Many Protestant churches will play “Kol Nidre” on their chimes as an expression of friendship and fellowship to the Jews who usher in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, at sundown tonight. This unusual gesture of brotherhood and goodwill was recommended by the Protestant Council of the City of New York.
In the synagogues during the sacred services tomorrow, Jews all over the country will be urged to help the United Jewish Appeal. These pleas will be made in more than 500 synagogues and temples in New York and in close to 5,000 others throughout the United States. Appeals will also be made in about 500 synagogues in various parts of the country on behalf of the Israel Bond Organization.
The Synagogue Council of America, representing the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbinical and lay bodies, issued a call to American Jews “to donate the food saved by fasting on Yom Kippur day, either in actual food packages or in dollars earmarked for conversion into food, to the millions of our perennially fasting brothers and sisters across the globe.”
A Yom Kippur statement issued by the Central Conference of American Rabbis said that the Day of Atonement calls for contrition and repentance. “In Judaism,” it said, “there is no true repentance if it does not lead to the good deed. Repentance implies a turning from and a turning toward. Our world today needs a turning from evil and a turning toward the deeds of justice and righteousness which alone can resolve the tensions of our times and which are the basic requirements for security and peace.”
Another custom of ancient Israel was revived here today when President Ben Zvi received a party of 52 Jerusalem rabbis, ranging from Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to spiritual leaders of the ultra-Orthodox congregations. In the ancient days it was a custom for the King of Israel to receive the priests during the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The first Reform synagogue, opened in Acre this week, was preparing today to observe Yom Kippur. Most of the members of the congregation are Bulgarian Jews.
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