Countywide : Yom Kippur a Day of Contemplation

Many members of Ventura County’s Jewish community today are observing Yom Kippur, the most solemn of all Jewish holidays.

The holiday, which falls 10 days after the Jewish New Year, began at sundown Tuesday and lasts until sundown today.

Yom Kippur is a day of contemplation, said Toni Fauth, an assistant to the rabbi at Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks.

“It’s a day when Jews sit and contemplate the coming year, of what has gone before and what changes they’d like to make in their lives,” Fauth said.

Fauth said Jews use the day to consider how to improve both their personal relationships and their communities.

Many Jews observe the holiday by fasting, abstaining from work and attending special synagogue services.

Temple Adat Elohim will hold a children’s service from 9 to 9:30 a.m. today and a regular Yom Kippur service from 10 a.m. until about noon.

The synagogue gets its biggest turnout for the afternoon Yizkor service, which is a memorial to those who have died, said Betty Robinson, an employee at the temple.

The service, open to all members of the community, usually draws about 1,000, Robinson said.

Because the temple can’t fit that large a crowd, it will hold the Yizkor service at Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1600 E. Hillcrest Drive, from 2:30 to 5 p.m.

Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks will have a Yom Kippur service from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today, a discussion with teen-agers from 1:30 to 4:15 p.m. and the Yizkor service from 4:15 until 7:30 p.m.

Temple Beth Torah in Ventura will hold a Yom Kippur service from 10 a.m. until about noon today and the Yizkor service from 3 to 6 p.m.

The temple will also have a children’s service from 2:15 to 3 p.m.