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
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- How to Help Victims of the Texas School Shooting
- TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2022
- What the Buffalo Tragedy Has to Do With the Effort to Overturn Roe
- Column: The U.S. Failed Miserably on COVID-19. Canada Shows It Didn't Have to Be That Way
- N.Y. Will Soon Require Businesses to Post Salaries in Job Listings. Here's What Happened When Colorado Did It
- The 46 Most Anticipated Movies of Summer 2022
- ‘We Are in a Moment of Reckoning.’ Amanda Nguyen on Taking the Fight for Sexual Violence Survivors to the U.N.
Read More From TIME