US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania sent the Jewish people their “warmest greetings” on Tuesday ahead of the start of Yom Kippur.

“Yom Kippur is a day of atonement, prayer, and fasting, and is the last day of the Ten Days of Repentance,” the president said in a statement. “Yom Kippur provides an opportunity to draw nearer to God through the practice of teshuva in accordance with the words of Leviticus: ‘For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before the Lord.’”

“Melania and I pray that you are all inscribed in the Book of Life and hope this period of reflection and repentance leads to a deeper relationship with God,” he continued. “We send our best wishes for a meaningful Yom Kippur and a Gmar Chatima Tova.”