The First Fast home
the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived, yes it is that time of week were i take the time to concretize my thoughts and pass on my words of wisdom to all my far flung friends who do not have the fortune of living in my fair city i hope everyones' fasts were easy and meaningful. i know that the point of fasting is so it will be a kappara for our chataim but i cant help but use it to remind us how lucky we have it and how much suffering our nation went through. imagine the scene( you were there not too long ago it cant be too hard) we are in sem and school is over for the day. mrs. blau has taken pity on us and has begged rabbi A to let us out early as her stories cant even keep our interest any longer. you stagger down the steps, down the hill, and trudge up the steps once more before you fall into your bed with your sorry excuse of a fan blowing on you to make sure you don't faint from the heat as well as fatigue and hunger.
you anxiously count down the minutes till the fast is over imagining the feast with which you will re-acquaint your body with its long lost bf-food! will it be danishes? soup? bagels and cream cheese? finally the appointed hour has arrived and you've even kept a couple xtra mins bcz you are a sem girl and you want to be a tzadekes by the time the year ends. you run with your roomates with that sudden burst of energy that comes at the end of every fast to the dining room, then it hits you: the infamous neve dining room smell that permeates every corner of the room, every dish, every fork. all your dreams of soups and danishes are shattered into a million pieces in a split second.
you groan and grumble as you stand in line taking scrambled eggs with soy hot dogs and that concoction that is supposed to be some sorta kugel but your not sure what. now flashback to the time of the romans there is siege laid around yerushalyim the city of gold. the Romans march around, guarding the wall making sure that no food or water enters the holy city. now yerushalayim was not the thriving metropolis it is now. people were in cramped conditions, even worse than our dorms disease is rampant and despair looms in the air, there is no hope.
now B"H we live in a blessed time ( excuse me i live in the bible belt) were food is abundant and the only limitations on water we have is not to water our lush lawns till after sunset. so i see this fast as a way to help me mourn. we cannot possibly know what it was like to live in a sieged city our only similar experience to that is being locked into the building at 12. so i saw this fast as a way to reconnect to the past and maybe feel the smallest amt of connection to our ancestors of so long ago. now: have a great shabbat enjoy your mother's home cookin and dont forget how blessed you are and remember" when going back to the world of things. the most important 'things' in life our not things!" ( a special shout out to 306!)
love ya'll
you anxiously count down the minutes till the fast is over imagining the feast with which you will re-acquaint your body with its long lost bf-food! will it be danishes? soup? bagels and cream cheese? finally the appointed hour has arrived and you've even kept a couple xtra mins bcz you are a sem girl and you want to be a tzadekes by the time the year ends. you run with your roomates with that sudden burst of energy that comes at the end of every fast to the dining room, then it hits you: the infamous neve dining room smell that permeates every corner of the room, every dish, every fork. all your dreams of soups and danishes are shattered into a million pieces in a split second.
you groan and grumble as you stand in line taking scrambled eggs with soy hot dogs and that concoction that is supposed to be some sorta kugel but your not sure what. now flashback to the time of the romans there is siege laid around yerushalyim the city of gold. the Romans march around, guarding the wall making sure that no food or water enters the holy city. now yerushalayim was not the thriving metropolis it is now. people were in cramped conditions, even worse than our dorms disease is rampant and despair looms in the air, there is no hope.
now B"H we live in a blessed time ( excuse me i live in the bible belt) were food is abundant and the only limitations on water we have is not to water our lush lawns till after sunset. so i see this fast as a way to help me mourn. we cannot possibly know what it was like to live in a sieged city our only similar experience to that is being locked into the building at 12. so i saw this fast as a way to reconnect to the past and maybe feel the smallest amt of connection to our ancestors of so long ago. now: have a great shabbat enjoy your mother's home cookin and dont forget how blessed you are and remember" when going back to the world of things. the most important 'things' in life our not things!" ( a special shout out to 306!)
love ya'll
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