Do I get a medal for finishing a Yom Kippur fast?

It was an interesting experience to fast for the first time and especially interesting doing it in Israel.

At first I was confused about the time it started when I wrote my previous post about Yom Kippur. I guess I assumed it would start at midnight and end at midnight. You know, a full and exact 24 hours.

So of course I was stuffing my face in preparation of the fast the day before sundown assuming that it started the night before. I was wrong. It didn’t start until the follow day at 4:55 PM until 5:52 PM the next day. It’s based on the Jewish (Lunar) calendar. NOT the Gregorian (Solar) calendar.

A few thoughts/observations on the last 25 hours:

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Yom Kippur Eve: A goy’s first atonement

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur.  In the United States, it doesn’t mean much of anything to most people.  As a kid I remember one teacher taking time to help her students understand what the day meant.  After 15 minutes of explanations and a classroom full of blank stares, the teacher  ended with “It’s a Jewish thing”.  That seemed to satisfy most of us.

But apparently, it’s a day of atonement.  It’s a day of suffering to cleanse yourself of “sins” (or whatever evil word you’d like to associate it with). There’s no eating. No drinking. No driving cars. No wearing of leather. No sex. No shower.  The ultra religious don’t even tear their toilet paper when they use the bathroom on this day.  They “pre-tear” sheets the day before.  The streets will be empty (save emergency vehicles) and children use the day to ride their bikes on the city streets freely without fear of vehicles.  Interesting, eh?

Bottom line is that tomorrow I’ll fast for the first time in my life.  My reasoning is simple:

When in Rome….

I would never do it any other time or in any other place (I’m not Jewish, for god’s sake) but I’m curious to know what it feels like not to drink water or eat food all day (masochist anyone?).  And maybe a small part of me will feel bad stuffing food into my face while all of Israel is starving.

Maybe I should live blog the day tomorrow?  Hourly whining updates?  No.  I’ll leave it to the imagination and end this post with another brilliant e-card from someecards.com:

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