Even an Atheist Can Believe In This

Long before I ever turned 13--the age at which Jewish men are required to fast on Yom Kippur--I would refrain from eating and drinking on our day of repentance. But, ever the contrarian, at age 16 I decided I had enough. I wasn't going to fast.

According to religious texts, Jews forego food in order to focus all attention on prayer as just 24 hours remain to beg for forgiveness after a full year of sin.

But when I fasted all I could think about was food. I was hungry. And when I get hungry, nothing--not chores, not TV, not sports, and not even God--stands between me and my appetite. Therefore, I reasoned, to maximize my enthusiasm for repentance, I would need to eat. It had nothing to do with the audacity of my actual sins: I hadn't killed anyone or stolen anything, but perhaps I gossiped too much, and at some point I was probably mean to someone somewhere. Instead, it had everything to do with my belief that I was following the spirit of the law even better than were my parents, or even, my rabbi.

I bring this up, because a few days ago I celebrated Yom Kippur the way I have every year since my rebellious 16th year: by fasting.

Flickr via Lawrie Cate

In fact, today, the ritual of fasting and spending the day in synagogue has made Yom Kippur my favorite Jewish Holiday. I like it better than the eight nights of Channukah presents, the delicious Rosh Hashanah dinner and even then the beloved Passover Seder.

You see, it's very easy to question religion. Thousands of years ago it may very well have been necessary. It offered organization, an ethical code and some greater purpose in a largely undeveloped, impoverished world. But today, religion is frivolous to many. Even spiritual guru Deepak Chopra had this to say about god and religion in a recent interview:

I say God gave humans the truth, and the Devil came and said, “Let’s organize it, we’ll call it religion.”

A significant portion of Americans would look at that statement, and laugh. "Ha! That guy actually believes in God? What a sucker!"

Well, to those Americans, and to the billions of people on this earth with varying belief in religion, superstition, karma, God or Satan, I say consider celebrating Yom Kippur. Try fasting. Spend a full day thinking about all you've done wrong over the past year. Consider how you could improve in the year to come.

I realize I'm preaching, but stay with me here. Say what you will about Judaism or any other religious relic, but Yom Kippur is an ingenious holiday. It's one of the few religious rituals that makes sense spiritually and and rationally.

Why don't Jews combine milk and meat? Why do Muslims pray five times a day? How was Jesus born? Who knows!

But why withhold from indulging in food and beverage for a full day, as Jews do on Yom Kippur? Simple. It's the universal symbolism for purifying yourself. You stop putting new material in your body, and allow a year's worth of transgressions to pass through your system. It's analogous to the popular post-Christmas/New Year's diet. We're just trying to purify ourselves, and move on from the bad decisions we've recently made.

And why spend a full day repenting about the sins we've committed, and trying to sincerely become a better person, as Jews do on Yom Kippur? Because acknowledgment of errors is the first step towards improvement. We're trying to become better people.

And even the least religious of people can see the benefit in that.