Why do we fast? What function does it serve in our spiritual life? How can being hungry and thirsty help us connect?
There are six regular fast days in the Jewish year, (seven if you count the fast of the first born before Seder night). Two of these days, Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur, are "full" fasts. They begin at sunset and end the following day when the stars appear. The rest are "half" day fasts, lasting from sunrise to stars out. During these times, adult Jews may neither eat nor drink – even water (there are exceptions for people with health issues).
Except for Yom Kippur, these fast days were established because of the catastrophes and suffering that occurred on those dates. Their purpose is to help us recall the negative behavior of our ancestors that led to those calamities, and to focus our attention on our own parallel behavior that continues to drive our nation into similar negative situations.
During these days, each person is meant to make a personal accounting of his or her behavior and resolve to return to the positive path.
According to Eliyahu Kitov in The Book of Our Heritage, one who fasts and spends the day idly without repentance, misses the point. That person is emphasizing the fasting, which is secondary, and de-emphasizing the repentance which is primary. He quotes the book of Jonah (3:10) where it says about the people of the city of Ninveh, "And God saw their actions." Our sages point out that the verse doesn't say that God saw their sackcloth and fasting, but their actions (Babylonian Talmud, Ta'anit 22a). The purpose of fasting is to bring one to repent, and true repentance brings about a change in actions.
The purpose of fasting is to bring about a change in actions.
However, repenting without fasting is not enough. The fast days were ordained either in the Torah or by our prophets, and throughout the generations, they have been accepted and observed by the nation of Israel. Since Judaism eschews asceticism for its own sake, there must be something unique about fasting that serves as a vehicle for repentance.
A distinctive feature of Judaism is its philosophy of integrating the spiritual with the physical. Jews do not reject the physical in favor of the spiritual; rather, they recognize the opportunity that living a physical existence provides for the exercise and strengthening of the spiritual. In this world, the physical and the spiritual are inextricably intertwined and we must use both to activate our ultimate growth and to achieve our raison d'etre.
We use the physical as a doorway through which we access the spiritual. This is one of the reasons that we clean the house, prepare delicious foods and wear beautiful clothes for Shabbat. The sense of tranquility that stems from dwelling in an orderly environment, the fullness and pleasure that good food engenders, and the touch of majesty that one feels when dressed in one's finery, all help create a sense of separation from the routine of the mundane and heighten one's ability to connect to God. We manipulate the physical to gain access to the spiritual.
Hunger is a feeling of emptiness, of desire for sustenance. It can also refer to a non-food related desire or craving, as in "hungry for success" or "hungry for power." One of Webster's definitions is "lacking needful or desirable elements; not fertile; poor." Hunger is the state of not having what one needs (or wants) and yearning for it.
Spiritual feelings are frequently very subtle; often, we have to put forth some effort to recognize them. Halacha (Jewish law) helps us in this process. By specifying particular behaviors and dictating when they must be performed, halacha provides physical sensations that point to spiritual realities.
Hunger on a physical level helps us access the desire on a spiritual level.
Feeling hunger on a physical level helps us access the concept of desire and need on a spiritual level. Requiring fasting on days that necessitate repentance helps us activate the longing we have to walk on a path that leads to a rectified world. When employed, rather than ignored, the hunger can forward our repentance.
Fasting can also help us address the common difficulty of not relating to the reason for the fast day. Of course, educating oneself as to the origin and significance of the day are vital, but even with an understanding of what the day is about, one can feel distant from its essence. Fasting helps engender a sense of loss and of vulnerability; with effort, these feelings can be used as stepping-stones to internalizing the meanings of the events that prompted the declaration of that particular fast.
In addition, fasting is reminiscent of the atonement service that was performed in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. During that time, one who sinned could activate his or her repentant energies by physically bringing an animal offering to God on the Temple altar. Of course God does not need offerings from humans; the entire process of animal sacrifices and offerings is about using the physical to access the spiritual. For some of the offerings, the fat and the blood of the animal would be consumed by fire (that part was "for" God), and the meat was eaten by people.
