Craving Coffee on a Fast Day? Think About This

How do you like your coffee?

A spoonful of coffee, two sugars, half water, half milk?

Is that really all it takes to make us feel better? And could we really be so dependent on something as simple as a cup of coffee?

Anyone who has fasted knows the thought that can follow you throughout the day: If only I could have one cup of coffee, everything would feel different.

But perhaps there is another way to look at the discomfort of fasting.

What Are We Really Giving Up?

In the Mincha prayer recited on an individual fast day, we ask:

“May it be Your will that the diminishment of my fat and blood that has diminished today be considered like fat placed upon the altar before You, and may You be pleased with me.”

What does it mean to ask, “and may You be pleased with me”?

Rabbi Pincus explains in his teachings on exile and consolation that a korban represents loving Hashem with all of one’s blood. A fast can express something similar. A person willingly accepts physical discomfort despite the body’s natural desire to eat and drink, and does so for the sake of Hashem.

Turning Discomfort Into Closeness

There is something particularly powerful about this during fasts connected to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beit Hamikdash. The hunger, thirst, fatigue, and even that longing for a cup of coffee can become part of the experience rather than simply something to endure until the fast is over.

All mitzvot have tremendous value, but here a person experiences physical discomfort while reflecting on Hashem’s sorrow over Jerusalem and the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. Rabbi Pincus describes this as a profound expression of love and closeness, like the fat that was once placed upon the altar.

Perhaps, then, the difficulty of fasting can itself become meaningful. Instead of seeing every uncomfortable moment only as something standing between us and the end of the fast, we can remember what that discomfort represents.

Even the moment when all we can think about is that first cup of coffee can become an opportunity to turn physical longing into something deeper: an expression of love, connection, and closeness to Hashem.