Rehovots' Yom Kippur: Mourning Day or a Day of Fun?

by Erin Israel, Rehovot.blogspot.com

"During the twenty-five hour fast of Yom Kippur, the country ceases to function: radio and television stations stop broadcasting, the airport shuts down, and nearly every vehicle sits motionless. A day without the incessant blaring of car horns!

It's far more quiet than Christmas morning in the U.S. But only for a few seconds.

Because traffic of any sort stops (except for ambulances), kids take to the street in screaming hordes with bikes, rollerblades, and lungpower.

"It's just one night," J. said, when I complained.

"But I thought it was a day of mourning," I said. (After wishing a friend "Happy Holidays!", I was informed that, while the others this month are joyous, this one was not.) "Why aren't these kids fasting and atoning?"

My husband looked at me incredulously. "They're just kids!"

"Well, when my brother and I were kids, we couldn't just run around the neighborhood screaming," I said pompously.

"But this is Israel," J. reminded me. "Parents let their kids do anything."

(This, on the surface, appears to be true: Israeli parents happily report that the country is so safe, their children can walk around town at night with no problem whatsoever.

I, however, prefer not to see eleven-year-olds strolling down the street at midnight in packs, trying to look twenty-five. It may be possible to do this safely, but why would you choose to let your child do this?)

Now, however, an hour after sunset, everyone appears to have been whisked inside for the breaking-the-fast feast, and it really is blissfully silent."

Source: Erin Israel. "Al yadh ha-ram-ZOHR." "At the traffic light." Rehovot.Blogspot.com (13 October 2005) [FullText]