Yom Kippur

So, tonight at sundown, Yom Kippur begins. The holiest of Jewish holidays. And, wouldn't you know, at the very hour when the observant among us are supposed to be in shul, praying, fasting, gazing inward, asking for forgiveness, and drawing closer to God, the Phillies will be in Citizens Bank Park, playing the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. Oy. For religious Jews who are also Phillies fans, no words can describe this unfortunate misalignment of the universe.

The members of Congregation Rodeph Shalom will come to the synagogue today with empty stomachs and bags full of groceries. In the middle of the traditional Yom Kippur fast that began at sundown yesterday and ends at sundown today, the congregants will leave the groceries outside, to be collected by the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank and St. John's Hospice for Men. Then the congregants will go inside for Yom Kippur services. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn day in the Jewish year and is marked by fasting, prayer and introspection.

Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, begins at sunset today. Also known as the Day of Atonement, the day is marked with prayers and fasting. It also brings to an end the 10-day period known as the High Holy Days, or the Days of Awe, which began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The harvest-related festival of Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur.  

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Shawn Green does not want to discuss whether he'll play next weekend in two key games against the Giants on Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar. Los Angeles leads San Francisco by 2 1/2 games in the NL West with 13 games left. The Giants have 12 to play. Yom Kippur starts at sunset Friday, and the three-game series at San Francisco starts that night. Saturday's game was given a 1:05 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time start because it will be televised by Fox, and the Jewish Day of Atonement does not end until sunset that night.

The Israeli Olympic team has given up its best chance for a medal because athletes and officials refuse to compete on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the team's coach said yesterday. The five-member fencing team - including Udi Karmi, who finished fourth in the floret in last year's world championships - are not at the Olympics because they would have been required to compete on Sept. 21, said Itzchak Benmelech, the Israeli head coach. "They are very disappointed," Benmelech said.

If you thought serving a Thanksgiving dinner was difficult, imagine going without food or water for 24 hours - then having to feed a whole crowd of people who are just as hungry. That's the plight of the Yom Kippur host, who must go home from the synagogue and serve a groaning board of food. Planning a menu that can be on the table in 20 minutes is the trick. The secret is to mix store-bought foods with some that are made ahead of time. Yom Kippur (which begins at sundown Friday this year)

The best hope Israel had for an Olympic medal was Udi Karmi, the fourth- place finisher in the fencing world championships last year. But he is at home, not in Seoul. The Israeli's next best hope, boxer Yehuda Ben-Haim, came to Seoul but was eliminated last night when he failed to appear for his 106-pound bout. It's because of the conflict between the Olympics and Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The Israelis brought 19 athletes to the Games, hoping that arrangements could be made to either postpone or advance their dates of competition around Yom Kippur, which is observed from sundown Wednesday to sundown Thursday in Seoul.

Do we come before God only in our own name? What about all those who remain outside, those who are found in a spiritual wasteland, without any way to approach or relate to the holy? Even when we do pray for them, is our prayer free of smugness? Do we really accept that we could just as easily have been in their shoes? . . . May it be His Will that we, as a community and as individuals, merit to perform a personal accounting of our souls, and that the Merciful One will accept graciously our repentance and our prayer.

Yom Kippur, which arrives at sundown today, is the holiest day of the Jewish year. Most people understand that the solemn Day of Atonement is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection and inner purification. But Rabbi Eliyahu Bergstein, an Orthodox Hasidic teacher, says the day contains "deeper mysteries" and opportunities than many Jews might appreciate. In a Yom Kippur warm-up talk here Thursday, the New York-based rabbi took listeners on a mystical soul trip that is the Hasidic tradition's specialty.

Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, begins at sunset today. Also known as the Day of Atonement, the day is marked with prayers and fasting. It also brings to an end the 10-day period known as the High Holy Days, or the Days of Awe, which began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The harvest-related festival of Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur.  

Among the greatest prayers of Judaism is the   Amidah   , a recitation of 19 blessings that devout Jews say three times a day. Jews all over the world will recite the   Amidah   Tuesday night and Wednesday as they mark Yom Kippur, the solemn day of atonement when God is said to decide who will live or die in the coming year. Many will bow deeply as they face Jerusalem. But as members and friends of Mishkan Shalom Synagogue in Manayunk gather Wednesday for this holiest of days, hundreds will recite the Amidah not by bowing, but lying still, on their backs, in the yoga position known as "the Corpse.

