The Jewish Tradition of Fasting
Rabbi Irwin Keller
Congregation Ner Shalom, Cotati
Yom Kippur: Imitation of Death.
For thousands of years, Jewish tradition has held fasting as as holy technology of repentance, humility, and expansion of consciousness. The most famous Jewish fast is that of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (although the Jewish calendar contains numerous other fast days). On Yom Kippur, Jews traditionally fast from food and drink from sundown to sundown, wear white, eschew leather and other bodily adornments, and refrain from bathing and sexual relations. The tradition understands these austerities as a way of enacting one’s own death – the body’s needs and desires are not gratified, and we are dressed as if in a shroud. It is felt that anticipating one’s death provides an urgent opportunity for clarifying one’s values – where have I gone wrong? what is demanded of me? how can I be in better attunement with God, my fellow humans, and the Earth?
Fasting in Times of Drought or Other Peril.
The volume of Talmud called Ta’anit (“Fasting” or “Austerities”) describes the fasting practices of Jewish communities in early antiquity when faced with peril. For them, peril included severe drought, pestilence, and invading armies. Some of these are gentle, voluntary fasts – sunup to sundown. However, when the threat is more imminent, the fast becomes more stringent – and mandatory for the whole community.
In addition to fasting, ancient Jewish communities would offer a series of special prayers seeking to avert whatever harsh decree Heaven had issued. In moments of great danger, the fasting would be accompanied by a “calling out” – i.e. blasting the shofar.
If, after 13 semi-weekly fasts rain still had not come, the community would begin to follow the customs of mourning. This would be the leveling-up of sacred theater, performing for the eyes of the Divine the certain death that lay ahead. In these ancient rituals, fasting and mourning ritual function as theater, as repentance, as reproof against Heaven, and as a kind of theurgic magic, engaging in actions on earth that will force the hand of the Divine.
Fasting in Solidarity.
Talmud Ta’anit also describes fasts undertaken in response to perils elsewhere. When a nearby town was hit by epidemic or by a plague of locusts or seemed to be left in drought while neighboring areas had enough water, the community fasted in solidarity. But they would fast differently, the sages taught. They would fast but would not blast the shofar. Or they would blast the shofar but not fast. The idea seems to be that while solidarity is important, one should not behave as if it were their peril when it was in fact someone else’s in that moment.
The biblical Book of Esther gives another example of fasting in solidarity. Queen Esther plans to go in to the king unbidden to argue for the life of the Jewish people, against whom a decree of death had been issued. She sends this directive to her fellow Jews: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16) The Jews do fast; Esther goes to the king and manages to save the Jewish people of the kingdom.
From this text we see the possibility of fasting as a spiritual practice in support of individuals or groups doing brave work for the sake of justice. How might brave public fasting have changed the course of history? Rabbi Harold Schulweis, describing his experience in the Holocaust and reflecting on the inaction of bystanders in other countries, said, “I expected them to fast [and] to stand in front of the embassies and cry out against the genocide against our people.” Alas, that kind of broad and visible public witness did not happen.
From Top to Bottom.
In the biblical Book of Jonah we see a famous tale in which the wickedness of an entire nation is called out, and the people see that it is true. Their actions have brought them to the brink of destruction. The people believe the warning words of Jonah and they declare a nationwide fast. Participating are not just the common people but the nobility all the way up to the king, who steps off his throne, dons sackcloth and sits in the ashes. This story serves as a suggestion that there is always the possibility of repentance, and that acts of contrition, such as fasting, can be instrumental in shifting one’s outlook and breaking us out of our familiar but perhaps destructive habits. It also suggests that a broad public change of vision requires the penitence of those in power as well. What might happen if our political leaders took a day of fasting and reflection?
Caring for the Body if Paramount.
The goal of fasting is a shift of consciousness, a spiritual elevation, an emptying out in order for something new to flow in. The goal is not to feel bad, get weakened, or become ill. In fact, in Jewish tradition, the mitzvah of caring for the body supersedes the mitzvah of fasting. Someone whose fasting would put their life or longterm health at risk is forbidden from fasting.
In addition, food is not a neutral item in the Jewish community. We are a community marked by generations of trauma and scarcity. For many, food is at the center of a complex web of survival and self-image. For folx for whom eating (or not eating) is very loaded, a food-fast might not actually serve the purposes intended by a Jewish fast or a modern politically-oriented fast.
Traditional alternatives to food fasting include eating more simply and mindfully. Other sources suggest substituting prayer for fasting. We suggest the range of meaningful fasts suggested in this website’s Alternatives page, such as undertaking a Consumer Fast or a Carbon Fast.
Emptying Out, Filling Up.
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect of fasting as a spiritual practice is its ability to allow for personal transformation. As we fast, we empty out. It is not just our bellies that are empty. We find spaciousness in our time and attention. Our day-to-day worries shrink and make room. Our day is emptied of our usual mundane pursuits. In this new-found spaciousness, the new can flow in: new awareness, new connectedness with the Divine and each other, new resolve. As we practice the art of fasting – whether from food, from commerce, from entertainment – may we be filled up with a new understanding of how we may best be of service to the life of this world.
Videos:
Rabbi Irwin Keller “Ritual of Resilience: Fasting, Prayer, and Chalk Outlines,” Shavuot Teaching, May 2022.
Rabbi George Gittleman: “Fasting as Protest and Other Stories,” Kol Nidre Sermon, October 2022.
Read more from Rabbi Irwin Keller by clicking here.