Storm doesn't stop families' plans for Yom Kippur

The storm that blew through New York Thursday night was not going to stop Sahar Nasrolai's plans for Yom Kippur.

Her family's big feast, traditionally held before the ritual fast that begins shortly before nightfall, was originally planned for her sister Diana Nabavian's house a few blocks away in Kings Point. But the dinner was moved to Nasrolai's house after Nabavian's residence lost power Thursday night.

"Thank God I have power so I can prepare the meal," Nasrolai said Friday afternoon, hours before the observance of the Jewish holy day began at sundown.

Yom Kippur, marked by fasting and atoning for sins, is the culmination of the High Holy Days, which began last week with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

"This is a really important holiday," Nasrolai said.

Her niece, Megan Nabavian, 15, said the holiday was traditionally shared with friends and family.

"All of our friends and cousins come over and we walk to shul [synagogue] together" after dinner, Megan said. "This year we'll be here" at Nasrolai's house.

In Queens, Tracy Joseph was planning to host a pre-fast Yom Kippur meal for 10 on Friday. The food was purchased, and her family was ready to come over.

But Friday morning, Joseph said she called her mother and asked if she could go to her mother's house in Quogue instead.

Trees were down on every route to Joseph's house in Forest Hills Gardens, a section of Forest Hills. On Friday morning it took Joseph 15 minutes to drive from Great Neck to her home in Forest Hills, but an hour and a half more to finally get to her house because of the blocked streets in the area, she said.

She added that parking on any nearby streets was nearly impossible, making it logistically difficult to host a large dinner party.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said of the storm's damage to the area.

Mark Twersky, executive director of the Great Neck Synagogue, took a philosophical approach to the power outage that affected some of his community.

"Once the holiday starts you can't use power anyways," he said, referring to the Judaic prohibition on using electricity on Yom Kippur.

Twersky's Great Neck home lost power Thursday night during the storm, and his wife quickly switched to Plan B.

"We have a chicken, and my wife brought the chicken over to her sister," Twersky said. "Her sister cooked it and she's going to pick it up on the way home from work today."

With Randi Marshall