Capturing an Opportunity: Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur, also know as, Day of Atonement is the holist day in Judaism. On October 11th, Yom Kippur hit during my time in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Was it nothing short of amazing. Traditionally the 25 hour holiday is meant to be spent fasting and cycling through different synagogue services but Tel-Aviv tells a different story with it's forward thinking atmosphere and culture. The city, with towering sky scrappers and eclectic suburbs, COMPLETELY shuts down. Amir, a worker at the hostel I stayed at in Tel-Aviv and practicing Jew, filled me on what to expect prior to the coming holiday. En-off by Started Using the words post-apocalyptic to Describe the scene on the streets from the exact moment it starts at sunset of the 11th. Until nightfall of the next day this obscure look stands true with little to no cars driving around (if there were any cars they were mostly Policeman).

Amir continued on about the holiday saying a fairly new tradition is families regardless of religion in Tel-Aviv will take to streets with their bikes, scooters and roller blades and roam freely. If you owned a bike in Tel-Aviv on the 12th of last week you were riding it somewhere in the streets without a care in the world. I unfortunately did not plan ahead in time so there was no bike riding for me but I still felt the joyous nature behind an empty city to walk wherever and whenever I wanted.

As I walked around that beautiful sunny day I did pass through some strictly Jewish quarters that stuck to tradition. One of house in particular held a clergy of old men in Yom Kippur attire. The attire that is suppose to be worn, by men and women, is white clothing from head to toe all of which they wore. The amount of money I would give to be a fly on the wall in that room on that special day is far too much. I could hear their brash hebrew words leave their mouths through a open window. Even without knowing any hebrew at all that experience would be special to be apart of.

Amir gave a layman's terms analogy that Yom Kippur is similar to how some Christians still celebrate Christmas. From an initial phycological standpoint I get it. It was nearly impossible to find someone in Tel-Aviv that day without a smile on their face. I think back to Christmas at my parents house and completely see that same thing but within the confines of our family house. Everyone is all smiles! He used that thinking just to give people, like myself, a idea of its importance but I think the Jewish community take it up a few levels in regards to keeping unity within the family or loved ones. For criminy sakes all public transportation in Israel is shut down for the 25 hour period, including the International Airport (Ben Gurion)! No flights in, no flights out.

I feel blessed to have been in Israel for such an important time for the people, even if I did not know of the holiday until two weeks prior. As always I have some photos for proof. Check out the carless streets and smiling faces.