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Erev Tov. I hope your fasts are starting off easily and meaningfully, and that you are taking good care of your body these next 24 hours. I say that every year, because the emphasis on fasting during Yom Kippur can be dangerous or alienating to some people and I always worry about people who should not fast, that they should not feel as though they are atoning any less or gaining any less spiritual fulfillment on this day than those who are able to fast. But this year, this concern takes on an extra weight as I learned that October is Emotional Wellness Month, as well as the month for a whole host of other health-related causes. It’s still early enough for those of us who do observe the full fast but I still won’t tantalize you with all the food-related “October is National ______ Month” claims I found. According to a few of the lists I found (all of which seem equally bogus, but that’s still fun), October is not only Emotional Wellness Month, but also Health Literacy Month, ADHD/Dyslexia/Down Syndrome Awareness Month, among others. This week is National Primary Care Week, celebrating family practitioners in particular, and encouraging med students to look at healthcare through a holistic lens. 

Some of you may subscribe to Prince William Living, or happen upon copies here or in other lobbies and waiting areas around the county, and would have seen that September’s issue was dedicated to self-care. I like to think it was in preparation for this month’s many health-related “awareness day/week/month” assignments. In the issue, you’ll find many ideas for what counts as self-care. From the most literal: go to the doctor, wear sunscreen, eat well and exercise; to the DIY therapeutic: flex your artist muscle with the local theatre groups, redecorate your home; to the luxurious: take a spa day, have a date night or a night out with friends; all these self-care activities are important for keeping our bodies, minds, and souls happy. While we tend to think of self-care more in terms of the #TreatYoSelf variety, psychologists have defined self-care as “a multidimensional, multifaceted process of purposeful engagement in strategies that promote healthy functioning and enhance well-being," and all the strategies identified in September's Prince William Living can help bring you equanimity and health. 

Real nutritionists will tell you that “cleanses” are all shams - ranging from silly to dangerous. Your body needs real nutrition, not just juices, and those herbal teas that make you skinny are just laxatives. But sometimes it feels good to try a cleanse anyway, overhydrate, and flush out the perceived toxins in your body. Joined with a yoga routine that incorporates lots of twists - which the yogis claim helps to squeeze the toxins out of your organs in there - it can feel so rejuvenating. Yom Kippur should feel like such a cleanse. It is a time to squeeze the toxins out of our souls, to flush the guilt and negativity from our systems, to knock loose the sinful congestion that clings to our psyches, and rinse out our relationships with the Divine. 

Personally, I find that in fasting. I don't take any medications that need to be taken with food, I'm not pregnant or nursing, I'm not diabetic or recovering from disordered eating, and so fasting is an option for me on this day for spiritual cleansing. I also prepare for this day by eating healthily most other days, especially with intention throughout Elul, decreasing my caffeine intake throughout Elul, and drinking lots of water on the 9th of Tishrei, so that my body is at its most ready to withstand this affliction. 

But Yom Kippur is not only about fasting. It is also a time of introspection and apologizing, a time of repenting and returning, a serious and somber time. It is - at least in some form - approximately 4000 years old, so not as new-agey as juice cleanses and white lady yoga. It definitely has a less breezy feel, and we don’t think of it as a self-care day. But teshuvah is self-care. Cleansing your soul helps to heal your inner wounds. Repairing or strengthening your relationship with yourself, your loved ones and community members, and with God is paving the way for a healthier and happier new year. It isn’t as easy or fun as a bubble bath, but it is far more essential to your wellness as a human. 

The latest Jewish Twitter scandal has been someone trying to shame the rabbi for GatherDC for hosting an intentional lunch outing on Yom Kippur for people who do not fast. Many other Jews on Twitter responded with enthusiasm sharing the halakha around not fasting, personal experiences about having to hide their eating on Yom Kippur, or other experiences about feeling alienated from the community because of their inability to engage with certain practices. A communal event that allows people who cannot fast an opportunity to eat with intention, meditate, and breathe through this solemn and holy day without feeling stigmatized, will absolutely better allow some people to cleanse their souls and repair their relationships with the Divine and the broken parts of themselves. 