There is a very deep way that that process relates to fasting. In some prayer books, there is a special prayer that is inserted at the end of the afternoon amidah prayer on an individual fast day. The following is a loose translation:
Master of the Universe, you know that during the time that the Holy Temple stood, a person who sinned could bring an offering, and nothing except the blood and fat was (actually) offered, and in Your great mercy, You would grant atonement. And now, I have fasted, and diminished my fat and my blood. May it be Your will that the diminishment of my fat and my blood, that was diminished today, be as if I offered it before you on the altar, and may you show me favor.
In other words, this prayer asks that the physical result of fasting be bound together with the spiritual impetus for fasting, and that they be accepted by God as if they were offered in the time and place where we as a nation were most connected to God.
Fasting is difficult, but it is the very fact of its difficulty that gives us the opportunity to connect to God in a stronger way. The sublimation of our own desires to eat in favor of the directive to fast is itself an offering. In addition, harnessing the emptiness that fasting engenders to bring about a deeper level of repentance, along with the sacrifice that we can "offer" to God, makes fasting a precious opportunity for connecting ourselves with God's will.
(23) Shelley from Montreal, June 25, 2013 7:57 PM
Thanks for reminding me why I'm fasting
Hi Aliza; I was sitting at my desk in front of my computer and feeling a little weak from the Fast of Shiva Assar b-Tammuz. It was nice to read your article just when I was wondering why it is that I'm fasting in the first place! Thanks for making this Fast day a little more meaningful.
(22) tzilia, June 25, 2013 7:16 PM
re fasting and compassion
Dearest Aliza,
I know what it means and how real you are in your giving of yourself and all you have to the honor of HaShem. Our friendship goes way back.
I just want to add, the fasting, at least for me, also makes me look at the beggars on the streets of Jerusalem and the people even children who come to the soup kitchens who really KNOW what it means to be hungry. We know that our fast will end in a certain number of hours. They do not know when they will eat again. It makes my tzeddakah giving and volunteering so much more sincere since I've had a taste of hunger.
much love to you Ephraim and family
tzilia
(21) Talya, June 25, 2013 5:36 PM
deep insight
Thank you for this deep insight into the connection between fasting and teshuva. Causing ourselves to feel physically hungry in order to feel our true spiritual hunger. Ps I read a lot of articles on aish, but hardly ever post. I was very moved by this article which I hope will deepen my future fasts, and I want to express my appreciation to the writer.
(20) Avi Levy, June 25, 2013 5:35 PM
There's actually 13 fast days
If you were to REALLY count, there are 13 days. There are people who(me included) who fast 3 days after the months of Tishri and Nisan. So 6 7 is 13(if you are not a first born like me, then 6 6=12) Thanks for a GREAT article!:) Hope everyone has a easy fast!
(19) Rebecca, June 25, 2013 4:48 PM
What a wonderful article! Thank you for offering new insight!
(18) Linda Katz, December 24, 2012 3:05 AM
Correction
Technical Correction - the minor fasts do not begin at sunrise - but at dawn. For reasons I don't understand, the start times are actually up to 1/2 hr before the set times for dawn (over an hour before sunrise.)
(17) Mijal, December 23, 2012 8:56 PM
It really made my fast meaningful.
I am fasting right now and by reading your article this and the future fasting days will be much more meaningful. Thank you very much.
(16) sara, January 5, 2012 12:32 PM
thank you
your article is giving so much meaning to my fast today. i feel spiritually lifted.
(15) Ezra Djemal, January 3, 2012 11:26 PM
mission accomplished
Awesome article, in every sense. Aliza, I had never payed attention to "minor" fasts, but your extraordinary piece of spiritual philosophy has heightened my perception of their importance, and how much gain one derives, as a Jew, from atonement and repentance. Your article is responsible that tomorrow I'll join hundreds of my co-religionaries in Panama in fasting and and remembrance. Thank you.
(14) Barbara, January 3, 2012 3:30 PM
Excellent article!
Over the years I've lost the reason that I fast; I just do it because I'm supposed to. This piece gives me a much deeper and more meaningful sense of what I'm doing. It'll also help me when I'm sitting at work on Thursday, the only frum person in an office full of non-observant Jews. Thank you.
