WORLD : Israelis Brace for Yom Kippur
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JERUSALEM — Israeli forces went on increased alert today as the country started to close down for Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day.
Motor traffic, radio and television broadcasts and all work will cease for 25 hours starting tonight, and the rare motorist who ventures onto the roads risks being stoned.
Rabbis repeated an annual appeal to Jews not to harm ambulances or security forces traveling on the sacred day.
Israel is haunted by a 1973 surprise attack by Arab armies on Yom Kippur as the Jews fasted and prayed. Nearly 2,700 Israeli soldiers died in the war, and the armed forces have since gone on alert every year, a military spokesman said.
Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, is the most solemn day in the Hebrew calendar. Many otherwise secular Jews fast from sunset Friday until an hour after sunset Saturday.
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