Sunset this evening marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, considered by many to be the most important holiday of the Jewish year. For a full explanation of the holiday, we recommend reading this. As we mentioned on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is the conclusion of the 10 days of atonement, which sounds scarier than it actually is. Over at SFist Command Central, we've been discussing what Yom Kippur means to us, and SFist Cheshire made a great point when he said:

"I guess the main thing I would stress to readers is that even if they're not Jewish, it's a good opportunity to take stock of the last year and examine what they personally would have liked to have done differently. It's also a good idea for them to honor the things they felt they did particularly well in the past year -- Yom Kippur shouldn't just be about beating yourself up, you know? Sure, it's called the Day of Atonement, but that's pretty harsh."

In just a few sentences he summarizes what we've been trying to explain to our parents for a zillion years, and for that we thank him. So, yes, SFist feels that Yom Kippur is a holiday for everyone, especially for our own San Francisco Giants. As all of you know, our Giants will be playing the LA Dodgers this weekend for first place in the National League West, and the Dodgers' first baseman, Shaun Green, will miss tonight's and tomorrow's games in observance of this holiday. (Check out the great discussion on this over at LAist).

More than one of us at SFist feels like a "bad Jew" in light of Green's sacrifice. Others of us are proudly consuming pork and cheese products this very moment. But that's the beauty of the holiday, isn't it? There's always another opportunity to begin anew.

Thanks to all the SFist staff for their contributions to this article.