Yom Kippur Israeli style

As I sit here with a splitting headache thanks to the Yom Kippur fast, I thought I'd reflect on the day gone by. Yom Kippur in Israel is something special. As I quickly learned when I moved here almost 2 years ago, Israel is a state for Jews but it is not quite a Jewish (observant) state. Many Israelis don't observe Shabbat. With Sunday being a work day who can blame them? Among other things there are also many non-kosher restaurants in Jerusalem and the rest of the country.

There are many differences in the people here, but on Yom Kippur it seems there are no differences. For one day everything is shut down and everyone comes together to observe Yom Kippur. It's against the law for anyone but emergency and police vehicles to be on the road. (of course there is always that one guy that just HAS to be driving loudly down the road). There are no flights in or out of the airport and even the radio stops broadcasting. Soldiers are required to keep the radios on so they have instructions in case of an emergency. Many families use the empty roads to their advantage. It's the one day of the year where the roads are filled with kids riding their bikes and scooters up and down the usually very busy streets. As I walked Doggie Yom Kippur evening, I tried to get him to walk on the road because we can't usually do that, but he wasn't interested since there was nothing except car tires to pee on so I alternated between the road and the sidewalk. It was so quiet. All that could be heard were the trees rustling in the cold breeze. It was great. Yom Kippur here is so different and felt so much more than in the U.S. since here it's observed by nearly everyone. It's a nice change.

Jerusalem is mentioned countless times in the Yom Kippur prayers. In the last line of the Yom Kippur prayer it says "Next Year in Jerusalem." It felt kind of weird saying that line since I live in Jerusalem, but the difference is that Jerusalemites say next year we should be in a Jerusalem that's rebuilt with the temple. A few times I thought to myself how cool it was that I live in such a holy city. That's not something I think about everyday. But on holidays and shabbat Jerusalem is the place to be.

As special as Jerusalem is and as peaceful as Yom Kippur was, I was reminded of the danger that is always lurking for us here as I saw two out of uniform soldiers carrying their machine guns on their backs as we all made our way home. Some soldiers always have to have their guns with them. In shul I did notice one man who had a hand gun on him. I thought that was a bit much but you just never know.