Survey: 40 percent will attend synagogue on holidays

Some 10,000 immigrants were celebrating Rosh Hashanah at absorption centers in Israel on Wednesday, according to Israel Radio. For many, it is their first celebration of the Jewish New Year in the country.

The Absorption Ministry has recently distributed calendars with vowel-pointed Hebrew to 15,000 new immigrants who are studying Hebrew in ulpans throughout the country.

Meanwhile, New Year's festivities in Israeli cities are taking place amid high security for fear of possible Palestinian terror attacks. Police and soldiers man street corners in Jerusalem, carrying out spot checks of vehicles at impromptu roadblocks.

The IDF last week barred Palestinians from entering Israel until after the holiday season, which runs until early October.

40% of Israeli Jews intend to visit synagogueForty percent of the Jews living in Israel intend to visit a synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Jewish Pluralism of the Reform Movement in Israel.

The survey says that 64 percent of those who define themselves as secular said they would not visit a synagogue at all on both holidays. Twenty-two percent of all those interviewed said they would go to a synagogue on only one of the two holidays, and 37 percent said they would not go to synagogue at all.

The survey also indicates that 13 percent of those who intend to visit a synagogue will pray in one of the 60 non-Orthodox synagogues of the Reform or Conservative movements.

The Community Center association recently proposed holding a Seder night on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, consisting of parts of Jewish tradition and commentary and explanations of the holiday foods and what they symbolize.

	A Jewish woman buying a pomegranate in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market on Tuesday before Rosh Hashana. (Reuters)