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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Babette Josephs |
  
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Josephs explains meaning of Yom Kippur and reason for early House session
HARRISBURG, Oct. 8 – As the session of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives got under way early this morning, state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., took a moment during a lull in the legislative action to educate many of her House colleagues and the public on why it was important for the day's session to start and finish early.
"As most of you know, Jewish holidays start in the evening at sundown and end at sundown the next day. For us, Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown today, is the most important day in the liturgical calendar. One-half hour before sundown is the time many of us begin our fast in which we take no food or water until sundown tomorrow. Therefore, it important that we get home to relax, reflect and enjoy our families and eat a meal before the fast begins. It is very hard to explain how important it is to those who do not mark Yom Kippur," Josephs said. "It is Good Friday, Christmas and Easter all in one and more."
Josephs went on to explain that fasting and refraining from other activities are important in the process of the repenting and atoning that takes place on Yom Kippur, and that in Israel, the airport closes, no one drives, no TV or radio stations broadcast, and all businesses are closed on this day.
She ended her remarks with a blessing that her grandfather used to say on Yom Kippur:
"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord maketh his light shine upon you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace. Amen and Shalom."
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