From Guest Blogger, Jill Zimon:
I’ve never been a weight loss freak, but I do recall partaking in juice fasts when I was in high school and college. I didn’t find them terribly uncomfortable because the liquid filled up my stomach and I rationalized that juices have at least some nutritional value, though not as much as the fruit.
But now that I’m into mid-life, I approach the idea of fasting on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, very differently. For instance, just yesterday, I used the upcoming fast as a justification for eating four large cookies during several instances of anxiety – anxiety completely unrelated to the holiday I might add. Today, I’m thinking about how I’ll need to ignore the fact that while I’m fasting tomorrow, I will be cooking food for other people. And then, there’s the odd relationship between how much time is spent thinking about what exactly will be cooked, served, eaten and left over from the pre-fast and break fast meals, and how much time you will go without eating at all. Probably fairly equal.
Now, some people might argue that all those thoughts are a good way to distract oneself from thinking about the discomfort caused by fasting. But I got news fer ya – it doesn’t work that way.
The fast this year will last from about 5:30pm this evening through about 7:45pm tomorrow evening, 26 hours plus the time it takes to get to the nosh table set up outside the synagogue’s sanctuary where we go to break the fast and get through the throngs of worshippers who feel just as hungry as you do, plus the time to drive or walk to whose ever home is hosting the break fast you may be attending, and the time it takes to get in the door, say your hellos and then, you know, politely find the food and satiate yourself.
So how, as your stomach gets emptier and the end of the fast feels more ephemeral, do you distract yourself?
What works for me is to think about the things I believe we’re really supposed to be thinking about: it’s only one lousy day. And it’s by choice. And I am with loved ones or at least with other Jews sharing the experience or perhaps at least with God. But if nothing else, the fast day is a day when I know that everything else stops and I am left to myself. And it’s very powerful.
Which, in the end, is what I believe Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur are all about.
May you have an easy fast and be inscribed in the Book of Life this sweet new year.
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sunset this evening. To learn more about this holiday, read these articles by Lisa Katz, the About.com Guide to Judaism
I’ve never been a weight loss freak, but I do recall partaking in juice fasts when I was in high school and college. I didn’t find them terribly uncomfortable because the liquid filled up my stomach and I rationalized that juices have at least some nutritional value, though not as much as the fruit.
But now that I’m into mid-life, I approach the idea of fasting on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, very differently. For instance, just yesterday, I used the upcoming fast as a justification for eating four large cookies during several instances of anxiety – anxiety completely unrelated to the holiday I might add. Today, I’m thinking about how I’ll need to ignore the fact that while I’m fasting tomorrow, I will be cooking food for other people. And then, there’s the odd relationship between how much time is spent thinking about what exactly will be cooked, served, eaten and left over from the pre-fast and break fast meals, and how much time you will go without eating at all. Probably fairly equal.
Now, some people might argue that all those thoughts are a good way to distract oneself from thinking about the discomfort caused by fasting. But I got news fer ya – it doesn’t work that way.
The fast this year will last from about 5:30pm this evening through about 7:45pm tomorrow evening, 26 hours plus the time it takes to get to the nosh table set up outside the synagogue’s sanctuary where we go to break the fast and get through the throngs of worshippers who feel just as hungry as you do, plus the time to drive or walk to whose ever home is hosting the break fast you may be attending, and the time it takes to get in the door, say your hellos and then, you know, politely find the food and satiate yourself.
So how, as your stomach gets emptier and the end of the fast feels more ephemeral, do you distract yourself?
What works for me is to think about the things I believe we’re really supposed to be thinking about: it’s only one lousy day. And it’s by choice. And I am with loved ones or at least with other Jews sharing the experience or perhaps at least with God. But if nothing else, the fast day is a day when I know that everything else stops and I am left to myself. And it’s very powerful.
Which, in the end, is what I believe Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur are all about.
May you have an easy fast and be inscribed in the Book of Life this sweet new year.
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sunset this evening. To learn more about this holiday, read these articles by Lisa Katz, the About.com Guide to Judaism
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