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On Yom Kippur Jews try to purge themselves and rise above the physical
world. We try to become like angels, who don’t need to eat or
drink or take care of their bodies. Of course, sick people and children
under the age of bar or bat mitzvah are not required to fast on Yom Kippur
because it can be dangerous. The most important commandment we have in the
Torah is to take care of ourselves and to stay alive, even if it means we
have to give up other commandments to do this. In fact, the students of a
great rabbi once noticed that their rabbi always told sick people to eat
on Yom Kippur. “How can you be so careless about the laws of Yom
Kippur?” they asked him. “I’m not careless about Yom Kippur, he
answered, “I’m just especially careful about pikuach nefesh (saving
people’s lives).” |
