Jesus Christ! It's Yom Kippur!!!

Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the day where you have to go 25 hours without food and drink. Already, your belly is not happy with you. It's grumbling, pleading - why God why. According to tradition, God has a pretty good reason. This is the time of year when each Jew's fate is sealed in the Book of Life. Jews use this time for soul searching and asking God and their fellow humans for forgiveness for their sins. This is your last chance to change God's judgment, make amends, forgive and forget.

On this day, the following restrictions cannot be broken within the 25-hour period of fasting and prayer: eat or drink (including water), wash, wear makeup or deodorant, wear leather shoes, TV, radio, phone, computer, and have sex. The idea is that you are removing yourself from worldly concerns and focusing on spiritual ones, most importantly repentance for your sins.

First 12 hours are usually ok. Then, there is the grumpiness that accompanies everyone’s hunger, and a frenetic, temporary personality style that annoys anyone within five feet.

Some fast to “feel Jewish”, some fast because they want to prove they can or to “clean their bodies”. I have always been a good faster. I feel completely fine, even after a 25 hour fast. As a result, the point of fasting never really resonated. But suddenly, I get it. For me, the value of the fast isn’t in actually abstaining from eating – it’s from abstaining from life. In our crazy world - a day of unpluggedness is welcome by all, especially by me. The way I see it, Yom Kippur is becoming this eclectic new-age type of experience. Each person puts his own personal and individualistic spin on the day.

What to do? What to do? Well, for people like myself, there’s the internet, so we can blog or chat. We can play/listen to music with headphones or quietly, or read that book we have been trying to finish for decades. I’m sure god will forgive us for that.

I certainly forgive you all. The one thing I will ask for forgiveness for are my true feelings of wanting to bash some people heads in. I’m pretty sure that’s an impure desire, or is it?

Till later,
Whole lotta love.