monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for
•
yom kippur
although not Jewish, over the years I’ve occasionally participated in Jewish holidays to experience them and understand them better. today is Yom Kippur. i wouldn’t feel comfortable completely engaging in this one, and i can’t take off work today to go to a synagogue and pray. but i haven’t eaten anything or had anything to drink since yesterday before sunset and i’ve been thinking about what it means to ask for forgiveness and repenting.
mostly though i’ve just been thinking about food! i’m starving.
If you're new here, thanks for visiting! Please subscribe to my RSS feed and consider visiting my design-related blog and my meditation-related blog.
•
5 comments to “yom kippur”
•
6. October 2003 at 2:52 pm :
Well, I didn’t fast at all but Mer is.
In some ways, I’m freeloading off the best of both worlds: I take off work for the traditional Christian holidays, but I also reserve the right to take off work early (the "Jew exemption") to go to Rosh Hashanah dinner or services if need be. Mer has abused this privilege in the past — she took off work at 2 one day to get in a few extra hours of rest before services.
In any case, I like leafing through the prayer book.
6. October 2003 at 3:12 pm :
I’m not hungry, but I’m oh so very thirsty… agua… agua!
My family stopped going to services years ago, but we fast every year. When people ask if we’re Reform or Conservative, I like to say we’re Culinary Jews. We’re all about getting together to eat.
I think I observe Yom Kippur because it’s nice to know that I have one day a year for quiet reflection. I think not having to go to work is key. That way, you can sleep in, chill out, nap and then eat dinner. Sleeping helps keep my the mind off of food.
6. October 2003 at 3:23 pm :
wow, i thought i was hungry this morning. i’m really grumpy now. amazing how just a slight shift in my routine could case me such a headache. and so many people in the world go without food so often…
6. October 2003 at 9:33 pm :
welcome to judaism, davee!
that last reflection of yours is an integral part of the yom kippur service. but you probably already knew that.
6. October 2003 at 9:36 pm :
another thing: Mer grew up Conservative but she’d sort of lapsed. Then she met me — a dumpy German, an Aryan in Jew’s clothing at a Hanukkah party. (She likes to call me "the goy in the Jew-stack".)