Fifty Years of Fasting

 Today is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a day of fasting. The first time I fasted was when I was 11 years old, in 1971.  That actually makes this my 51st fast, but the 50th anniversary of fasting once a year. The holiday is "A Day of Atonement" for your sins. One of my sins clearly is eating too much, so this is the proper punishment, going 24 hours without eating.

During most of my years of fasting I did not eat or drink. Over the last ten or twenty years, it made sense to drink water since I was working on the holiday.  I am in the 18th hour of not eating and I've been drinking a lot.  My wife just burnt some toast and it really smells good. I walked into the kitchen and watched her eating a sandwich and yes, it looked good too.  She was eating pickles and no, it looked awful and there's no way I would eat a pickle.

After eating dinner the night before fasting, I've never had a problem going without food that night.  Usually, waking up in the morning, I'm good for a few hours. However, once lunchtime hits, the countdown begins.

1:30:  I asked my wife if we can have an early dinner and she said, "yes." I'm ready when the brisket is ready.  I think I'm still four hours or more away from eating it though.

2:00: Brisket starts cooking.  ETA is 5:30, but my wife says, "it might be earlier."

3:00: Cleaning out my car I find a grape that's been there since Sunday.  I think about how good it looks and then I throw it out.  It still looked better than the pickle.

4:00: I can smell the brisket. I close my office door to keep out the odor.

4:30: After waking up from a short nap I set the table.  At this point the brisket smell is intoxicating. I had no problem making lunch and getting food ready for my road day tomorrow.  The fast is almost over.

5:20: The brisket is coming out and I'm heading that way.

5:50: It is done and just to prove it are the pictures below.  It tasted terrific and in case you're wondering, I did eat most of it.  Heading out to mow the lawn, I have energy and I'm ready to go.

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