And Then You Eat

Last week, stuck among the many holidays that have been going on lately, was a sad little holiday that is oft-forgotten and rarely celebrated: Yom Kippur. Actually, in point of fact, when I went to purchase some food on Wednesday for my pre-fast and break-fast meals, apparently the rest of Jerusalem had the same idea, because both the shuk and the supermarket were the busiest I've ever seen them. Leave it up to the Jews to buy food in droves right before a fast.

The week before was (as it traditionally is) Rosh Hashanah. While RH was very nice here, I can't really say it is so much different from RH in the States. It is little quieter, but basically you go to shul, you eat, you don't work. The end.

Yom Kippur, on the other hand, is a totally different story. It's not clear to me if it's by law or by tradition, but in Jerusalem, on Yom Kippur, the only vehicles on the streets all day are emergency vehicles. Instead, there was a constant parade of Yerushalmim riding their bikes and walking up and down the streets. It's really beautiful and amazing.

On Wednesday night, when I was walking home from Kol Nidre and Ma'ariv--the first service of Yom Kippur--I walked passed my yeshiva with some friends and we saw a big group of people outside singing. It turns out that about 50 Nativ-ers (which is a gap-year program for post-USY kids that is housed in the same complex in which I study) were sitting in the middle of the major intersection on which the Yeshiva is located singing various Jewish and Israeli songs. Apparently it was not an original idea, but it was very beautiful and very impressive. They were just sitting in the middle of the street singing, as dozens of Israelis and tourists came by to watch, take pictures, and singing along. And that was nothing like I've even seen back home.