Religion: First

One sundown last week, Kol Nidre, the mournful prayer-hymn in which good Jews ask God to release them from unfulfilled vows, throbbed in countless synagogues. It was the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement dedicated to fasting and turning toward God. At Yom Kippur's sunset, a blast on the shofar (ram's horn) brought to a close the ten-day high holidays of the new Jewish year. To Congregation B'nai Sholaum in Brooklyn, N. Y., the first day's sun of year 5700* brought something new—a woman in the pulpit. Helen Hadassah Levinthal, comely in academic gown...

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