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fist. Twelve
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, October 1, 1954
PANORAMA by David Schwartz
YOM KIPPUR
, Sometimes 1 just can’t make
ojut why the whole world doesn’t
f|ock to Judaism, when we have
so much to offer them. Take the
matter of Sabbath. The good Jew
l<eeps Saturday, and living in a
non-Jewish environment, doesn’t
werk on Sunday either. Result,
Ke has two days of rest. What
nrther religion offers this opportun
ity?
! Or take fasting. I don’t know of
any religion that affords the op-
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portunities for fasting that the
Jewish faith provides.
Fasting did enjoy a little vogue
in early America, as a conse
quence of the Hebraic influence
on Puritan thought. Thomas
Jefferson recalls in his writings
how during one period of the pre
liminary struggle that preceded
the American Revolution, the
“patriots" or revolutionists as we
would call them today, proclaimed
a fast day in order to arouse the
people. Nowadays, there are oc
casions for arousing the public
to solemn thought too — but no
one seems to think of proclaiming
a fast. Instead .they issue a re
lease to the newspapers — which
is cut down to two paragraphs
and printed on the ship news page
and that ends the matter.
We Jews have a tremendous
amount of fasting background.
My father, a good religious Jew,
must have fasted, not one day in
the year, but probably as many
as ten or twenty days in the year.
Besides Yom Kippur, there were
Tisha B’Av when the temple was
destroyed. Esther "Tones” when
the Persian Jews came near being
destroyed and a dozen or so
other anniversaries when some
thing or other was about to be
destroyed. You don’t know how
much destroying goes on unless
you are a Jew.
Fasting was such a casual thing
with papa that we children
scarcely knew when he fasted.
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And lie was not unusual in this
regard. His story is the story of
most good Jews of his type. As
an old wheeze had it, many of
the old-time Orthodox rabbis
would have starved to death on
their meagre salaries, if they had
not fasted so much.
Dr. Schmaryahu Lewin used
to tell about his mother’s fasting.
She fasted not only on the whole
calendar of fast days, but used to
improvise special ones for special
occasions when .she wished to
intercede* with the Divinity in
someone’s behalf. Her husband
protested, "It is not up to you to
supply religion for the whole
world." “Chaim,” she returned,
"if I want to have a little pleasure,
why do you insist on interfering.”
I can tell a little story about my
own mother in this regard. She
was 63 years old at the time of
her passing. In her last year,
when, because ©f her health, the
rabbi said that she was released
from the necessity of fasting, she
replied, “Are you God?” She in
sisted on fasting.
Yom Kippur is a solemn day,
yet in ancient Israel, it was the
time young women arrayed them
selves in white and sought hus
bands. Today, Yom Kippur at the
synagogue also seems to offer
opportunities in this direction.
When can you find so many young
people together looking so nice?
Something of the purity of the
holiday — something of the
beauty of Kol Nidre — seems to
eter into them.
It is a solemn day. God sits in
judgment. But the Jews are al
ways optimists.->Jf the judgment
is adverse, you still have time
until Hoshana Rabba to reverse
the decree. And the Berditchiever
rebbe rising in his synagogue on
Yom Kippur flatly commanded
God to give his people a good year.
"If not, Rabbi Isaac Leib of Ber-
ditchiev, forbid you, God, to
write the decree, for is forbid
den to write on the High Holy
days.” Thus, the rabbi could force
even the hand of God.
Said the Kotzker rebbe: “It is
a fact of nature that weakness
preceded strength. Man himself
at birth is the weakest of all phy
sical creatures, yet he becomes
the master of the earth. We fast
to gain the weakness in order to
attain the strength which follows
it.”
I find this thought very stimu
lating. We must have weakness
before we can attain strength!
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