Bagels for Breaking the fast

A break-the-fast after sundown on Yom Kippur ends the Ten Days of Awe (see previous posts below!).   Ending this High Holy Days period is like coming out of a long Shabbat, so there is a sadness to the ending.  But after the fast and the period of coming clean in our hearts through reflection and repentance there is also a readiness to eat ...

The bagels and everything are prepared beforehand, so at the end of a Yom Kippur service we set the table and are ready to eat!  When I was growing up in New York, our break-the-fast meal was always bagels and lox and the things that go with that.  Did I say I'm from New York?  Yes, its a special place to be on the Jewish Holidays and the bagels are famous for being the best.

So here I am in a small city on the southernmost island of Japan, determined to have a "New York bagel".  How to do that?  With God, nothing is impossible!  I made them!  I wanted to make it like the break-fasts I remember as a child. 

Although I was sad to exit from this long Shabbat rest, after the days of repentance I feel lighter.  And at the same time very full from these feast days, not only feasting on food, but most of all on the word of God!

May ADONAI bless you and keep you!
ADONAI make His face to shine on you
and be gracious to you!
May ADONAI turn His face toward you 
and grant you shalom!

---Aaronic Blessing, Numbers 6:24~26 

Bagels recipe can be found here