Prayers of Hope and Healing : Yom Kippur: On their most sacred day, L.A.’s Jews contemplate Israel’s prospects for peace and the city’s painful tumult.

On a day dedicated to introspection and atonement, this year’s Yom Kippur has additional significance for Jews in Los Angeles as they reflect on a tumultuous year in this city, as well as one of hope in Israel.

“The theme of Yom Kippur is self-scrutiny,” said Harvey J. Fields, rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. “But it is also a reminder that we live in a city that has been literally torn apart and it is each of our responsibilities to aid in its healing.”

Yom Kippur, which began Tuesday evening and continues until sundown tonight, means “Day of Atonement” and is considered the most sacred day of the Jewish year. It is a time when Jews examine their actions and thoughts over the past year, ask forgiveness for their shortcomings and pledge to do better in the coming year, Fields said.

And despite the diversity of the religion, most Jews--whether Orthodox, Conservative or Reform--spend the holiday fasting and praying in synagogues, local rabbis said.

Among many, thoughts will be focused on Israel, where a recent change in leadership has generated optimism that the country will be able to negotiate a peace pact with its Arab neighbors.

Denise Eger, rabbi of a newly formed West Hollywood congregation, said Yom Kippur, loosely translated from Hebrew, means both “repentance” and “turning,” which is a basis for the activism and good works that many Jews take part in during the rest of the year.

“It means action as well as words,” Eger said. “It means you are going to personally do something to make the world a better place. With the riots, for example, it means we have a responsibility to deal with the racism issue and the classism issue--which also means examining our own racism and classism.”

For Ryabina Marina, who emigrated from Moscow nine months ago, the problems in Los Angeles are less important than getting the opportunity to steep her 7-year-old daughter in the Jewish traditions that were, until recently, considered a crime in her homeland.

“Until glasnost , my daughter didn’t know she was Jewish,” Marina said. “Now she goes to Jewish school so she can learn the language, customs and traditions that go along with being a Jew. I dreamed of becoming an American, and now I am realizing my freedoms.”

But for Gideon Embry, a Jew who emigrated from Ethiopia nine years ago, the riot was something he had not seen the likes of, even in his war-torn country.

“We had never seen any kind of this mess,” Embry said Tuesday as he prepared for the evening prayer service. “It makes us very, very sad. We will pray tonight that maybe the system will change and it never happens again.”