“Everyone has his or her own experience with fasting. I don’t find it all that difficult because your mind is not on the fast,” Rapoport said.
But still, fasting for 25 hours is no easy task.
Esensten, who is also a Crimson editor, fainted while blowing the shofar at the end of yesterday’s services, having fasted during the day.
“I got a good tone out, but after about five seconds, I started tilting backwards and fell flat on my back,” he said.
Esensten said that he has fasted numerous times in the past in observance of Yom Kippur and has never previously had a problem.
Esensten survived the fall—as did the shofar—and said that the experience did not detract from the meaningfulness of his day.
“Although it’s hard to be away from home on a holiday like this,” Esensten said, “I really felt at home in the community here.”
—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.