Monday, October 2, 2006

Signed, Sealed, Delivered?

Last year it was something new, and to be honest, something I didn't like. This year it was something that I couldn't wait to see again, and yet I will never be able to photograph.

Unlike any other country in the world, Israel stops for Yom Kippur. Schools close, public transport does not run, and even the airport shuts down for twenty five holy hours. Religious or not, Yom Kippur means something, it's either a day spent in the Bet Kenesset [synagogue] fasting, praying and asking for another year, or it's a day spent on the street, riding the bicycle as there are no cars on the roads.

Leaving Shul after a moving Kol Nidre service, Emek Refaim [a main street in Jerusalem] was alive with life as usual, but no cars, no cafe's, no take outs. The entire street, pavement and road [in British pavement means sidewalk], was full of pedestrians and kids on bikes, celebrating chag haofanyim. It's a Kodak moment that will always stay in my mind.

As for Yom Kippur itself, I hope I did good. Ask me in just under a year and I'll tell you how it went! I hope you all had a meaningful day, may all our prayers be answered.

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