One of my favorite parts of Yom Kippur (there are oh so many more) is watching kids in synagogue trying to fast for the first time. These kids are either bar mitzvah age and are attempting to fast for the full day or they are 9-10 year olds trying to “practice” for half the day.
What’s so great about watching them is that they act like they’ve never gone three hours without eating. I remember leading a kids service at my synagogue a couple of years back on Yom Kippur. Now, because services are long and they were just kids, we actually provided a snack at around 11:30 in the morning. You would have thought that we were in war torn Bosnia. Those party sandwiches, normally left untouched on a regular Shabbat kiddush table, were gone before I could even be jealous that people were eating.
The truth is that fasting really isn’t that bad. I fasted until 1:15 today! In college, I would go weeks without eating. I could only afford salt and pepper packets. It was rough.
Really, the only tough part about Yom Kippur is the amount of synagogue. Not that shul is a bad thing. I’m just saying, the statement “You can never have too much of a good thing” is totally disproved by Yom Kippur. Please rabbi, let me sit down. And stop with the supplemental English readings. You’re only making things worse.
Then again, I wouldn’t call fasting easy either. 25 hours is a long to go without leather shoes (and food and water). So I assume if I offered you a video that provided tips to make your fast easier, you would watch it eagerly.
Well you are in luck. Because here’s a video that does exactly that.
bar mitzvah
Pronounced: bar MITZ-vuh, also bar meetz-VAH, Origin: Hebrew, Jewish rite of passage for a 13-year-old boy.
mitzvah
Pronounced: MITZ-vuh or meetz-VAH, Origin: Hebrew, commandment, also used to mean good deed.
Shabbat
Pronounced: shuh-BAHT or shah-BAHT, Origin: Hebrew, the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
shul
Pronounced: shool (oo as in cool), Origin: Yiddish, synagogue.
Yom Kippur
Pronounced: yohm KIPP-er, also yohm kee-PORE, Origin: Hebrew, The Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and, with Rosh Hashanah, one of the High Holidays.
