Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Majority of Jewish Israelis plan to fast on Yom Kippur, according to new poll

While 27.5 percent do not expect to fast, 5 percent of respondents said they will only drink liquids. The rest were undecided.

Thousands of Jews pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Sept. 19, 2018. Photo by Ben Toren/Flash90.
Thousands of Jews pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Sept. 19, 2018. Photo by Ben Toren/Flash90.

A special survey by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in honor of Yom Kippur showed that 60.5 percent of Jewish Israelis plan to fast on the Jewish Day of Atonement.

While 27.5 percent do not expect to fast, 5 percent of respondents said they will only drink liquids. The rest were undecided.

The survey also revealed that 42 percent of Jewish Israelis plan to attend all or some of the holiday services, while 39 percent said they will not attend any of them.

In regards to synagogue attendance, 23 percent of Jewish Israelis said they plan to attend all the services, 19 percent said they will attend only some, and 12 percent said they will go just to hear the blowing of the shofar.

The survey of 501 men and women adults from the age of 18 and above was conducted between Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 via the Internet and telephone. The sampling error is plus or minus 4.1 percent.

“At a time when some would isolate Israeli academia, UCLA has chosen collaboration,” Eveline Shekhman of the American Jewish Medical Association told JNS.
“The juxtaposition of us being at the United Nations, and all those people walking out while literally their employees helped to perpetuate Oct. 7 was put in a certain frame,” Rabbi Steven Burg of Aish told JNS.
Yechiel Leiter’s wounded son faces peril after undergoing brain surgery following a car-ramming near Modi’in.
“I want you to listen to my words carefully: One day, and it may not be far away, the Iranian people will be free. Their murderous regime will be toppled by its lies, by its corruption, by its cruelty,” the Israeli prime minister said.