Time to reflect

Deirdre Newman

Today is Yom Kippur, a day when Jews around the world look back at the

past year, repent for their sins and set their moral compass for the

upcoming year.

“It’s the most solemn time, and the time we feel when God is most

accessible to our prayers, our entreaties, our resolutions,” said Rabbi

Mark Miller of Newport Beach’s Temple Bat Yahm. “It’s a very propitious

time for increased spirituality.”

Yom Kippur started Wednesday at sundown and will end tonight at

sundown. Jews are expected to fast for the entire 24-hour period as a

means of drawing attention away from the physical body and redirecting it

toward the spiritual.

In light of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Miller said this year’s

Yom Kippur services will focus on the dichotomy between feeling helpless

in the face of evil and practicing kindness toward others.

“On the one hand, we are feeling our sense of impotence in the face of

the catastrophic devastation in New York; but on the other hand, events

such as that should empower and embolden us and spur us on to intensify

our particular acts that elevate, rather than destroy,” Miller said.

Yom Kippur follows by a week Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. While

the new year evokes a feeling of joy and celebration, the attention on

Yom Kippur is on somber introspection.

Services will take place throughout the day at synagogues throughout

Orange County. At Bat Yahm, visitors will notice additional visible

security and also some measures that are not visible, Miller said.

As part of Yom Kippur, the temple will also hold a lengthy memorial

service for members of the congregation and community to express their

grief and mourning for loved ones who have died this year and in years

past.

“We’ll also be taking the thousands who died on Sept. 11 into our

hearts and thoughts, also the people who have been made orphans and

widows,” Miller said.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .