On Yom Kippur, fasts, not comfort, come first

September 21, 2007|By Lois K. Solomon Staff Writer

On Yom Kippur, which begins tonight, Jews concentrate on forgiveness and atonement for sins. Earthly pleasures such as food must be put out of the mind.

But what happens if you love coffee?

According to Jewish teachings, God decides each Jew's fate for the coming year on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and seals it on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Jews fast for 25 hours beginning tonight, an entire day of prayer and repentance, hoping to avert a severe decree from God.

But besides fearing God's judgment, some Jews fear fasting more. They get caffeine headaches and are hungry, thirsty, irritable and stressed.

Coffee is just one of many worldly comforts Jews must give up for the fast. They also abstain from sex, work, wearing leather, washing and brushing their teeth.

About 10 days before Yom Kippur, Rabbi David Steinhardt of B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton begins reducing his four-cup-a-day coffee habit to three, then two, then one. He said this allows him to avoid headaches and frees him to feel the spiritual effects of food deprivation.

"You do some serious soul-searching," said Steinhardt, who fasts several times a year for Jewish holidays and spends Yom Kippur leading services. "Over the course of the day, you begin to float away spiritually. It's a combination of your brain chemistry from fasting and a sense of God."

Some fasters have more worldly concerns.

"I'm afraid I might starve," said Reid Golin, 12, of Cooper City, who will fast for the first time in preparation for his bar mitzvah. Jews must fast after their coming-of-age ceremonies at 13, but Reid's parents asked him to give it a try before his Feb. 14 ceremony.

"I kind of like eating a lot," he said. "I usually can't go more than two hours before I get hungry."

Before the holiday, Jews prepare for the fast, psychologically and physically. In the 10 days between Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana, which began on Sept. 12, Jews are asked to seek forgiveness from people they wronged and forgive people who wronged them.

Some connect the difficulty of the fast to their behavior in the past year.

"If I wake up without a caffeine headache and I have an easy fast, I must have been good," said Debbie Simon, 44, a mother of three from Boca Raton who drinks several glasses a day of caffeinated Diet Coke. "This year, I expect a difficult fast. I've been too judgmental, too whiny, too quick to jump to conclusions. I doubt God is looking specifically at me to give me a hard fast; it's more my own conscience."

Fasting is not unique to Judaism; Muslims are fasting now from sunrise to sunset for the month of Ramadan. There are many references to fasting in the Bible. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert; Moses and Elijah the prophet also fasted for 40 days. Queen Esther, King David and Ahab also abstained from food and drink.

Observant Jews fast not only on Yom Kippur but also on Tisha B'Av, a summer holy day, to commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temple and other tragedies in Jewish history.

"The self-affliction leads to introspection and repentance," said Joel Roth, professor of Talmud and Jewish law at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. "The idea of being judged during this period leaves a deep-seated psychological impact over time."

Still, some observant Jews don't fast, mostly for medical reasons. Rabbi Edward Davis, of Young Israel of Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale, said he handles dozens of visits and phone calls from congregants in the weeks before the Holy Days who wonder if they are allowed to fast. He said nursing and pregnant women can fast but should stop if they feel severely dehydrated. He said diabetics whose doctors say they shouldn't fast should eat as little as possible.

The key, Davis said, is to be aware of symptoms of dehydration, such as nausea and dizziness.

Although rabbis spend the day leading services, most congregants go home for part of the day. That's where Reva Homnick, who drinks two or three cups of coffee a day, starts thinking about her caffeine headache and her hunger: She has to make lunch for three of her five kids younger than 13.

"I definitely have a headache in the beginning," said Homnick, Young Israel of Hollywood's executive director. "I'll make them lunch and go back and lie down. The headache lasts an hour or two and then your body gets used to it."

Sleep does not help Shelly Gross, a mother of three from Boca Raton, who said she gets vicious headaches when she fasts, even though she drinks only one cup of coffee a day.

"Food is a comfort, a reward, a stress reliever, a million different things to me," she said. "At the same time, there is a real sense of fear on Yom Kippur. You feel like you're praying for your life. I dread it."

Gross' difficulties do not run in her family: Her mother, Lillian Konheim, 84, said she has no trouble fasting.

"You feel the hunger pangs, but you put it out of your mind," Konheim said.

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