We are all familiar with fasting on Yom Kippur This one day is to be spent humbling the heart in repentance and atoning for sins so that we will be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year. Yet what is the origin of this fast?
When the early Israelites first beheld the Holy Presence of God at Mount Sinai, they ate and drank. With excessive feasting, they forgot themselves and began to worship the Golden Calf of the heathens. When Moses saw this on his descent with the Ten Commandments, he broke the tablets. He returned to Mount Sinai, and descended on the tenth day of Tishri (Yom Kippur) with the second table of the Ten Commandments to find his people fasting and repenting their great sin. Moses told them that God had accepted their sincere penitence and proclaimed that day as a day of forgiveness throughout all generations.
For thousands of years, on the tenth of Tishri, Jews have fasted and refrained from catering to their physical appetites. It has always been a day when the Jew devotes himself to spiritual requirements in order to be like the angels. Sexual intercourse, the wearing of leather shoes, washing the mouth, entering into money transactions, and anointing oneself with cream are also avoided. (Although most people are supposed to fast, pregnant and nursing women , the sick, and girls under twelve and boys under thirteen are all exempt).
With the stress on fasting, how many of us are aware of the mitzvah involved in celebrating a substantial feast in the afternoon the of day prior to Yom Kippur? As important as it is to fast, so is it necessary to eat properly beforehand. It is more difficult to fast when accustomed to eating well. And on Yom Kippur it is important to feel hunger pangs, to remind oneself all the more of the difficult task of atonement. Originally the pre-Yom Kippur feast was at noon. In America today, most people eat a substantial but not excessive meal late in the afternoon.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, it is traditonal for most Jews to eat chicken. Chicken and rice are prefast foods the world over. This is also due in Judaism to the Kapparot ceremony, performed that morning, whereby one transfers one's sins to a cock or hen. The chicken is often boiled, but it does not have to be; it merely should not be highly spice. Rice, carrots, and fresh fruit are also served. Not all of these foods are seasoned, to discourage thirstiness and indigestion throughout the long fast. No nuts are served, as they can cause excessive saliva and throat irritation, making the recital of prayers difficult. At the end of the meal each person eats a morsel of bread and water as symbolic sustenance throughout the fast.
Unlike the "black fasts"--such as Tisha Be-av, mourning the destruction of the Temple--Yom Kippur is a "white fast." White is symbolic of purity in accordance with Isaiah 1:18. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." In the synagogue the rabbi wears a white kitl, or robe, the synagogue ark is draped in white, and the Torah scrolls are adorned with white mantles.
After the meal before sunset on the eve of the fast, a white cloth is spread over the dining-room table. On it are placed a bible, a prayer book, and other sacred books, instead of the traditional Sabbath loaves of hallah. The books are covered with a white cloth until the break-the-fast meal the following evening, as symbolic testimony that this holy day is being honored, not with food and drink, but with study and prayer. A lamp is lit in memory of departed family members.
According to the Midrash, at the close of the Yom Kippur service a voice calls from heaven telling the faithful that their prayers have been heard. Confident that we have obtained forgiveness, we can rejoice and partake of a postfast meal. This repast recalls the feast the high priests celebrated after Yom Kkippur in gratitude for having been permitted to emerge from the Holy of Holies. Often in the United States today, close friends of family assemble for the postfast feast. Usually a milk meal is served, beginning with coffee and a sweet--sometimes just an apple dipped in honey--followed by herring or another salty food. Moroccan Jews often make fijuelas, deep-fried pastries oozing with honey; Syrians and Egyptians make a cardamom cake; Yemenites, a ginger cake. Sephardin also serve eggs, the symbol of hope and life. Quinces, pomegranates, watermelon, or other seasonal fruits are also served. It is becoming more and more traditional in this country to serve brunch with bagel, lox, cream cheese, herring, and kugel.
When the early Israelites first beheld the Holy Presence of God at Mount Sinai, they ate and drank. With excessive feasting, they forgot themselves and began to worship the Golden Calf of the heathens. When Moses saw this on his descent with the Ten Commandments, he broke the tablets. He returned to Mount Sinai, and descended on the tenth day of Tishri (Yom Kippur) with the second table of the Ten Commandments to find his people fasting and repenting their great sin. Moses told them that God had accepted their sincere penitence and proclaimed that day as a day of forgiveness throughout all generations.
For thousands of years, on the tenth of Tishri, Jews have fasted and refrained from catering to their physical appetites. It has always been a day when the Jew devotes himself to spiritual requirements in order to be like the angels. Sexual intercourse, the wearing of leather shoes, washing the mouth, entering into money transactions, and anointing oneself with cream are also avoided. (Although most people are supposed to fast, pregnant and nursing women , the sick, and girls under twelve and boys under thirteen are all exempt).
With the stress on fasting, how many of us are aware of the mitzvah involved in celebrating a substantial feast in the afternoon the of day prior to Yom Kippur? As important as it is to fast, so is it necessary to eat properly beforehand. It is more difficult to fast when accustomed to eating well. And on Yom Kippur it is important to feel hunger pangs, to remind oneself all the more of the difficult task of atonement. Originally the pre-Yom Kippur feast was at noon. In America today, most people eat a substantial but not excessive meal late in the afternoon.
On the eve of Yom Kippur, it is traditonal for most Jews to eat chicken. Chicken and rice are prefast foods the world over. This is also due in Judaism to the Kapparot ceremony, performed that morning, whereby one transfers one's sins to a cock or hen. The chicken is often boiled, but it does not have to be; it merely should not be highly spice. Rice, carrots, and fresh fruit are also served. Not all of these foods are seasoned, to discourage thirstiness and indigestion throughout the long fast. No nuts are served, as they can cause excessive saliva and throat irritation, making the recital of prayers difficult. At the end of the meal each person eats a morsel of bread and water as symbolic sustenance throughout the fast.
Unlike the "black fasts"--such as Tisha Be-av, mourning the destruction of the Temple--Yom Kippur is a "white fast." White is symbolic of purity in accordance with Isaiah 1:18. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." In the synagogue the rabbi wears a white kitl, or robe, the synagogue ark is draped in white, and the Torah scrolls are adorned with white mantles.
After the meal before sunset on the eve of the fast, a white cloth is spread over the dining-room table. On it are placed a bible, a prayer book, and other sacred books, instead of the traditional Sabbath loaves of hallah. The books are covered with a white cloth until the break-the-fast meal the following evening, as symbolic testimony that this holy day is being honored, not with food and drink, but with study and prayer. A lamp is lit in memory of departed family members.
According to the Midrash, at the close of the Yom Kippur service a voice calls from heaven telling the faithful that their prayers have been heard. Confident that we have obtained forgiveness, we can rejoice and partake of a postfast meal. This repast recalls the feast the high priests celebrated after Yom Kkippur in gratitude for having been permitted to emerge from the Holy of Holies. Often in the United States today, close friends of family assemble for the postfast feast. Usually a milk meal is served, beginning with coffee and a sweet--sometimes just an apple dipped in honey--followed by herring or another salty food. Moroccan Jews often make fijuelas, deep-fried pastries oozing with honey; Syrians and Egyptians make a cardamom cake; Yemenites, a ginger cake. Sephardin also serve eggs, the symbol of hope and life. Quinces, pomegranates, watermelon, or other seasonal fruits are also served. It is becoming more and more traditional in this country to serve brunch with bagel, lox, cream cheese, herring, and kugel.
Kyle- from South Park
Jewish Holiday Kitchen-Joan Nathan
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