The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays

As we enter the season of holiday partying (secular and otherwise), consider this oddity of Jewish culinary life:

Rosh Hashanah ------- Feast
Tzom Gedalia ---------- Fast
Yom Kippur ------------- More fasting
Sukkot -------------------- Feast for a week +
Hashanah Rabbah ---- More feasting
Simchat Torah ---------- Keep right on feasting
Month of Heshvan ----- No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip on yourself.
Hanukkah ---------------- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet ---------- Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B'Shevat ------------- Feast
Fast of Esther ---------- Fast
Purim ---------------------- Eat pastry
Passover ----------------- Do not eat pastry for a week
Shavuot ------------------- Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes, etc.)
17th of Tammuz ------- Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B'Av ----------------- Serious fast (don't even think about cheesecake or blintzes)
Month of Elul ------------ End of cycle. Enroll in Center for Eating Disorders before High Holidays arrive again.

[Posted 11/16/09]