64% of Israelis Will Fast on Yom Kippur

By JTA September 25, 2012

Sixty-four percent of Jewish Israelis will fast and 46 percent will pray on Yom Kippur, according to a survey.

According to Ynet News, which conducted the survey along with a social dialogue organization called Gesher, more than 80 percent of Jewish Israelis would spend the day either praying, reflecting or spending time with family. A slight majority of secular Israeli Jews plans to stay at home, while virtually all religious Jews will attend synagogue.

A variety of Yom Kippur activities outside of the synagogue exist for secular Israelis, including the popular pastime of bicycling on roads that, for one day every year, are almost entirely devoid of cars.

Only half a percent of Israelis said they would travel on the holy day.

The poll surveyed 502 respondents over the age of 18, and its margin of error was 4.3 percent.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO