Thousands of IDF Soldiers Flock to Jerusalem Ahead of Yom Kippur

Stand for Israel  |  September 13, 2021

As the Jewish people observe the ten “Days of Awe,” a time of introspection during the High Holy Days, the Jewish state’s brave guardians have looked inward by the thousands. The Times of Israel’s Judah Ari Gross reports on the tens of thousands of IDF soldiers who have flocked to the Holy City of Jerusalem ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement:

Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers have passed through Jerusalem and its Old City, sometimes during the day, but mostly at night, as part of an annual ritual ahead of Yom Kippur on Thursday…

For the Israel Defense Forces, these tours — mostly through Jerusalem, but also Safed and other cities — are not explicitly religious in nature, with even predominantly non-Jewish units taking part in them, but are instead meant to encourage contemplation and soul-searching, Lt. Col. Nadav Danino, the head of the Education Corps’ Jewish Awareness and Identity Division, told The Times of Israel last week.

“This is time for unit-wide introspection. This isn’t a debriefing that you do after an incident or an investigation after an exercise. This is time where we’re using the Hebrew calendar, this time between the Hebrew month of Elul and the month of Tishrei, a time of introspection,” Danino said…