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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Easy Fast or Meaningful Fast

Do you wish everyone "Have an easy fast!" or "Have a meaningful fast!"?

Everyone used to always wish people "Have an easy fast", which was a nice thing to wish people. Then, some people decided that just going through the motions of fasting without any meaning was not appropriate, and that if you're going to wish a ברכה to people, you should wish them to have a meaningful fast.

I personally think that for most fasts, we should revert to "Have an easy fast". This is because of the famous saying: concern yourself with your own ruhniyut and the other's gashmiyut. Therefore, when wishing a blessing to another Jew, I care more that they should have an easy fast than having a meaningful one.

On Kippur, on the other hand, the other Jew's ability to have a meaningful fast could directly affect his gashmiyut for that year - in fact, it could even be a matter of life and death. Therefore, I think for Kippur, we should wish people, "Have an easy and meaningful fast!"

3 Comments:

At Tue Oct 07, 12:29:00 PM 2008, Blogger Tomer Devorah said...

I always have to be different. I wish people a successful fast, so it should accomplish everything it is intended to do.

Have an easy, meaningful and successful fast, Yaak. G'mar chatima tova and chag sameach to you and yours.

 
At Tue Oct 07, 01:02:00 PM 2008, Blogger nava said...

well said!

 
At Wed Oct 08, 01:20:00 AM 2008, Blogger Cosmic X said...

Good point.

גמר חתימה טובה

 

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