H eadlines
Fasting on Yom Kippur? Follow this Playbook
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
Play No. 1: Drink a lot of
water the day before.

Rabbi Joel Seltzer is not a
pulpit rabbi. The Cherry Hill,
New Jersey, resident runs
Camp Ramah in the Poconos.

So he experiences Yom Kippur
with the rest of us down here in
the masses.

But like a true rabbi, he
thinks hard about his approach
to Kol Nidre. The gorge meal
theory, to keep yourself full
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FASTING ON Yom Kippur
is an ordeal. After all, God
designed it that way.

As Jews, we’re supposed
to repent for our sins from
the previous year. Unless you
have a medical condition that
requires you to eat or drink,
you probably do this every
year, too.

So, after all these years, you
likely have your own strategy
for atoning/getting through
the day.

The Jewish Exponent talked
to several rabbis and regular
Jews in the area about how
they approach their fasts. Their
methods can now form the
basis for this very unofficial
Yom Kippur playbook.

Kol Nidre is on Sept. 15.

UPPE R DU BLI N
! Rabbi Lance Sussman said staying busy and socializing on Yom Kippur
helps you handle the fast. 
Courtesy of Congregation Keneseth Israel
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JEWISH EXPONENT
through the next day, is a
myth, Seltzer said.

The better strategy is to
drink enough water. As Seltzer
explains, a lot of times you just
want a sip of water on Yom
Kippur. But you can’t have one.

Chugging the day before helps
you experience fewer of those
moments. It also helps you avoid one
of the worst parts of the fast
day: the afternoon headache.

“Overly saturate to avoid
dehydration,” Seltzer said.

Rabbi Yochonon Goldman
of B’nai Abraham Chabad in
Philadelphia, said drinking
water the day before helps him
power through the profound
challenge that rabbis face every
year. Their fast day is also their
busiest work day. Without
eating or drinking, synagogue
leaders must run services from
Kol Nidre all the way through
break the fast.

If he drinks enough water,
though, Goldman is good to
go. The services even become a
nice distraction.

“I’m not at home, near the
kitchen, smelling the food for
break the fast,” he said.

Play No. 2: Go to services.

As Goldman alluded to,
there is no better distraction
on The Highest Holiday than
attending services.

Several rabbis chuckled
at the question of “How do
you deal with fasting on your
busiest work day?” For them,
it’s easy to lose oneself in
prayer and forget about food
and drink.

Rabbi Lance Sussman, who
leads Reform Congregation
Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park,
compared it to working a busy
retail job.

“If your cash register is busy
and you’re moving around, you
don’t notice the clock,” he said.

Congregants can’t possibly
stay as busy as rabbis do on
Yom Kippur. But they can go
to synagogue or, in the COVID
era, attend virtually, and lose
themselves in prayer all the
same. It’s the most important thing
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H EADLINES
E V E RY D AY I S
ABOUT TO GET THE
R O YA L T R E AT M E N T.

Rabbi Yochonon Goldman said working and praying all day helps him
get through Yom Kippur.

Photo by Jay Gorodetzer Photography
When we feel the frailty of hunger, it reminds
us how reliant on God we are for everything.

That’s a really uplifting concept.”
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GEVURA DAVIS
to do on Yom Kippur aft er
fasting. It’s also something,
anything to actually go and do.

Jackee Yerusalem-Swartz, a
resident of the suburbs, went
to services at her Northeast
Philadelphia synagogue for
20 years. She would attend
a morning session, then a
midday study group and then
an aft ernoon session, too.

By the time she left , she
could go straight to break the
fast with her family. Aft er
staying home last year during
the pandemic, Yerusalem-
Swartz joined Congregation
Kol Ami, a reform shul in
Elkins Park, for 2021/5782.

She is planning on returning
to her old synagogue routine.

“A lot of times my hunger
has to do with boredom,”
Yerusalem-Swartz said.

“During breaks, interact
with your congregants and
friends,” he said. “Th at sense
of community lift s you up and
carries you through.”
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Play No. 4: Remember why
you’re doing this.

Gevura Davis of Bala
Cynwyd is a former Reform
Jew who became Orthodox as
an adult. She said learning to
focus on the deeper morality
helped her grow to love Th e
Highest Holiday.

Davis said we should
complain less and contemplate
more. “We live in a generation that
only wants to feel comfort,” she
added. “But pain is one of our
greatest teachers.”
Ultimately, according to
Davis, Yom Kippur is about
disengaging from the material
world and connecting with our
souls. “When we feel the frailty
of hunger, it reminds us how
reliant on God we are for
everything,” she said. “Th at’s a
really uplift ing concept.” ●
Play No. 3: Talk to other
people. Th e best way to stay busy,
according to Yerusalem-
Swartz, is not just to pray hard.

It’s to talk to people, too. Th at’s
another reason she stays at
synagogue all day.

Sussman said the same jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
thing. 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
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