For practicing Jews of any sect, living anywhere in the world, Yom Kippur is a day of fasting and prayer. Many of us have tried fasting or have had to fast for health reasons. Fasting makes the day long and difficult. No breaks for buying, fixing, eating or cleaning up food makes us keenly aware of the extra time we have on your hands... to think. On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, all Jews kneel once in the service. In services through the year, Jews may stand for long hours, rocking and bowing at the waist, but kneeling is reserved for the High Holy Days. It's the day the congregation chants aloud together all that they may have done personally to offend God. "For the wrong we did before you for... " a long list of possible offenses including betrayal, violence wickedness and abominations, among many more. It is the longest standing prayer of the year. Personally, I am always equipped with ample kleenex for this gathering. Why go to synagogue and put oneself through this ordeal? Why climb a mountain? It is unlike any other day of the year, a challenge that I have rarely missed. My parents did it and their parents. I feel more connected to them and more virtuous in myself. It's a great feeling to break your fast after sunset with loved ones. My Jewish heritage is Central European on one side and Russian Jews on the other, so for the "break fast" that happens after sunset on Yom Kippur, we always ate both German and Russian dishes –beet borscht with a boiled potato and sour cream, cheese blintzes with blueberry topping and of course, a braided challah. Yum!