Nervous

[mamadeb]

It's still a balmy 97F (with heat index of 107F) and tonight/tomorrow is Tisha B'Av. No food, no water. 25 hours.

Frankly, even though we have air conditioning and I do have medical permission, I'm scared. I'm feeling lousy even sitting in an air-conditioned office and drinking water all day - how will I be without water? Although the feeling lousy could be nerves.

A big rabbi has ruled that fasting is forbidden to any one with any condition who is trapped in the heat wave, but he's not MY rabbi, and it's not up to them - I just emailed my doctor. He's said I could fast, but it wasn't a heat wave then. Also, the city is reducing voltage, so our air conditioning is not working 100%. This is good- far better than a power outage and not having ac at all - but makes things harder.

Edited to add - Jed the doctor emailed me back. Given HCTZ and the heat - no fasting. I can deal with that.

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I am nervous about the heat, too. The summer I worked as a camp counselor outside of Waco, Texas, none of the staff fasted -- the heat was so profound that we were all obligated to drink a certain amount every day, and to ensure that our campers did, too. Only one of my friends fasted that year, and she had a really tough time with it...

I hear you about suspecting your motives, inasmuch as you don't want to fast so on some level it would feel nice to have an excuse not to. That said -- this is record heat, and that can be genuinely dangerous. So please be careful, however you decide to observe.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Halachically, I have to listen to my doctor in this case.

So. No fasting and that has nothing to do with my feelings. Which is good.