Touro University California, on Mare Island, Vallejo, is closed in observance of the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, Andrea E. Garcia, director of external relations, said.

She said the school, “in keeping with its mission and Jewish affiliation, keeps these holy days as sacred.”

The campus closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday, and will remain closed through Friday. It also will close at noon Oct. 3, and will close at noon Oct. 8 and remain closed Oct. 9 and 10, and close again at 2 p.m. Oct. 15 and remain closed Oct. 16-17.

Touro College and University System, of which the Vallejo campus of Touro University California is part, is a nonprofit system of higher and professional education chartered in 1970 to enrich the Jewish heritage and serve the larger American and international community, Garcia said.

Rosh Hashanah, observed this year from sunset Wednesday until Friday night, often is referred to as the Jewish New Year, Garcia said.

The holiday marks the anniversary of the creation of the world as described in the Torah, the Jewish teachings.

It also marks the beginning of a 10-day period on the Jewish calendar that focuses on repentance, Garcia said.

“Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement, and is the holiest and most solemn day of the year,” she said. “It is set aside for worship, fasting and quiet reflection.”

This holiday is observed this year from sunset Oct. 3 through nightfall on Oct. 4.

It is a time of fasting and abstinence, forsaking physical needs to focus instead on spiritual matters that focus on the divine forgiveness of the Jewish people after they made and worshiped a gold statue of a calf after their exodus from Egypt.

“Sukkot is an eight-day harvest holiday, which gives thanks and commemorates the 40 years that the Jewish people wandered in the desert,” Garcia said. “It follows the solemn holiday of Yom Kippur.”

This year, Sukkot will be observed Oct. 8-15. According to Chabad.org, founded in memory of Menachem Mendel and Sheindel Tabacinic, the holiday’s name comes from the word “sukkah,” a temporary dwelling with a roof of branches that is built and serves as a dining area and home during the acknowledgement of the intrinsic unity of the many types that make up the Jewish community.

The Touro higher education system has an enrollment of about 19,000 students in its campuses from New York to Florida as well as in Vallejo, Los Angeles and Nevada. Its international campuses are in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow and Paris.

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