fast note

[cellio]

This probably isn't of interest to anyone else; it's just a reminder for myself, because it's taken me a few years to figure this out.

The following worked well for pre-Yom-Kippur meals:

Lunch: large meal, protein -- big piece of fish, veggies, bread, some rice (Mallorca).

Dinner: normal-sized meal, protein -- spinach quiche, herring, carrots, soy milk.

Gradually reduced the caffeine over the week; Friday I had tea with lunch and one can of Diet Coke mid-afternoon. Headache started around 5pm Yom Kippur; don't know if it was caffeine, eyestrain (lighting sub-optimal in parts of synagogue), or something else.

Comments

[geekosaur]

Headache started around 5pm Yom Kippur; don't know if it was caffeine, eyestrain (lighting sub-optimal in parts of synagogue), or something else.

Mine started earlier, but I've always been prone to headaches from dehydration. :(

I'm still digesting the whole thing; not sure I can say anything intelligent about it yet.

[cellio]

I didn't actually seem to be having obvious dehydration problems this year. (For instance, my mouth didn't get as dry and pasty as it has in the past.) I drank five quarts of water over the course of Friday (one right before candle-lighting), so that probably made a big difference. In a normal day I drink about three -- and some of that is offset by caffeine on a normal day. (Caffeine is a diarrhetic.)

I'll have more substantial things to say about Yom Kippur later. It was a good day for me.

Where did you end up going?

[geekosaur]

I drank quite a bit in the hour before starting the fast (and avoided the obvious diuretics all day, but then I don't normally do caffeine anyway), but I knew it wouldn't be enough; I just need a lot of water.

I didn't get to make any special arrangements (last two weeks have been pretty bad; I wasn't even sure I'd get the chance to do Yom Kippur at all until Friday afternoon --- spent most of the past 2 weeks doing forensics on hacked machines in our public cluster), and finally just hoped Temple Sinai would be accommodating to a visitor. They were; if you'd looked up at the right time while you were chatting with the Intergenerational Choir you'd've spotted me behind them :) (Or just before the concluding service, since I moved up closer at about the same time you did.) I'm thinking I should see if I can pay after the fact next week (assuming our "visitor" in the cluster doesn't take away any more of my time, sigh --- he hit the reinstalled machine again earlier today according to the logs. Him I'm not quite ready to forgive yet...).

[cellio]

They were; if you'd looked up at the right time while you were chatting with the Intergenerational Choir you'd've spotted me behind them :)

Oops. Sorry I missed you.

FYI, the afternoon services (mincha to the end) were explicitly open to the public. Did you also go to Kol Nidre and the morning service? (I wasn't an usher this year, but last year I was and we were asked to take down names of people who didn't have either tickets or student ID. I have no idea what happened to that list. Some of the folks on it were members who'd simply forgotten their tickets.)

Him I'm not quite ready to forgive yet...

:-) I hope you're able to stop the intrusions soon.

[geekosaur]

I was at (and signed in) the late Kol Nidre service, and was just waved by without being asked to sign in for the late morning service. And stayed all day, including the Beit Midrash. (Both sessions I attended would have benefitted from having more time available. Oh well.)

[cellio]

I went to late Kol Nidre and early morning service, which left me with about three hours of dead time (during the late service). Last year I snuck into the library and read; this year I went home and came back. Next year I'll probably just cave and go to the late service, but I really prefer the music at the early one. (I'm also going to lobby for swapping them, but I predict failure there.)

(Both sessions I attended would have benefitted from having more time available. Oh well.)

That can be hard to judge, unfortunately. Last year they allocated 45 minutes per class and that wasn't enough; this year they initially allocated 60 minutes, but then compressed a bit due to the slippage earlier in the day. I think they wound up with about 50 minutes per session -- if the teachers planned for 60 and didn't have practice adapting on the fly, that could result in things feeling rushed. (Which classes did you go to?)

[geekosaur]

I don't recall the title of the first class (and it's not on the tentative list from the web page, as far as I can tell) but it was about how one views the Torah: fact vs. "Jewish truth" vs. mythology (in the William Burroughs sense) etc. There weren't many people there, but I think we all would have liked a few more hours to discuss it. :)

The second was Rabbi Freedman's class on teshuvah as discussed by the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah.

[cellio]

Hmm. I wonder which that first class was too -- if I had interpreted one of the titles as that I would have gone. :-)

Rabbi Freedman gave a short class at S'lichot on the Rambam material. You probably got farther than we did because you had more time.

I went to the class on youth issues, which I thought was going to be about how congregations can work with kids better, but ended up being about what "kids these days" are bothered by in the world at large. Kind of interesting but not a lot of Jewish content.

Rabbi Gibson's class was neat, and I'll eventually write this up in a top-level entry. As sort of an exercise in Jewish cultural anthropology, he had a collection of "Dear Abby"-style letters from the Jewish press over the last century. It made for some interesting discussion on assimilation, intermarriage, kids becoming more religious than their parents, etc. Some issues are forever. :-)

[geekosaur]

Hm. If you have the classroom list, IIRC it was room 205.

[geekosaur]

Now that I've had sleep and food I see I was wrong last night; the first class was on the web page: "Jewish History — More Than Just a Story".

[jeannegrrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. I had a very easy fast. Hillel's was tougher - got a killer headache. I think next year, he'll try the gradual caff. weaning in combo with a big protein-ey lunch. Glad your combo worked for you!

[cellio]

I learned my caffeine lesson the very first time I fasted. I had the benefit of a gentle lesson: 17 Tamus taught me that I needed to change things for Tisha b'Av, and Tisha b'Av taught me that I needed to refine things before Yom Kippur. :-)

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

One thing I've discovered about fasting -- I need to pace myself with the water on the day of the fast. It may sound elementary, but I had to find out the hard way. I've tried guzzling down a large amount of liquid right before it starts -- bad idea. One Tisha b'Av I did this, and my body ended up feeling really swollen for the first few hours, and walking to shul left me in quite a state. I ended up getting somewhat dehydrated and sick. If I keep getting a big glass of water every hour or so, it's much better. My body handles this much better.

[cellio]

You definitely have to stage the water. I drink a lot throughout the day normally, so preparation for Yom Kippur involved replacing the Diet Coke with water (gradually) and increasing the water a bit as well. I did drink a large amount of water right before candle-lighting, but it came at the end of a day of doing that and I wasn't guzzling.

One Tisha b'Av I did this, and my body ended up feeling really swollen for the first few hours, and walking to shul left me in quite a state.

Ouch. I had heard that could happen, but yours is the first first-hand account I've heard. (Why did you have to walk to shul? The Tisha b'Av fast can never fall on Shabbat.)

[geekosaur]

Hm. Does a car seat count as a chair for Tisha b'Av purposes?

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I would guess that sitting on a car seat (assuming the car seat is on the floor) would not be a problem for an adult. I'm basing this on the fact that I've been to Tisha b'Av services where instead of the usual chairs, small chairs from a children's classroom were set out.

[geekosaur]

Low stools are halachically acceptable on Tisha b'Av (and I think on Yom Kippur with some additional strictures); while childrens' chairs are likely to qualify, I'm not sure car seats do. (Then again, IIRC the primary requirement is "must be uncomfortable". :)

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I had to walk to shul because I was out of town and didn't have access to a car. The shul was only a 15-minute walk away so I didn't figure it'd be a problem. However, the walk was all uphill and the A/C in the building was dodgy. (Plus it was pretty humid.) So when I got there, I found myself panting and sweating, and my head (and arms and hands) felt like all the skin was too tight. Luckily, the walk back was downhill, but -- yucky.