{"id":63886,"date":"2019-10-03T13:37:05","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T10:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63886"},"modified":"2019-10-03T13:37:05","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T10:37:05","slug":"fasting-is-offensive-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/fasting-is-offensive-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Fasting Is Offensive To God*"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hardly any of the sins specifically named in the Yom Kippur confessional prayers involve a ritual law. We are not asked to admit that we worked on Shabbat or failed to pray regularly. Furthermore, on Yom Kippur, we read a passage from the Book of Isaiah that makes very clear that ritual piety is meaningless\u2014if not downright offensive to God\u2014unless accompanied by moral righteous\u00adness. It starts with the Israelites asking God, \u201cWhy, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?\u201d The prophet Isaiah responds:<\/p>\n

“Because on your fast day you see to your business and oppress all your laborers! Because you fast in strife and contention, and you strike with a wicked fist! . . . Is such the fast I desire, a day for men to starve their bodies? No, this is the fast I desire: . . . to let the oppressed go free; to break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home; when you see the naked, to clothe him . . . “<\/p>\n

The Yom Kippur confessional prayers are very much a communal experience. I have often felt a sense of relief when reciting the lists of sins in these prayers, thinking to myself, \u201cOther people do that too\u2014I\u2019m not the only one!\u201d And note that the prayers are phrased in the \u201cwe\u201d voice: not \u201cI\u201d did X, <\/em>but \u201cwe<\/em>\u201d did X. Regardless of whether or not you personally committed a sin, you\u2019re still supposed to join in the chorus of voices saying, \u201cWe committed this sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

I find this to be deeply humane, allowing us to acknowledge where we\u2019ve missed the mark while protecting our privacy. It also reflects a deep truth, one that is a core theme in Judaism: We are all responsible for each other. We may not have mocked or slandered anyone, or com\u00admitted sexual impropriety, but did we fail to confront others who did? Every community\u2014whether it\u2019s a congregation, school, or workplace\u2014has a moral atmosphere, and that atmosphere influences how we act. When I\u2019ve been part of gossipy communities in which people curse a lot (these are known as political campaigns), I have definitely gossiped and cursed more. None of us is alone in our sinning\u2014we\u2019re all in some way implicated in how others behave.<\/p>\n

\u2026The end goal of prayer is not just to connect us to ourselves and others and cultivate certain states of mind\u2014I would argue that those are the means to the end goal, which is to take Godly action in the world. Piety is good, but not the point. The point is good deeds. What God desires, Isaiah declares, is that we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and free the oppressed. God doesn\u2019t just want our prayers\u2014God also wants us to actually do some good in the world.<\/p>\n

Excerpt from Sarah Hurwitz, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life\u2014in Judaism (after finally<\/u> choosing to look there),<\/em> Random House, 2019,<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63589,"id":63589,"title":"Sarah Hurwitz cover","filename":"Sarah-Hurwitz-cover.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Sarah-Hurwitz-cover.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/discovering-millions-of-pages-and-new-old-ideas\/sarah-hurwitz-cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"sarah-hurwitz-cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63586,"date":"2019-09-26 15:33:44","modified":"2019-10-22 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