Jews throughout the Myrtle Beach area have used the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to reflect, repent and ask for forgiveness for any wrong that they may have committed in the past year.

The Jewish Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, begins at sundown Tuesday and lasts until nightfall on Wednesday and many area Jews said they have spent the High Holy Days soul searching.

“The 10 days are spent doing preparation of the human being and the soul,” said Lily Ann Revitch, who founded Temple Shalom in Conway with her husband Ze’ev about seven years ago.

“It’s a lot of self-searching of the way we’ve lived and what we’ve done. Have we done enough in the community?”

This year, Revitch said she will spend Yom Kippur a little differently.

“We just became great-grandparents [a week ago]. So the bris will happen on Yom Kippur,” she said, speaking of her great-grandson’s ritual circumcision ceremony. “Normally I would be at [Temple Shalom] all day, but this takes precedence over everything. So I’ll be in a synagogue in Boca Raton all day instead.”

Temple Shalom Rabbi David Weissman said he will spend the holiday reflecting on wrongs committed against God or other people. As for his repentance, he will send an email to his congregation asking them to forgive him for any way he may have wronged them, whether an “act of commission or omission, or even indirectly,” he said. He also forgives them for any wrong that may have been committed against him.

That forgiveness could be for any number of sins, said Weissman.

There are 613 commandments where sins could be committed against God or against another person, said Rabbi Avi Perets of Temple Emanu-El in Myrtle Beach said.

Perets said, “It’s spiritual introspection to cleanse our soul, search our soul and make resolutions to improve our relationship with God and with other people in our lives – our family, our friends.”

Yom Kippur begins at sundown Tuesday when Jews fast for 25 hours. The holiday begins with services on Kol Nidre – Yom Kippur eve – and typically ends with a “break the fast meal” after nightfall on Wednesday.

Contact MAYA T. PRABHU at 444-1722 or follow her at Twitter.com/TSN_MPrabhu.