Spirituality (3)
Once a year I fast. I go without eating at times, but the fast of Yom Kippur is set on the calendar for me. Since the age of 13, I have observed this fast. There are other fast days on the Jewish calendar, but they are minor fasts, and are not part of my usual observance. Fasting is in fulfillment of the command "to inflict our souls" in Leviticus 16:19.. Of the two Hebrew words, the first, תענות, tih-ah-nu , inflict, is the same verb that describes Sarah's actions against Hagar that caused her to run away. So the verb seems to imply a painful, physical blow. The next work, "your souls", is ambiguous, obviously. The word for soul, נפש, ne-fesh ,is not the same word that was used to describe the breath of life in Genesis . That words is נשמה, nih-sha-mah m which means breathing. As a result of God breathing a נשמה, the man became a נפש, a "souled" being. The rabbis distinguish the two. A נפש is shared by all a...
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