In like an hour all the stores will close, the radios and tv stations will go off-air, and no cars will drive the streets as we usher in Yom Kippur. Up until that time, however, the grocery stores are doing an absolutely booming business! I had to stop in to my local store to pick up another can of wet cat food to make sure I have enough for the baby kittens (who clearly don’t fast). The lines for the cashiers snaked down the aisles and around becoming amorphous blobs (which line is which?) in the back of the store at the dairy section. People held baskets filled to overflowing and then some. Every year I am taken by surprised at this stockpiling mentality. It is like people are getting ready to descend into bunkers for the next 6 weeks or something rather than the stores simply being closed for 24 hours. The woman ahead of me kept sending her reluctant kids off to collect additional items, “Dudi, go back and get 4 more yogurts.” I peer at her basket already containing half the yogurts from the shelf it seems, along with large quantities of everything else. “We got yogurt.” “Yes, and tomorrow when you decided you want two yogurts and we don’t have any more, I don’t want to hear your complaints. Go get the yogurts!” The young couple behind me supplemented their basket with popcorn, cakes, and crackers as we slowly made our way down that aisle toward the cashier in what were clearly impulse buys. Well ya know, when you have a day-long DVD watching party, people do get the munchies.

Myself, I’m already not hungry. Simply looking at all that food going into baskets seems to have taken away my appetite like I’d eaten it. I’m sitting here thinking, hmm, I should maybe eat something before…naahh. I definitely left the store feeling like I’m going to be the only person in Tel Aviv fasting though!

Gmar chatima tova to all those who are fasting and all those who aren’t.