Fasting for יוֹם כִּפּוּר

I stayed home from work today in observance of Yom Kippur. For people who not aware of what Yom Kippur is, the name means "Day of Atonement," and that pretty much explains what the holiday is. It is a day set aside to atone for the sins of the past year. This day is, essentially, my last appeal, my last chance to demonstrate my repentance and make amends. But note that Yom Kippur atones only for sins between me and the guy above, not for sins against another person. To atone for those other sins I would have first needed to seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs I committed against them if possible, all before Yom Kippur. (I am pretty certain I failed on many accounts of this, with my typical lack of planning ahead-ness. Maybe because I am only half Jewish, I get an extension?)

For truly observant Jews, of which I am not one, Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath day; meaning that no work can be performed on that day. In addition to refraining from eating and drinking — it is a complete, 25-hour fast beginning before sunset on the evening before Yom Kippur and ending after nightfall on the day of Yom Kippur. For those people who are way more devout than I am, additional restrictions include things like no washing and bathing, no anointing one's body with cosmetics, deodorants, etc., and no wearing leather shoes, and lastly, no sex — all of which are prohibited on Yom Kippur. The leather shoes thing sort of stumps me, (how Jainist!) and I can only think that on this most holy day, it is a sin to wear shoes made from the skin of a poor little defenseless, and now, dead animal, because it was mean to kill the animal. I am not sure why its okay the day after or the day before to wear leather shoes, but these things are not really meant to be questioned, I have a feeling.

Oh, and traditionally, Yom Kippur is also considered the date on which Moses received the second set of Ten Commandments for those of you who might be history buffs. I can't remember what happened to the first set; but I think Moses broke them accidentally.

That being said, I made it to noon in my effort to fast, before I felt like I might fall over dead. So I raided the fridge and ate a few squares of chocolate that I bought in Spain exactly a year ago. And then I laid down on the sofa and rested in the most reproachable and atonement-kind of way I could think of: by reading a book I had not read in at least two years about bicycle messengers in New York City. But I didn't drink any water, though! Although this is not hard for me, and was the easiest part of Yom Kippur. However, the chocolate gave me enough energy (sorry God, but I have low blood sugar issues) to make it till 5pm, where I literally attacked the rhubarb crumble that I had made to bring to Susanna, and ate a very small sized piece. (sorry, Susanna.) But since neither rhubarb crumble, nor chocolate, are technically REAL foods (hello, they are junk foods!), I am not counting that these really broke my fast. I mean, I ate nothing of real nutritional value.

Finally, after sundown, I made my way over to Amorina in a starving, low blood sugar induced haze and broke my partial, almost fast with a Sicilian pizza (ricotta, fennel, caramelized onion, orange, and mint).