(13) Anonymous, January 9, 2011 12:18 PM
thank you!
so many people ask me the purpose of fasting!!- now i have an answer!
(12) mordechai cohen, January 9, 2011 12:17 PM
an excellent article!!
an excellent article!! Thought provoking and well presented. I have already recommended the article to several other people.
(11) Ronit, August 7, 2008 1:22 PM
I never really "got" it before...
A beautiful Torah - thanks for sharing!
(10) yocheved, July 20, 2008 12:46 PM
thank you soo much
fantastic so well written and informative
(9) suzanne steinmetz, July 24, 2007 4:22 PM
Thank you for the insightfull and clear way you explain the meaning and purpose of our fasting. This article is helpful to Jews on every level of observance. Fortunate are we, that can connect to G-D through proper fasting.
A must for all to read!
Bayla Sheva, June 25, 2013 6:10 PM
Also what I needed today
I agree; fortunate are we that we can connect to Hashem through fasting - "harnessing the emptiness" and thereby bonding to Hashem's and feel spiritual fullness. (Suzie, is that you? How can I reach you?)
(8) Leah Angerman, July 3, 2007 1:03 PM
Thank you for your insightful thoughts on what to focus on during the fast day. I hope to internalize these ideas during the fast. Thanks again.
(7) Leah, August 4, 2006 12:00 AM
Thank you
Thank you so much, your article was extremely enlightening! I've always fasted because I knew that's what I'm supposed to be doing but I end up focusing on how hungry I am. Now I see that that too can be channeled in order to elevate me. Once again thank you.
(6) Rachel, August 3, 2006 12:00 AM
And another purpose of fasting...
My own personal connection to fasting as a means of spiritual growth is that when you're fasting, you have plenty of time to think, because you're not spending half the day eating or preparing meals. I always find that not having to worry about food for a full day gives me the opportunity to use that time to introspect on my life and come to useful conclusions. Yes, it's torture when someone starts cooking next door (and I happen to live next door to a burger place, so it's double torture), but it's extremely productive to take a break from focusing on food for a while, and to concentrate on the inner workings of my psyche rather than those of my digestive system.
(5) Sarah, July 7, 2004 12:00 AM
How can I get spiritual when all I'm thinking about is food?!
An overwhelming emotion came over me when I read the author's description of the sense of "loss and vulnerability" that most often comes with fasting. This past fast, lying on the couch, quiet, head hurting, utterly uncomfortable, I felt just this way.
I have often struggled with the issues addressed in this essay. Doesn't fasting just put more of an emphasis on the physical? How am I supposed to focus on matters of the spirit and mind when I am so aware of my physical being (hungry, uncomfortable!)?
This essay brings up some enlightening points. I would like to learn further how to employ those sensations of "loss", "hunger" and discomfort to make fasts more meaningful. In the past, I most often dreaded fasting.
This article is a great stepping stone in the direction of making fasts more meaningful. Thank you for this article. I hope to read it again around Tisha B'av.
May we all have a successful and meaningful Tisha B'av fast. May there be peace on Israel and the world.
(4) Anonymous, July 6, 2004 12:00 AM
i knew there was a link but now its so much clearer
im fasting right now and i think its good to read it at that time because you understand it more and feel how it relates. thanx aliza
(3) D. F., July 6, 2004 12:00 AM
This was really great-Thank you for making my fast more meaningful...tizkee limitzvos!
(2) bracha silverman, July 5, 2004 12:00 AM
this helps me so much that I am going to share it with my friends.
Aliza, even from far away, you strengthen me in the mitzvot of the Land. You remind me of the honor I have of living in Israel.
(1) Anonymous, August 4, 2003 12:00 AM
A penetrating look at the spiritual results of fasting
This article provided a refreshingly penetrating look at the meaning behind the fast of Tishah B'av. I have been searching for some deeper way to connect to the rituals performed on this day, and found Aliza Bulow's ideas helpful in conceptualizing the spiritual purpose behind the fast.