Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I hate fasting

Is it in bad taste (tasteless --oops again) bad pun, or anti-religious to say that I don't like fasting?

According to Jewish Law there are a number of fast days, which move so slowly, throughout the year. Today, the Tenth of the Jewish Month of Tevet, is one of them.

With the exception of Yom Kippur and the Ninth of Av, the fast days are only during daylight, from the first rays of the sun until darkness.

The 10th of Tevet is both the best and worst of the fasts. It's the shortest, because there are few daylight hours, and it's the worst, because it's so cold, and by not eating, I get cooolllllldddeeerrrrrrrrr and even cccoooooolllllllllddddddeeeeeerrrrrrrr.....

Sometime this after noon I'll probably cook a vegetable soup which is a great fast-breaker.

16 comments:

Sarah Likes Green said...

well, would you rather have it the longest (doesn't finish till around 9.30 pm) and on a hot day (like today?)... i don't think so!

Keli Ata said...

I don't think there's anything wrong with hating to fast. I'm not crazy about it myself. But what is even harder is having to go without liquids on Yom Kippur or even chewing gum.

Keli Ata said...

Sarah! If you're too hot try living where I do lol. It's BRRRRRRRRR!!

Batya said...

my darling sarah, have you ever been here for 17th Tammuz and 9th of Av? Two long summer fasts, nu?
When we were in England and France, the fasts were over 11pm. My neighbor, said that in France, when she was old enough to fast, they'd just go to bed hungry and wake up to break it.
keli ata, I'm glad you agree.
I tried waking up early on the day fasts, before light, to drink, but that made me hungrier.
The worst is not brushing my teeth...

Juggling Frogs said...

Tzom kal, Batya.

We're just starting this morning. This year, my son (15) and daughter (11, almost 12) joined us for the pre-dawn breakfast. It was such a different feeling from when my husband and I had fast morning to our sleepy selves.

Thank goodness for the microwave. I have a little net that goes over an egg in a bowl, and lets me make a grease-free "fried" egg in 45 seconds!

When you dig into that vegetable soup, don't forget to think of us, still fasting half a world away!

(Also: don't work on KCC today; it'll just make you hungrier!)

Batya said...

jf, what fun!
How are the kids holding up?
KCC is actually ready. I do it on "word" and just have to transfer and transfer again and again, so the codes all take and then polish the font, color etc. I always start a few days early.
Tzom Kal

therapydoc said...

But don't 'cha just love that feeling at the end?

I just had 2 pancakes and 2 cups of coffee and a glass of water in preparation. It starts in 10 minutes.

Juggling Frogs said...

I'm still trying to find a decent off-line blog post editor. I've used NVU (free), and sometimes Word, but the transferring back and forth (and having to edit so much within Blogger's on-line editor) drives me nuts.

There must be a better way.

When I use Word, I have to fix all the formatting again by hand within Blogger.

I wouldn't mind editing on Blogger that much, if there was a whole screen editor, rather than the little peeping-through-a-keyhole version they supply.

Batya said...

doc, I do feel better at the end, sort of lost my appetite
But the tought hing is that a couple of times I ate the wrong thing, like drinking orange juice and finding my mouth burn.
When the kids were still at home, I spent the fast afternoon making vegetable soup and homemade pizza. If I didn't want pizza, I'd make fresh rolls. I'm hungry just writing about them.
Now I just make the soup.

Batya said...

jf, got so involved in food memories, the pizza and rolls, didn't reply to you.
I'm adding more "codes" to my word draft, so when it goes on blogger, it's done. Of course on blogger, first it's regular, then html, then regular again for font and color.
Until I learned the embedded linking on word and things like that...
I only go through all this for the carnivals. Regular posts are straight on blogger.

Anonymous said...

I just made vegetable soup on Sunday! It was so good! Perfect for this weather (cold, icy).

Batya said...

I'm sure it's good. Of course, if you lived a little closer, you could visit us...

Nice to hear from you!

Sarah Likes Green said...

i have actually been there during av, so yeh.

prefer the cold. less dehydration.

Batya said...

At least today's the morning after, and I'm about to drink my coffee.
The vegetable soup was great. You need a fork!
http://me-ander.blogspot.com/2007/12/easy-one-pot-vegetable-soup.html

Anonymous said...

I just can't believe God would ever enjoy something done grudgingly, because "I have to". The prophets teach that God would far rather have acts of kindness nad mercy done than punishing your own body. Starving yourself doesn't automatically feed the poor.

Batya said...

a, sorry to break it to you, but you're totally off-base.
1- Fasting isn't about feeding the poor. I can't imagine where you got that from.
2- Actually Judaism isn't a restaurant menu from which you choose the mitzvot/commandments you find the most pleasurable. If it's harder and you have to work on yourself, G-d appreciates it more.