Not a Fish (provincially speaking)

Food stuff, sort of
For years I didn't fast on Yom Kippur. I had started fasting when I was twelve years old. as is customary. By the time I met Bish when I was about twenty two, I was already quite a veteran faster and I hated it. It was sheer torture. Bish had grown up in a religious family and when he left, he left all the way. I was only too pleased to join him in his enthusiastic secularism. And that was it for me. No more fasts on Yom Kippur, till this last Yom Kippur, that is (as some of you may recall). But we always tried to be considerate on Yom Kippur so as not to make the fast more difficult for our neighbors.

I remember one year in particular. This was back when the unpleasant and degrading experiences I had been through in the Tel Aviv Rabbinate when we�d committed the ultimate sin of being a secular Jewish couple wishing to be married in Israel, surrounded by our loved ones, were still fresh in my mind. I still felt a lot of anger, at the time, at the ultra-religious rabbis who controlled the Rabbinate (and still do), because of their political power, and had made the process so insulting for me. I had no respect for religion or religious people whatsoever. But still, every year, I'd make an effort to keep the fact that I was eating to myself. I'd spend a lot of time planning odorless meals for us. This is not an easy feat. You can really learn a lot on Yom Kippur about which foods have strong smells. I've learnt a lot about this subject over the years and I can honestly say that all foods have strong smells, although some should be avoided at all costs. This particular year, hot and tired of closing windows to keep smells and cutlery sounds from escaping our little kitchen (Yom Kippur is usually one of the hottest days of the year and we didn't have air-conditioning yet) we went out for a walk. The minute we walked out of the building we were overcome with that very strong and unmistakable smell of burnt toast. All that effort and someone had burnt their effing toast!

I am a vegetarian but I am very much opposed to any sort of violent or coercive activities aimed at convincing or forcing others to accept my point of view with regard to eating animals. In fact, I am opposed to any sort of persuasive activities in this issue. I view my vegetarianism, although somewhat ideological, as a peaceful matter. My daughters, therefore, are not vegetarians, because they choose not to be. This means that I regularly have to cook meat for them (or at last warm it up), a chore I find disagreeable, but I strongly believe that whether they eat meat or not is not my decision, and it is my duty as their mother, to make sure they eat properly.

I know nothing about