Have an Easy Fast? I hope not.
As Yom Kippur approaches I am receiving texts and emails expressing the hope that I will have an easy fast, but if the Yom Kippur fast was supposed to be easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.
The purpose of the fast is to remind us that we need not be driven by our hungers—physical, psychological, spiritual, etc. Fasting is a call to liberation that starts with the body but does not end there. We must fast from negative emotions, debilitating thoughts, and the delusion that we are apart from God rather than a part of God—this is the real work of Yom Kippur, the day of at-one-ment, and it shouldn’t be easy.
To borrow from the Buddha, Yom Kippur is a day for ending trishna, the addictive cravings that fill our lives with dukkha, unnecessary and often self–induced suffering.
Jews make a big deal about fasting from food, but all we are doing is skipping breakfast and lunch. Imagine being a Muslim and not eating from sun up to sun down (I know the sun does neither, but you know what I mean) for an entire month, and doing so in the summer when the days are long! Now that is tough. Yom Kippur? Not so much.
So please don’t wish me an easy fast. And if you are observing Yom Kippur let me offer you this:
May your fast be what it is supposed to be: a raging fire burning away everything that keeps you from being a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3).
And if you want to bless someone for Yom Kippur off them this:
G’mar chatimah tova, may you dare to inscribe yourself in the Book of Life.
G’mar chatimah tova.