dimrub
Über Member
Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is a holy day in the Jewish calendar, but is not a holiday. There is nothing celebratory about it. It is rather a day of prayer, reflection and atonement for one's sins. Religious Jews fast on this day, and in Israel and elsewhere, many non-believers join them in fasting, if not in prayer.
In Israel, all of the businesses are closed, all but essential services shut down, and the roads are empty. So what do the non-believers do, if they don't choose to fast? They ride bicycles!
Not just bicycles, of course: with the roads and the highways free of all but infrequent emergency traffic, people bike, rollerblade, skateboard and just walk from city to city, and one frequently sees groups of kids just hanging out on a road.
Me and my kids as well. We started back in 2013, when they were 5 and 8, and we rode all the way to the sea, a respectable 20 km roundtrip.
Next year, it was Shefayim, a commercial center a bit further South, and the distance was now 30 km:
And so it was, me, my kids, and a bunch of their friends, with their parents trusting me to bring their precious back unhurt and, if possible, not overly taxed. Gradually though, as the distance grew, the number of participants dropped down, until it was just me, Daniel my eldest, and one friend.
Yes, the kid has grown a bit.
This time we rode to Caesarea on the sea, a round trip of 56 km, and the background was supplied by the "Lights of Rabin", the largest power plant in Israel.
I already know what our next destination is likely to be - the Atlit beach most likely, within the view of Haifa.
In Israel, all of the businesses are closed, all but essential services shut down, and the roads are empty. So what do the non-believers do, if they don't choose to fast? They ride bicycles!
Not just bicycles, of course: with the roads and the highways free of all but infrequent emergency traffic, people bike, rollerblade, skateboard and just walk from city to city, and one frequently sees groups of kids just hanging out on a road.
Me and my kids as well. We started back in 2013, when they were 5 and 8, and we rode all the way to the sea, a respectable 20 km roundtrip.
Next year, it was Shefayim, a commercial center a bit further South, and the distance was now 30 km:
And so it was, me, my kids, and a bunch of their friends, with their parents trusting me to bring their precious back unhurt and, if possible, not overly taxed. Gradually though, as the distance grew, the number of participants dropped down, until it was just me, Daniel my eldest, and one friend.
Yes, the kid has grown a bit.
This time we rode to Caesarea on the sea, a round trip of 56 km, and the background was supplied by the "Lights of Rabin", the largest power plant in Israel.
I already know what our next destination is likely to be - the Atlit beach most likely, within the view of Haifa.