My friend Mary and her Israeli husband gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas Day in Israel. They sent out birth announcements telling their friends that Mary and Yosef had had a baby boy on Dec. 25 in Jerusalem. Their American friends thought it was terribly funny. Their Israeli friends didn’t get it. The date meant nothing to them.
Pope Francis will be arriving in Washington, D.C. this month in the late afternoon on Tuesday, Sept. 22 and will be touring the city, making various stops on Sept. 23. If you’re not Jewish, those dates probably will mean nothing to you either. The evening of Sept. 22, is Kol Nidre, the holiest night of the year on the Jewish calendar. Sept. 23 is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Jews fast for 24 hours from sundown on Sept. 22 until sundown on Sept. 23. Most of the day, even for many secular Jews, is spent in the synagogue. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and Repentance. It is a solemn day, not a day of celebration. You do not wish Jews a “happy Yom Kippur.”
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