Yom Kippur is named in the Torah as "The Day of Affliction''. It is not named explicitly as a fast anywhere in the Tanakh, though of course the reading from Isaiah we read tomorrow equates affliction and fasting, and Nehemiah refers to "the fast of the tenth'' month which is actually more likely the Fast of Gedalya, but has been reinterpreted to mean the much more widely observed fast of Yom Kippur. The rules of our fast are not detailed until the rabbinic period, but since the Karaites and Samaritans also fast on Yom Kippur, we can assume that the idea of fasting being the main expression of self-affliction was already in effect by the end of the Second Temple period. I'm not sure if the Karaites and the Samaritans also abstain from leather, bathing, perfuming, or marital relations, but I know that most mainstream Jews do still engage in some combination of those other four acts forbidden by the rabbis on Yom Kippur, even if they are not eating and drinking. Perhaps those who must eat or drink could practice intentionally refraining from the other four acts. 

The idea that self-affliction could be a form of self-care sounds completely contradictory, but I present to you Exhibit B on the case for Yom Kippur as a day of self-care: October is also Dental Hygeine Month, so you could think of this as your hygenicist scraping the plaque off your soul with one of those pokey metal utensils and asking you questions while your mouth is full of said pokey metal utensils, fingers, or those plastic mouth stretcher things. It’s hard to answer the questions we are asked on Yom Kippur - where have we gone astray and how can we correct our paths - but the questions aren’t really rhetorical either. It’s uncomfortable and a little weird, but the whole process is time-limited and not too painful, and in the end you are the better for it. Dental hygiene is also linked directly to healthy organ function and goes so far beyond having pretty teeth, just as Yom Kippur can impact your whole Jewish year. It’s not enough to just brush the front of the front teeth, and it’s not enough to just show up at services on Yom Kippur. One must floss and brush the whole mouth thoroughly for two minutes, and one must dig deep into the recesses of their soul to ensure nothing harmful is sticking in between days of atonement. 

Each facet of your body, mind, and spirit make up the whole of you and each needs its strength and well-being to keep you well and emotionally stable. On Yom Kippur, we purposely stress our bodies and our souls. This is for several reasons: to feel the afflictions we usually turn a blind eye to throughout the year, the sufferings of others; to deprive our bodies of other sensory inputs so that we can focus on Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah; and to show our contrition over our misdeeds in the past year, and our willingness to exert ourselves in the effort to change and grow, to return and repent. These concepts are important, but not more important than anyone’s lives. Thus the rabbis decreed the rules for who must fast, who may fast, and who may not fast. Today, some of us live in categories they could not have imagined, take medications that are the blessings of modern science, struggle with eating disorders that would be inconceivable to our ancestors, so it is still necessary for each of us to check in with our own bodies and souls and determine what the right balance of affliction and care is for this holy day. And, this is why it is all the more important to tend to your self-care the other 364 days of the year (or 363, if you also observe the full fast of Tisha B’Av), so that you are better prepared for the physical deprivations of this day. For example, as I said, I eased off caffeine slowly throughout the month of Elul, anticipating my needs, and lessening the cost of the withdrawal migraine that used to accompany all the other discomforts of fasting. Caffeine is not necessarily pro- or anti-health, and in fact I think the rabbis would probably have been pro-coffee if they'd had it (but learn more about that tomorrow!) but just to say that tuning in to your bodies, learning from past pains, and adjusting your routines to accomodate your needs, are essential for your emotional wellness and your physical health. 

This Yom Kippur, and throughout this Emotional Wellness Month and Health Literacy Month, let us commit to taking better care of ourselves, so that we can take better care of others. I always say, “You can’t pour from an empty cup!” We must keep our cups filled, or as the Psalmist says, “overfloweth.” Sometimes it’s easier said than done, but if we put in the effort to care for ourselves as much and as often as is feasible, we are better positioned to make it through the tough times, as well as to have the energy and the compassion to serve others. May you be healthy, may you be emotionally well, may you be spiritually fulfilled, may you be socially satisfied, may you be safe, may you be content, and may you find yourself with the abundance of energy necessary to fill your days with Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah. Amen and Shana Tova.