JEWS MARK YEAR'S HOLIEST DAY.Byline: Alex Roth and Holly Andres Daily News Staff Writers At temples throughout Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and around the world, millions of Jews are celebrating the holiest of days: Yom Kippur Yom Kippur [Heb.,=day of atonement], in Judaism, the most sacred holy day, falling on the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri (usually late September or early October). It is a day of fasting and prayer for forgiveness for sins committed during the year. , the Day of Atonement Day of Atonement n. See Yom Kippur. [Translation of Hebrew yôm kippûr.] Day of Atonement Noun same as Yom Kippur Noun 1. . The day of fasting and prayer began at sundown Tuesday and will end at sundown today. Prayers for forgiveness of sins and for family and friends to have good health and happiness are at the heart of the holiday. ``We don't have to ask for anything specific because we know God sees all and knows all,'' said accountant Yacov Bornstein, 60, a member of Chabad Temple of North Hollywood. ``There are a lot of sins we believe we commit unknowingly, without mal intent.'' Some rabbis stress the importance of doing good deeds. At Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills, Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs planned to talk about helping others and to emphasize the importance of organ donations Organ donation is the removal of the tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting or grafting them into other persons. . ``One of our young members, a double transplant recipient, is alive today because of organ donations,'' he said. At the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging, where the average age is 90, the holiday held varied significance for residents, depending upon how religious they are. For Syra Cohn, 93, the holiday is a wistful wist·ful adj. 1. Full of wishful yearning. 2. Pensively sad; melancholy. [From obsolete wistly, intently. one because both her husband and her father died on Yom Kippurs past. ``They say good people are taken during the High Holy Days,'' she said, but the holiday still gives her peace. Many residents of the Home for the Aging spent Tuesday listening to Yom Kippur poetry and story readings. Among them was Sabina Opperman, 82, a Holocaust Holocaust (hŏl`əkôst', hō`lə–), name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. survivor who never lost her faith in God, even though the Nazis killed her parents and two of her siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) . ``If I didn't believe in God, I couldn't go on with life,'' she said. Elaine Hoatz, 85, said she finds both emotional and intellectual appeal in the celebration of Yom Kippur. Hoatz likes the idea of starting the Jewish new year with a clean moral slate. ``I like forgiveness, and I could always use it - but nothing specific,'' Hoatz said. ``I have too much to ask for.'' CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Sabina Opperman, 82, says faith kept her going through the Holocaust. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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