OK, none of us (that I know of) lives in a stereotypical shtetl, the small, insulated Jewish neighborhoods of Eastern Europe. Not all of us are Jewish, and not all of us can fast -- Yom Kippur, Ramadan, Good Friday, or other religious reasons notwithstanding.
Religious fasting has a couple of different stated purposes, including celebration, mourning, sacrifice, intense introspection, and attempts to "reach a higher plane of consciousness" or to "come closer to [the Deity]". The intended results of the fast may be a feeling of privation or a feeling of exultation, and a focus on improving the spiritual self. In any case, approaching the fast without preparation can make it much more difficult to endure, both in terms of subjective feeling and objective physical health.














yourself to see if it’s something you’re interested in doing. But now that a few days have past, and I’m back to eating, “normal” again, I wanted to let everyone know how things are going.




