Yom Kippur

Just hours before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Michael Hornum will immerse in a mikvah, or ritual bath. He will later don a white cotton robe called a kittel over his Sabbath clothing to wear during services at the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education in Columbia. While the mikvah spiritually cleanses the body from sin, Hornum said, the kittel represents a quest for spiritual purity. It also symbolizes the burial shroud, a stark reminder that life and death are in God's hands and decided on this day. "I see [the rituals]

Evening service at Kol Ami to open High Holiday season The Kol Ami Congregation of Annapolis will welcome the High Holiday season with an evening service for Rosh Hashana at 7 p.m. Sept. 26. Services for the first day of Rosh Hashana will be held Sept. 27. Yom Kippur Kol Nidre, or evening service, will be held Oct. 5, with a Yom Kippur service the next day. Children's services will be held on both holidays. Baby-sitting for children younger than 11 will be available on a limited basis.

The Anne Arundel County school system is considering making Yom Kippur a school holiday in response to parent and staff requests, officials said yesterday. Attendance data showing the number of students who take the day off for religious reasons also were a factor considered by officials who presented a tentative calendar for the next academic year. "Although our numbers are still low, they are growing," said Georgiana Maszczenski, an administrator in charge of designing the calendar.

The Anne Arundel County school system is considering making Yom Kippur a school holiday in response to parent and staff requests, officials said yesterday. Attendance data showing the number of students who take the day off for religious reasons also was a factor considered by officials who presented a tentative calendar for the next academic year. "Although our numbers are still low, they are growing," said Georgiana Maszczenski, an administrator in charge of designing the calendar. Baltimore and Howard County schools have observed Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, both Jewish holidays, for years.

The Anne Arundel County school system is considering making Yom Kippur a school holiday in response to parent and staff requests, officials said yesterday. Attendance data showing the number of students who take the day off for religious reasons also was a factor considered by officials who presented a tentative calendar for the next academic year. "Although our numbers are still low, they are growing," said Georgiana Maszczenski, an administrator in charge of designing the calendar. Baltimore and Howard County schools have observed Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, both Jewish holidays, for years.

With its solemn theme of atonement for sin, Yom Kippur, which begins today at sundown, can be a daunting holiday, particularly for children. "It's probably the least child-friendly holiday," acknowledges Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, director of Jewish Education at the Jewish Community Center. But rabbis and educators say the lessons of Yom Kippur, which include forgiveness, starting over and personal responsibility - conveyed in stories such as Jonah and the Whale, a major part of tomorrow afternoon's liturgy - resonate with all ages.

A person can get hungry waiting around for God's judgment. It's much the point on Yom Kippur, which makes the most solemn day in Jewish life something of an anomaly. There's the worship and the gathering of family and friends, but the center of it is empty of holiday abundance. No brisket, no turkey, chicken, noodle puddings, smoked white fish, bagels or challah. In the way of food, the Day of Atonement offers bupkes. Which is not to say that food does not loom large on Yom Kippur; it only does so in absentia.

OUTSIDE THE Beth Am Synagogue, 2501 Eutaw Place, four uniformed city police officers offered a comforting presence across an anxious weekend. On Sunday morning, one of them pointed to two large signs that stood like sentries for all those arriving to mark Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Here are the things, the signs declared, that cannot be brought into the synagogue this year: Packages. Large pocketbooks. Diaper bags. Strollers. Once associated purely with childhood innocence, diaper bags and strollers are now seen as potential transporters of doom.

Solemn traditional prayers and those born of urgent modern sorrows marked the High Holy Days for Howard County's Jewish community. Observances began the evening of Sept. 17 with Rosh Hashana - the new year, 5762, in the Jewish calendar. The season ended yesterday with Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur "is the observance that draws to the conclusion the 10 days of repentance that stretch from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur," said Rabbi Mark Panoff of Temple Isaiah Congregation in Columbia.