Post date: Sep 24, 2012 10:3:25 AM
JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 23, 2012) (REUTERS) - Jews across Israel began preparations on Monday (September 24) for the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
On Sunday (September 23), several thousand of Jewish worshippers flocked to Jerusalem's Western Wall to hold a mass "selichot", or "forgiveness" prayer, ahead of Yom Kippur. In Tel Aviv, worshippers gathered nearby a river to conduct "Tashlich", when Jewish believers throw bread into the river to symbolically "cast off" their sins from the previous year.
On Yom Kippur, which begins on Tuesday (October 25) and ends at nightfall on Wednesday (October 26), Jews traditionally fast for a 25-hour period, often spending most of the day praying in synagogue.
On Monday Jews in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods held rituals traditionally carried out a day before Yom Kippur. The custom of "Kapparot" sees men swinging live chickens over one's head to symbolically transfer any sins from the previous year to the chicken. The chicken is then slaughtered and donated to the poor.
Jews across Israel conduct rituals and mass prayers ahead of the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.