Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Tuesday and continues until Wednesday evening.
Traditionally, Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, Tishrei. Rosh Hashanah, which happened on the first day of the month, marked the new year and the first day of the High Holy Days, which end on Wednesday night with the conclusion of Yom Kippur.
The day marks one of the largest attendance days at synagogues, and is spent fasting and praying. Prayers include confessions of sins and requesting forgiveness for any wrongs done.
Some schools and offices across the country will be closed in observance.
Read more: The Playground Theory of Morality
Finding Faith and Beauty in the Lives of Orthodox Jewish Women
A mother and her two daughthers buys flowers before the beginning of Shabbat on Kingston Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Oct. 2010.
Federica Valabrega
A crowded street on a Friday evening. Women rush home before the beginning of Shabbat. Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Oct. 2010.
Federica Valabrega
Nuchie Zirkind and her daughter, Mushka, are lighting candles to welcome the angels of Shabbat into their house before the festivities begin. Crown Heights, Brooklyn, 2010.
Federica Valabrega
A young lady prays right before havdala, the ending cerimony of Shabbat, which welcomes back the new week in a synagogue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. June 2013.
Federica Valabrega
A woman brushes her wig before a wedding celebration. Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Feb. 2013.
Federica Valabrega
It is said that during holy matrimony, the Shkhina or the spiritual force of God comes down under the Kuppa, the nuptial tent, and sits under the veil between the Kallah, wife, and the Katan, husband, infusing its energy between them. So, when husband and wife emerge from the nuptial ceremony, if they want to maintain their holiness, they place a covering of some sort on their heads. Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Feb. 2013.
Federica Valabrega
Chaya Adelstein is 20 years old; she is the second daughter among five siblings. Today is her big day. Chaya’s story is an unusual one: Her parents were not originally religious; they were hippies, who, later in life, decided to “come back to religion.” Brooklyn, New York, Oct. 2010.
Federica Valabrega
Orthodox women cover their heads after marriage. Crown Heights, Brooklyn, July 2010.
Federica Valabrega
Ayallah Greenberg is from Brooklyn, but she lives and works in Jerusalem, Israel where she helps women of her religious communities to deal with domestic abuse. Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Oct. 2010.
Federica Valabrega
During Purim, the Jewish carnival, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, April 2013.
Federica Valabrega
Women pray aroud the holy grave of the Lubavitch Rebbe Menechem Shneerson in Queens, New York. July 2011.
Federica Valabrega
A young woman dresses up like an angle for Purim, the Jewish Carnival in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Feb. 2013.
Federica Valabrega
The henna is a pre-nuptial ceremony celebrated in Moroccan or Yemenite families where the soon-to-be bride is dressed-up as a Queen with flowers and jewels and she is inivited to dance with her girl friends to say good-bye to celibacy and life as a single young girl. Meah Shearim, Jerusalem, July 2012.
Federica Valabrega
Little kids play outside their homes in the Jewish neighborhood of Hara Kbira in the Tunisian island of Djerba. Sept. 2013.
Federica Valabrega
“As long as you are in this world, your soul accompanies the drama of your life, yet its whole journey is to rewrite your story amid that drama until you remember who you truly are. You may not know it now, but your journey in life is to look for your Bat Melech, when you do, you connect to a bigger story,” Tamar Kimche, Bet Meir, Israel, June 2012.
Federica Valabrega
Mayan is a conservative, Zionist Jew, who lives in a portable home in the mountains outside of Jerusalem, on land considered by many as occupied territory. But her children attend a co-ed school for Jews and Arabs in this territory. Tekoa, Israel, June 2012.
Federica Valabrega
Mayan at her family's portable home in the mountains outside of Jerusalem, on land considered by many as occupied territory. Tekoa, Israel, June 2012.
Federica Valabrega
Two sisters bathe in the Dead sea or what they like to call "their natural mikve," a purifing pool. Dead Sea, Israel, June 2012.
Federica Valabrega
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