
Israel Comes to Halt for Solemn Day of Yom Kippur
Voice of America
JERUSALEM - Israeli life came to a standstill Wednesday as Jews marked the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the most solemn point on their calendar, at sundown.
Stores, businesses, public transportation and broadcasting shuts down in Israel for this high holiday, on which the observant fast from sundown on Wednesday until after sunset on Thursday and spend the day in prayer and repentance.
For many secular Israeli Jews, it's a day of quiet reflection and introspection spent with family. Streets and highways normally dominated by traffic empty and turn into bicycle-filled thoroughfares.
The Israeli police said in a statement that they have deployed additional forces around Jerusalem, with particular focus on the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, ahead of the holiday.

Local officials and navy personnel attend a joint Iranian, Russian and Chinese military drill in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12, 2025. (Iranian Army Office via AFP) Chinese navy troops attending a joint naval drill with Iran and Russia stand on the deck of their warship in an official arrival ceremony at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 11, 2025.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he arrives for Mauritius' 57th National Day celebrations at the Champ De Mars, Port Louis, Mauritius, March 12, 2025. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and his Mauritius counterpart Navin Ramgoolam pay homage after laying a wreath at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden during his State visit, in Pamplemousses, Mauritius, March 11, 2025. FILE - Sailors walk on the deck of the INS Imphal, a stealth guided-missile destroyer, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Dec. 22, 2023.

Police officers guard the Palace of the Republic after Bosnian prosecutors ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, March 12, 2025. FILE - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Dec. 29, 2023.