annually sees most the country?s Jews join in a 24-hour period of fasting, prayer and introspection.
Roads across the land will empty and remain largely unused as all public and virtually all private transportation is stopped. No flights will be allowed in or out of the country. Radio and television services will be suspended. All shops and places of entertainment will be closed down.
The book of Leviticus records God's command that Israel set aside the tenth day of the Hebrew calendar's seventh month for a day of divine atonement.
?It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.? (Leviticus 23:27-28)
Many Israelis choose to spend much of the period of contrition at local synagogues. This year they will do so under heavy guard as a flood of intelligence warnings have been received of planned ?Palestinian? efforts to attack the Jews on their most holy day.
Yom Kippur has been exploited before by enemies of this nation. In 1973, while most Israelis were at home or in their places of worship, Arab states lead by Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack that took many Jewish lives and came close to destroying the Jewish homeland.
Meanwhile, following a tumultuous year that saw preparations for and the implementation of the plan to uproot thousands of Jewish families from parts of the Land of Israel, many in the country feel the government has much to seek forgiveness for.
Signs that some officials may be inclined to atone for these acts are not very apparent, however.
Earlier this month, Disengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi told Army Radio he would like to ask forgiveness from Gaza's former Jewish residents ?if I hurt them in any way.?
The ten days leading up to Yom Kippur are known to Jews as the period of slichot, when one is obligated to grant forgiveness when requested by another.
Although the weather in Israel has already cooled with the advent of autumn, temperatures are rising today indicating that Yom Kippur this year, like every other year in recent memory, will be accompanied by unseasonably hot and dry conditions.