Newsletter Spring FINAL 1 Jewish, Islamic and near Eastern Jinelc Wustl Form

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Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. This is the time of year when most Jews show up for services, or at least more than usual. In big cities, you sometimes even need tickets. The places get so crowded. To prepare, during the days before the holiday, people make amends, and ask forgiveness from their family and friends. And then the day arrives. We learn: On this day you are to “afflict your soul...and Yom Kippur makes atonement for you and all Jewish people.” So how do you afflict your soul? Famously, by fasting from food and drink. There are other prohibitions, too - no bathing, perfume, sex or wearing leather. That’s a lot of stuff you can’t do. Fasting and praying, though, are not enough as Yom Kippur demands that Jews also commit to changing their behavior. As it says in the haftarah reading from the prophet Isaiah: “An empty fast is not sufficient. This is the fast I desire: To share your bread with the hungry, to take care of the poor, to cl