Jews prepare for holiest day of year

Stacy J. Willis

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

Jacqueline Fleekop's grandfather sat her on his knee and taught her about the Jewish high holy days when she was a child.

"He would tell me to picture God holding a book," said Fleekop, who is now a teacher at Congregation Ner Tamid in Las Vegas.

"To a child, grandparents are very godlike. So I would sit and imagine that God looks like my grandfather with the long beard.

"He would say, 'Every week is a sentence in that book. Every month is a paragraph. Every year is a page. During the holidays, God is turning the page on one year, and we are getting a fresh start on the next.' "

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for members of the Jewish faith, is Monday.

In Judaism, it is considered the holiest day of the year, marking the end of 10 days of repentance that began on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana.

Gathered in synagogues and in their homes, in hotel conference rooms and in borrowed church halls, many of the more than 76,000 Las Vegas Jews will spend the entire day in prayer, fasting and fellowship. At the end of Yom Kippur, Jews believe that their fate is metaphorically sealed for the next year, Fleekop said.

"Yom Kippur is when we ask God to forgive us," said Fleekop. "It is a time when we say we're sorry to people. It is a time to recognize that we have a responsibility to this world and to each other. And then, it is a time for renewal."

Fleekop has been the director of education at Congregation Ner Tamid, the largest Reform Judaism synagogue in Las Vegas, for six years.

"I think of my grandfather every year," said Fleekop. "He was a very religious man, and he taught me in a way a child can understand.

"The greatest joy for me is that we have so many children that participate in this holiday and can learn and understand," said Fleekop, who has raised four children of her own.

"Of course I no longer think of things exactly the way he taught them -- since then, I've learned that there is godliness inside each one of us. But they are very important memories to me."

Congregation Ner Tamid's Yom Kippur services begin a 10 a.m. Sunday at the synagogue, 2761 Emerson Ave. The final services begin at 6 p.m.