The Jewish community observes Yom Kippur

TULSA, Okla. — The Jewish community is observing Yom Kippur, the holy holiday of atonement where Jewish people seek forgiveness from others and God.

This year, Yom Kippur begins on Oct. 11 at sun down and ends on Oct. 12 at sunset.

"Many people wear white during the holiday as a way of symbolizing cleanliness," said Dan Kaiman, a rabbi at the Tulsa Synagogue. "It's one of the reasons we don't eat and drink, to imagine for 25 hours that we can put a pause on the limits of what it means to be human and focus inward on ourselves."

The holiday comes with five prohibitions: no eating, no drinking, no wearing leather, no wearing lotions, creams or perfumes, and no engaging in marital relations.

Rabbi Kaiman explained these are things people do almost daily, so removing them from their routine gives Jewish people time to reflect on their wrongdoings throughout the year and ask forgiveness from God and others.

"The holiday is described as one of the days in which we celebrate as a community, but also in which we do the work of looking for forgiveness between each other as human beings, but also between ourselves and God."

While the holiday takes a significant amount of preparation, Kaiman says it makes the holiday even more meaningful.

"It's always nice to be gathered with the community to celebrate our holidays, to see so many different generations of people come together. Actually, I think that's something a synagogue can offer a community. It's an intergenerational space where we come together in the middle."

For the 12 years Kaiman has been a rabbi, he says he's always honored to observe this holiday every year.

"It's a meaningful day to be with my kids, my partner and to be amongst family and also my community. I love being with my community."

The end of the fasting period and holiday is marked by the blowing of a special horn called a shofar.

After Yom Kippur, the next Jewish holiday will be Sukkot, which begins on Wednesday Oct. 16 and will last for a week.

Sukkot represents the forty years the Israelites spent in the wild after being freed from slavery in Egypt.