Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, when we deny ourselves the pleasures of of TV, sex, bathing, lotions and oils, food...


EVERY Jew of age (12 or older for girls, 13 or older for boys) is REQUIRED to fast ALL DAY.
The commandment is believed to be straight from G-d.

The ONLY exceptions are:
- xp The sick (*cough doctors orders cough*)
- whee The hypoglycemic and the like ("I have a condition and it's best if I don't fast")
- emo The old ("Just can't fast like I used to in the good ol' days")
- pirate The Pregnant (I CRAVING XOCOLATE!!!!!)

(No big surprise because, as you probably know, the Talmud says that you can break ANY commandment if it will save a life or prevent a detriment to health)



Though I have been of age for years and years, I have some hypoglycemia problems, so last year was actually the first year I felt I was well enough to fast.
I'm afraid that this year I will not be able to, though. My Colon's still all messed up and I'm pretty weak. And I have a lot of pills that I'm really supposed to take with food. I'm going to ask my doctor to give me official orders not to fast.

Rosh Hashanah was Wednesday night until Friday night, at which point it was Shabbat until Saturday night.
No halacha-obeying Jew could do any work for 3 days. NICE. xd I barely even had to do any chores.

The year when you come of age is related to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, which is a different affair.

And it's only one day because... Well, after a day of repenting and atoning and complete self-denial, the break-fast that night is a welcome sight indeed. G-d commanded it would be one day.
There are very few fast days in Judaism, especially compared to something like Islam where you fast during the daylight hours every day for the month of Ramadan. Yom Kippur is actually really the only big one, but the Orthodox have their fast of Gedaliah for one day and their fast for Tisha B'Av for one day...