Fasting

Most Israeli Jews fast on Yom Kippur, while over half take part in prayer services, survey finds

Only a small number of those reported to be fasting partially or not at all are older people, according to the survey data, suggesting that the reasons are more linked to health or principle.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2026|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

A Jewish man blows a shofar at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City during the final Selichot prayers ahead of Yom Kippur, September 19, 2026.

Boxes of Ozempic, a semaglutide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes made by Novo Nordisk, is seen at a Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S. March 29, 2023.

Could Ozempic make the Yom Kippur fast easier? Here’s what researchers found

In an August Hadassah Magazine article, a 46-year-old New York mother identified as Beth described getting through Yom Kippur services without thinking about food after starting a GLP-1 medication.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2026|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

One might think this should be the moment of our greatest anxiety.

'Go, eat with joy': The surprising truth about Yom Kippur

How is it that precisely on the eve of the day when a person stands before his Creator, and his judgment for the coming year is sealed, we are commanded to eat and rejoice?

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ

An ultra-Orthodox jew prays at the Westen Wall July 17, 2002 on Tisha B'Av

Tisha B'Av 2026: Fast times for Israel and US

See when the fast begins and ends in your area.

JULY 22, 2026|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Yom Kippur candle-lighting times for Israel and US

See Yom Kippur times for your area.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Pascale's Kitchen: Refreshing drinks, morsels to break Yom Kippur fast

Want the perfect foods to break fast? Check out recipes for limonana; subye/papitada (melon seed drink); falooda siv (apple drink); orange cake and sesame cookies

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021ByPASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN

Fast of Gedaliah: What you need to know about the first fast of the year

Here is a rundown for what you need to know about its history, its rules and when it ends.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021ByAARON REICH

Artist's depiction of the death of Gedaliah, the story behind the Fast of Gedaliah.

Yom Kippur: Who is able to eat?

The great tragedy of our generation is that for many of us, even as we enter Yom Kippur and observe its laws, there is no longer a feeling of pahad, of trembling before God.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021ByNATHAN LOPES CARDOZO

EATING THE final meal before the start of Yom Kippur, in Beit Shemesh, September 2018

Jerusalem is thriving. Why on Tisha Be’av do we mourn its destruction?

While they agreed that the “major” fast day of Tisha Be'av (the fast of the fifth month) remained compulsory, the Sages were more emboldened about the minor ones.

JULY 14, 2021ByADINA LEWITTES/JTA