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Fasts Can Be Good for You; Were the Jewish People Ahead of Their Time?
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
In The Economist on June 20, there was an interesting article under the heading “Do longevity drugs work.” The subtitle was that animal studies suggest that certain drugs are no more effective than long-term fasting. The article was comparing a series of pharmaceutical drugs that are being touted as guaranteeing longevity.
I found this particularly relevant now as we have entered the three-weeks between the 17th day of Tamuz and the 9th Day of Av, a period of mourning for the destruction of both temples and Jerusalem, which starts and ends with fasts.
Fasts don’t seem to have been such a big thing in the Torah. Not one mention. Even Yom Kippur is not described as a fast but rather a “Day of Affliction.” But the catastrophes of our self-destruction (helped by Babylonians and Romans) resulted in many more.
A whole Tractate of the Talmud is devoted to fasts — not just for atonement, but for all kinds of catastrophes of which the most common was failure of the rains and even bad dreams. But medieval persecutions, particularly the Crusades, led to many different local fasts commemorating massacres. Excessive penance and self-denial in celibate Christianity had an influence on us too. We added optional fasts (BeHab) after festivals to make up for too much gluttony on the festivals themselves.
But the fasts over the loss of the temples and Jerusalem came to dominate, because the events affected every corner of Jewish life. We have just had the Seventeenth of Tamuz. The Mishna (Taanit 4:6) gives various reasons for the fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz ranging from when Moses broke the two Tablets of Stone, to the beginning of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And one may wonder why we don’t add one for the Holocaust — a matter I shall return to nearer the Ninth of Av.
My magnificent father who was in general strict on matters of ritual, would say that if a minor fast gets in the way of studying Torah or if it becomes merely an endurance test to see what a good person you are, one should rather prioritize by doing something positive rather than negative and minor fasts could be treated leniently. And he said such opinions were common in the yeshivas of Lithuania. Of course, in our day and age you will not get any Orthodox rabbinic leader who would take such a lenient point of view in public.
I have always had a problem fasting. Some people seem to be able to take to it like ducks to water and it has very little effect. But not me. It affects my concentration and ability to use time more productively. The strange thing is that when it comes to Yom Kippur, which is a 25 hour fast, I seem to be able to manage it without too much trouble. Yet when it comes to minor fasts, I have great difficulty.
But now having read that fasting is good for you, I’m inclined to take the minor fasts much more seriously than I ever did before. And not only that, but as at this particular moment, with the dysfunctionality, hatred, violence, and ignorance that seems to be on display everywhere, I want to make a plea for taking the minor fasts a little more seriously and it might even add a few more years to our lives, to boot.
The author is a rabbi based in New York.
The post Fasts Can Be Good for You; Were the Jewish People Ahead of Their Time? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.