Fasting for God or Fitting Into Jeans? This Yom Kippur, UTB Asks: Why Not Both?
Photo by Jewish Boston; Edited by Lila Meltzer
October 13, 2024 at 10:40 pm
As I atoned for my sins this Yom Kippur, I got to thinking: is fasting for God so different than fasting for fashion week? Both require discipline, a bit of suffering, and a promised reward at the end. You're telling me I can be forgiven by God and be skinny?
Leave it to us Jews to turn fasting into a spiritual glow-up. We’re the og Gwyneth Paltrow-- but with less bone broth and more matzo balls. Fasting is basically goop for the soul. We’ve made hunger look holy for centuries with a side of guilt and a whole lot of prayers. And nothing goes better with guilt than hunger. On this holiest day of the year, starving yourself isn't just tolerated, it’s celebrated.
And those jeans from last summer? Yeah, they’re staring at me from my closet, begging for a little more space in the waistline. And forgiveness is truly fitting into pants from your outpatient era. So this Yom Kippur, I’ll be thanking God for the ultimate gift: repentance and a size 24.
Forgive us, pardon us, grant us a thigh gap.