Yom Kippur, which arrives Tuesday evening, is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar: a time when Jews are said to be "closest to God and the quintessence of their own souls," and ask the Almighty for forgiveness and another year of life. For some, though, the great "Who Am" - the divine being who called to Moses from the burning bush, and resides at the heart of Jewish belief and practice - is problematic. "We don't believe in God," explained Glen Loev, 56, of Bryn Mawr. Raised a Conservative Jew, the retired dentist no longer considers himself religious.

The world recently passed one significant date, and it's headed for another. No, I don't mean Yom Kippur or Thanksgiving. Sept. 27 was Earth Overshoot Day, designated by the Global Footprint Network as the time when the planet's humans surpassed "nature's budget" for the year. Since then, we've been exceeding the resources the Earth can generate, says the network, a nonprofit research group based in California. At the rate we're going, we need as much as 1.5 Earths to sustain us, the group says.

HANK WILLIAMS JR. is not leaving "Monday Night Football" without a few sacks of his own, releasing a song on iTunes that tells his side of the brouhaha called "I'll Keep My . . . " It includes the lyrics "So 'Fox 'n' Friends' wanna put me down / Ask for my opinion / Twist it all around / Well two can play that gotcha game, you'll see. " Williams was fired last week from his role singing the eardrum-burstingly bad theme song for ESPN's Monday...

Aaron Shatzman, dean of social sciences at Montgomery County Community College, is 65 years old and exudes the energy and enthusiasm of an undergraduate. True academic that he is, he wears bow ties - "a gentleman needs to know how to tie a bow tie," he asserts - a sartorial trademark that he adopted from his mentor, David Potter, a distinguished professor of U.S. history at Stanford University, where Shatzman earned his doctorate. Shatzman is proud of many things. He is proud of the spacious campus in Blue Bell and the modern buildings and facilities.

An article Friday about baseball fans and Yom Kippur misspelled Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt's name. A chart with Thursday's article about the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan war transposed the numbers of U.S. troops wounded in that war and in Iraq. Through July, 32,159 troops were wounded in the Iraq war and 13,011 in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties.org. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357)

DEAR ABBY: I have worked as a nanny for many years for a divorced professional woman. She has a son and a daughter. The son, now 15, is smoking pot. I told his mom, but she's ignoring the problem. She said: "He's just experimenting. I want him to get it out of his system before he enters college. " I love this child, and I feel helpless. He knows better. The boy used to be very honest, but that's no longer the case. How can I help him when his mother isn't making an effort? - Nanny Who Cares in Texas DEAR NANNY: Your employer seems to be clueless.

So, tonight at sundown, Yom Kippur begins. The holiest of Jewish holidays. And, wouldn't you know, at the very hour when the observant among us are supposed to be in shul, praying, fasting, gazing inward, asking for forgiveness, and drawing closer to God, the Phillies will be in Citizens Bank Park, playing the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. Oy. For religious Jews who are also Phillies fans, no words can describe this unfortunate misalignment of the universe.

AT GAME ONE of the National League Division Series, Broad Street Billy hung out on the rooftop of Citizens Bank Park with "Doc's Patients" - Phillies die-hards in matching hospital gowns who have seen almost every Roy Halladay start since July 5, 2010. They'll be at the park for tonight's do-or-die Game 5, knocking back Bud Lites, eyeing the ladies and, after each Doc strikeout, miming defibrillator resuscitations on each other's chests, then shouting, "1-2-3 Clear!" While the core Doc's Patients - Mike Jaffe of Wynnewood, Matt Leddy of Havertown, Ryan Christianson of Roxborough, Joe Bruno of Bala Cynwyd and Nick Mayo of Broomall - hung on Halladay's every pitch last Saturday, Leddy's college pal Tim Patz eyed roving Phillies-fan photographer Carina Groskopa of West Chester, and told Billy, "Girls love me. " "No," Leddy said.