JEWISH WORLD

I slam’s Ramadan, though 30 days, is akin to Yom Kippur, according to Khalil Albaz, the imam of Tel Sheva in southern Israel. Ramadan is mandatory for every Muslim man and woman above the age of puberty. Albaz added that if a person is sick, elderly, pregnant, or nursing, he or she can have permis- sion not to fast, but will need to make it up later by fasting an equal number of days or by giving charity to those in need. This “sacred month” commemo- rates the first revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad. It’s a time when Muslims work on their discipline and moral character, and increase their almsgiving. “God places much emphasis on being good during Ramadan,” said Albaz. “People give charity for each person in their home, plus an addi- tional 2 percent [or so] for every major asset, including sheep and camels.” He said that like the month of Elul — during which Jews work to make amends with man and God — throughout the month of Ramadan, all good deeds and charitable donations are consid- ered doubled in God’s eyes. “You want to do as much good as possible so at the end of the month, when God does an accounting to see how many good deeds you did versus bad deeds, you will skew positive,” said Albaz. By Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, it is expected that Muslims have become improved versions of themselves. In addition to Ramadan, Muslims also fast on Monday and Thursdays, as well as 13th, 14th ,and 15th of each lunar month. Other voluntary fasting days include the Day of Ashura (10th day of Muharram); Day of Arafat (ninth day of Dhu al-Hijja, the month of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca); and six days during the month of Shawwal, which follows Ramadan. F asting in Christianity varies much more than in Islam and Judaism. Roman Catholics, for instance, define fasting as the reduction of food intake for one full meal and two small meals with solid food intake prohibited between meals. They have two obligatory fast days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, though voluntary fasting is encour- aged and practiced. The late American evangelist Bill Bright, who is considered a major catalyst for the modern-day resurgence of the discipline of fast- ing in the Christian church, said fasting is “a way to align our hearts.” “I am convinced that when God’s people fast with a proper biblical motive — seeking God’s face, not His hand — with a bro- ken, repentant and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven,” Bright wrote in his guide to fasting and prayer. “He will heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and world.” In the Eastern Orthodox tradi- tion, fasting is an important disci- pline to protect oneself from glut- tony, and is generally defined as avoiding meat, dairy products, oil and alcoholic beverages. It is accompanied by almsgiving and prayers; without such acts, it is considered worthless. Both Catholics and Orthodox Christians observe the Lenten sea- son, which lasts 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday and ending about six weeks later before Easter Sunday. Lent remembers the fast- ing of Jesus in the wilderness, and involves atoning in preparation for his death and resurrection at Easter. In the past, Protestants frowned on fasting, but now it is acknowl- edged and encouraged as an important spiritual experience among Protestant churches, according to Richard Bloomer, director of the School of Health Studies at the University of Memphis and co-author of The Daniel Cure , a restricted 21-day vegan diet based on a fast in the biblical book of Daniel. He said that in Christianity, the purpose of fasting is to achieve mastery of spirit over body. Today, many churches are integrating it into their worship, especially in January, to begin the new year through fasting and prayer. The Daniel Fast involves dietary modifications like a purified vegan diet — eating unlimited fruits, veg- etables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and oil while eliminat- ing refined foods, white flour, preservatives, additives, sweeten- ers, flavorings, caffeine, and alco- hol. It is derived from the biblical story of Daniel (1:8-14) in which he resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and requested permission to consume nothing but vegetables and water for 10 days. Later in the book (10:2-3), Daniel again observed a 21-day period of fasting, during which time he had no meat or wine. “Because individuals tradition- ally follow the ‘Daniel Fast’ for strict religious purposes to become closer to God during a time of extended prayer, findings have indicated excellent compliance,” said Bloomer. Bloomer believes that while fasting is often a time of spiritual growth, it can also improve one’s physical health. He said investiga- tions examining the health-related effects of religiously motivated fasts have found favorable health outcomes, including weight and body fat loss, reductions in blood pressure and improvement of fast- ing blood sugar and insulin levels, which are important for metabolic health. The author said it remains unclear whether the people of the Bible knew of the health benefits of fasting, but that in the book of Daniel, it is noted that those who did not eat the food from the king’s table performed and looked better, and were healthier. “Fasting, first and foremost, it should be about spiritual growth and not necessarily about health,” he said. “But getting in great phys- ical condition … is a wonderful side effect.” Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman is a free- lance writer in Overland Park, Kansas who writes for JNS. letters for mikveh, mem-kuf-vov- heh, in the stone rubble on the ground near Rusty’s, a lesbian bar in Penn’s Landing, and her satis- faction that mikveh belonged there as a smashed relic of the patriarchy. These days she lives in Minneapolis where she and a friend do their ritual immersion in Lake Harriet on Fridays before Shabbat in the months when the weather makes it possible. When a female cop saw them and agreed not to arrest them if they left the water, they told her she was their mikveh lady. When I was getting married I had decided, after going to a Jerusalem Rosh Hodesh group and hearing a variety of women talk about their experiences with mikveh that this was something I wanted to do. It offered a chance to connect with the ways Jewish women have lived Jewish lives throughout history, even if my own mother and proba- bly my grandmothers (though I never asked them) had not been to one. When I asked my mother if she would go with me she refused in no uncertain terms telling me she thought the ritual said negative things about women’s bodies. So I took six friends with me, three mar- ried and three unmarried, to 78th Street, off Broadway. The mikveh was located incongruously above the Stand Up New York Comedy Club and I recall being unsure how to enter. The mikveh lady, an older Hungarian woman with a large grey wig, was unsure what to do about the unusual situation of the “kallah [bride] with the entourage” but I immersed, and my friends threw candy when I came out. What I did not know was that they were working on a parody song about my husband and I that made us both laugh hysterically when they sang it at our wedding the next day. To me, a mikveh is about finding ways to embody connection, through the actual bodily ritual of immersion, but also, in a larger sense, connection with other Jewish women, with my spouse, and with an ineffable feeling of holiness that can be accessed only immersively. Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis and the author of the novel Questioning Return. Therapy continued from page 6 Conservative Jewish converts lined up assembly line style all at once without personal time or space to reflect. The mikveh was located incongruously above Stand Up New York Comedy Club in Manhattan. to heaven and cried out, “Master of the Universe, I know You’re hiding because You want us to find you, but what happens if You continue to remain hidden and Your children stop looking? Before it’s too late, reveal Yourself.” If we could address God as directly and simply as the Spolyer Grandfather, what a huge step we’d be taking towards revealing the “hidden face” of God. It is cru- cial, however, that we never stop looking for Him – and if we search hard enough, and under- stand that we must perfect our- selves even as we search for Him, we shall certainly make Him appear. And He promises, through all of our prophets, that at least a faithful remnant will never stop looking, and that we will make Him appear in a perfected and repaired world (Is. 2, Mic. 4). Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is Chief Rabbi, Efrat Israel. Hide continued from page 7 Fasting continued from page 9 The president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, hosted, as every year, a meal to break the fast of Ramadan (Iftar) for Muslim leaders and public figures in Israel. Monday, June 12, 2017. 30 JEWISH WORLD • SEPTEMBER 14-20, 2018