Yom Kippur In NYC: Everything You Need To Know

NEW YORK CITY — The city's more than 1 million Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur from sunset Wednesday until the same time Thursday, a high holiday of atonement marked by fasting and reflection.

The holiday is considered the most important in the Jewish faith.

Synagogues and Jewish groups across the city will host services Wednesday evening to mark the start of Yom Kippur, many offering remote options and safety precautions to accommodate for COVID-19. The holiday is a time to atone for sins committed in the past year and involves prayer, fasting and reading scripture.

Alternate side parking rules are suspended Thursday in observance of the holiday.

Many organizations hold "break fast" meals to celebrate the end of Yom Kippur. The day's final prayer service, called the Neilah, is usually closed by blowing a shofar, or ram's horn.

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Yom Kippur comes between two other major Jewish holidays — Rosh Hashanah, the start of the new year on the Hebrew calendar, which ran from Sept. 6-8; and Sukkot, a weeklong celebration recalling the Israelites' journey through the desert, which starts on Sept. 20.

The New York Jewish Week has compiled a list of services being held in the city.