Yom Kippur, a day of atonement and repentance, is considered the holiest of Jewish holidays. The Day of Atonement is marked by a 25-hour period of fasting, intense reflection and prayers, and involves a number of traditional ceremonies, including the Kaparot, where chickens are waved in the air and later ritually slaughtered.
Israel Observes Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, a day of atonement and repentance, is considered the holiest of Jewish holidays. The Day of Atonement is marked by a 25-hour period of fasting, intense reflection and prayers.
Bernat Armangue — AP
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man swings a chicken, later to be slaughtered as part of the Kaparot ritual, in which it is believed that one transfers one's sins from the past year into the chicken, in Jerusalem's religious Mea Shearim neighborhood, Sept. 23, 2012.
