MY FAVORITE JEWISH HOLIDAYS

I have two favorite Jewish holidays . The first is Yom Kippur. Known as the Day of Atonement, it is for me the most spiritual day of the Jewish year. You don't simply fast. You spend the evening and all of the next day in synagogue. Yes, that's a lot of praying. But the fasting breaks down the resistance of your ego so that the prayer helps you get more and more in touch with your spirituality as the day grows old. It's also a great day for introspection, especially about the areas in which atonement is called for. I always feel renewed when the day is over. Plus, the break-fast is a blast. Food and drink never tastes so good.

My other favorite Jewish holiday is none other than Purim. We celebrated that holiday this weekend. Rather than talking more about it here, I'd like to ask you to go to my website (danielspiro.com) and click on the page devoted to Purim. It will not only introduce the holiday generally, but it will allow you to link to several essays that I've written over the years to celebrate Purim. Please do me the honor of clicking on this year's essay and perhaps even some of the earlier entries.

Take care. And Happy Purim!