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It's Almost Yom Kippur, Have You Taken Your Caffeine Suppository?
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 17, 2010
Modified Sep 17, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 17, 2010
Modified Sep 17, 2010
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Beginning tonight at sundown is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. It is the Day of Atonement, marked by reflection, praying and fasting. And while Paul Krugman is blasting Heart to get in the mood, others are rushing to their local pharmacies to procure their sacred caffeine suppositories.
In preparation for the 25-hour fast, many Jews have turned to caffeine suppositories as a means of keeping themselves attentive and engaged through the High Holy day, and keep their minds off the feast that awaits them at the end. “It helps—you know, it’s hard to concentrate when you’re fasting and also addicted to caffeine. Some take it before sundown, but most take it throughout their fasting. These guys love a good loophole,” Baruch Herzfeld, an Orthodox Jew who owns a bike store in Williamsburg, told Brooklyn Paper.
Because you put it up your tuchus, you avoid breaking the fast, although some scholars debate whether putting any object inside your body is breaking the spirit of the day. “We’re supposed to do it the old fashioned way—I wouldn’t advise [suppositories]. We wanna keep Jews in the synagogue and not in the bathroom,” said Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, a Hasidic leader.
Tagged
caffeine suppositories
fasting
high holy day
jews
yom kippur
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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