Yom Kippur Marked With Holocaust Remembrances

With the setting sun Wednesday came the start of the most holy day of the Jewish religious calendar, a time for introspection and self-scrutiny for thousands of Jews in Orange County.

Rabbis throughout the county marked the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, with services addressing such issues as spirituality and remembrance of the Holocaust, which ended in 1945 with the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Yom Kippur, in which observant Jews fast, refrain from work and fill most hours with prayer, continues until sundown tonight. The high holy day--culmination of a 10-day period of repentance that began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year--is a time of reconciliation with neighbors and God in which Jews ask God to inscribe them in his “Book of Life” for the coming year.

“The Torah itself calls this the Sabbath of Sabbath and marks it as a time of reconnection with God, of forgiveness by God,” said Rabbi Elie Spitz, the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin, which rented space at South Coast Community Church for more than 1,000 expected worshipers. “It’s the time that we come together each year as a community to examine ourselves, to determine in which ways we might strive for wholeness and to reconcile with each other and with God.”

Rabbi Spitz said he would focus on the Holocaust during services Wednesday night. His mother, a Holocaust survivor, was in the audience for services Wednesday night.

“Fifty years ago today she was in Auschwitz,” he said. “The thrust of my remarks will be how to transcend the pain.”

In perhaps the largest service in the county Wednesday night, Rabbi Mark S. Miller of Temple Bat Yahm also spoke about the Holocaust victims before an estimated 1,300 people.

“The true test of memory is to rededicate yourself to life, and we must remember not only their deaths, but the lives of the 6 million, not only how they fell, but what they stood for,” he said.

Yom Kippur services traditionally draw more people than any other holy day in the year, and this year was not expected to be any different, with some congregations renting extra space.

More than 120 people were expected to celebrate the start of Yom Kippur in a hotel conference room rented by Chabad of Laguna. Rabbi Eli Goorevitch said he would focus on the central themes of Yom Kippur, including reminders that one must not “forget the individuals, the community, the importance of helping one and another.”

The congregation also prayed for a prosperous new year, one they expect will include a new temple in Laguna Beach.

Rabbi Joel Landau of Beth Jacob Congregation Irvine emphasized the changes over the last 100 years in ways the Jewish world is perceived by the non-Jewish world, urging his congregation to commit themselves to Jewish education.

“They should learn, they should understand the legacy that has been bequeathed to them,” said Landau.

Rabbi David Eliezrie, leader of North County Chabad in Yorba Linda, planned to speak solely on the spiritual issues of Yom Kippur, what he described as the “the central concepts of repentance and our efforts for one day of the year to disconnect with the physical and bond with the spiritual.”

During services, men and women traditionally wear white, symbolizing the spirituality of angels, he said. The end of the holy day will be marked by the blowing of the shofar, the traditional ram’s horn that rings in joy and positive judgment.

“What we have to try on Yom Kippur is to reach into our souls with a sense of honesty and think for a moment of the things we need to improve, and make those decisions to become better people,” he said.

What the Holiday Means

* Yom Kippur is the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish religious calendar.

* Started at sundown Wednesday and continues through tonight.

* Marks the end of a 10-day period of repentance, which began last week with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

* Observant Jews fast, pray and refrain from work, seeking reconciliation with neighbors and God.

* Yom Kippur laws can be found in the Leviticus and Numbers books of the Bible.

* There are about 70,000 members of the Orange County Jewish community.

Sources: The American Book of Days, World Book Encyclopedia