Fasting Thoughts (tongue in cheek)

 2020-09-26

Today is the first day of 3 weeks 100% lock-down.  Keeping up the good mood during the season of fasting and Succot holidays which are required this year to be celebrated inside the flat. 

Since the beginning of the New 5781 Year, my mind is on fasting.  The first ten days of the year up until and including Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are the days of awe when many around the world do some form of fasting. They fast and pray for forgiveness for themselves and their nations.  

Fasting is eliminating food. Modern man hates fasting. So he came with all kinds of explanations and loopholes that allow him to satisfy the letter, even if not necessarily the spirit of the fast itself. One might agree or not with them all, but... well, why not?

• Yom Kippur is the only complete fast of the year when all agree  – nothing by mouth but air. One has to stay at home this year where one does not wear a mask; it might be chewed out of hunger if one wears it while outdoors.

• Daniel Fast allows only veggies and lentils. The Prophet fasted for 21 days. He did not have to cook any of it, the royal chef cooked for him. We tend to try and follow, only when we cook, we might put another ingredient into the stew. As long as we don't add meat, it considered a Fast.

• Some say that avoiding certain actions or items, other then food, constitutes a fast. Like, no TV or no Facebook or avoiding negative words. In that case, then Willie and I must be very holy – we are fasting TV since we arrived in Israel, March 2008. That is 12 years of fasting!

• There is of course the healthy fast. Whole30 is my healthy fast.  Elimination of Alcohol, Dairy, Sugar, Lentil, Grain, and all oil other than olive oil. Consuming all other foods for 30 days and restarting one's body balance.  Hard to do but doable none-the-less. One needs to like and enjoy writing a cookbook - it's a bit too consuming. 

• However, my very favourite fast is Marie Antoinette's fast. Based on a famous quote that the French Queen did not say, “give them cakes”, this fast is eliminating all food items but allows cakes, cookies, junk food.  I've been on it for the past few days, what a delightful fast.

  Yom Kippur is in two days, that will be my restart for the mundane again...

  Happy Succot everyone.