Past a table of candles, about 200 attendees gathered Tuesday evening in preparation for a day of fasting and atonement.
In observance of the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur, they nearly filled the Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center to pray and speak about the importance of renewing their faith.
From sunset Tuesday to sunset Wednesday, they and other observers of the holiday will abstain from food, drink and other luxuries.
For Rabbi Berl Goldman, the fasting is both happy and solemn, serving as a way to become as spiritually close to God as one can get by praying and confessing sins from the past year.
“It’s an opportune time for blessings and forgiveness,” he said. “We encourage everyone to take this time to pray for themselves, their family and the whole world.”
About 30 minutes into the prayer service, a tray of candles melted and caught the flowers above it on fire.
But even the fire couldn’t deter the observers. Within a few minutes — once the fire was put out — the crowd came back, and the prayers continued.
Today, until sunset, the center will host five distinct prayer services exclusive to the holiday. The themes of the prayers will include forgiveness, atonement and oneness with God, Goldman said.
Today, to celebrate the end of the fast, the center will host a dinner featuring the blowing of a shofar, an instrument made from a hollowed-out ram’s horn that produces a low, buzzing noise.
Sitting in the back of the room, 20-year-old Matthew Zagoory said he hasn’t participated in Yom Kippur in 10 years. After working at a Hebrew camp this summer, the Santa Fe College history sophomore said he felt the need to reconnect with the religion he was raised with.
To him, the holiday is about more than feeling closer to God. It’s also about asking others for forgiveness, which he said was the hardest part — apart from going hungry.
“Things will never be the way that they were before,” he said. “But it’s important to show face and say what you did and hope they accept the apology.”
Before Tuesday’s gathering, the members of the congregation held a candlelit vigil to pray for those killed in Haiti and the Bahamas by Hurricane Matthew, which left a death toll of about 1,700, according to Reuters.
As about 20 candles burned, Goldman said this year’s observance comes at a challenging time for the world.
“We have uncertainty around the world. We have terrorism and other dangers, so everyone is always concerned,” he said. “So Yom Kippur is a good time for blessings and forgiveness.”
