Prepent: 40 daily reminders to change for good and go into a new year, better. read more/subscribe
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feast pre fast: slow food, not fast, focus on now not tomorrow + feed another who needs it more. #prepent5775
Two festive meals bookend the fast of kippur, which is taken seriously by some or most of us semites for different reasons from piety to tradition to detox to guilt. Two young women were talking on the subway tonight and I only heard a bit: “sundown to sundown? really? no water? i’d die.” The other replied “I usually cheat half-way through the day – just the fact that I dont have coffee or water in the morning is shocking enough for my system.”
It is about a ritual shock – a reminder of mortality and also how to not be need in need or greed or want but as present in the is and now as possible without thought of what’s ahead- a high bar of self inflicted affliction/spiritual discipline.
Which is why the sages in the talmud and the hasids that followed claim that whoever eats with real joy and conviction on the eve of kippur is as good as the one fasting on day itself. Esp.
I like fasting and will do so with, I hope, as much ease as possible. But I also plan to gently feast today, slowly, selectively, honoring the now and not thinking about stocking up energy for what’s next. I think that’s part of what makes it as worthwhile as the holding back of nourishment from sundown to sundown. Feeding others is as important. On the eve of the day we choose to refrain from food – how can we be there for those for whom this is hardly a choice? Generosity all days, and this day, goes a long way, as we prepare to cross the threshold into the most holy. one easy option here.
Eat well, fast easy, we’ll meet inside the sanctuary.
