A silent affair

Today September 19 is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement and the ten days before today was spent addressing and confessing sins from the past year. Someone in my group said it reminded them of how when you were little you extra good near the end of November and December so that Santa would add a little something extra for you. Now I know that the Jews take this time much more seriously then a five year-old who wanted the latest Batman figure, but the idea of finding favor in the eyes of the one who judges stands either way. The day of Yom Kippur is the big show in Judaism but what's so great about it is that it is a show of silence. Think about that for a bit. Christmas and Easter are full of movement and it all very good, but for the Jews their largest celebration is a day of self denial.

All of the Jews (Ultra-Orthodox to Secular) in Jerusalem fast which also means no water. They all go without cars, buses, businesses, and post offices. So maybe my list does not impress but it is an eerie feeling when an entire city falls quiet. When an entire quarter in the Old City only goes to synagogue you notice that. I could count 21 cars moving about in an hour on one of the busiest roads in the New City (5 of these were emergency personnel vehicles of which 3 had lights going but no horns). That means for the hour or so I spent in the city I saw one car every 3 minutes or so. In no other city will you ever experience this. The practice dates way back too. In Leviticus 16 you read God's handing down of the requirements for this day. Then you can go and read the whole book of Hebrews (It's actually a quite easy to read it all in one sitting) and see how this relates to Christianity.

For your enjoyment I am including a video I took to try and capture the atmosphere of the city. Again remember this is one of the busiest roads (4 lanes, 2 way) and I walked down the middle of it for about 7 minutes without seeing or hearing a car!