On Vox: Oh, the pain!
We're in the last nine days of a 30-day period right now during which it's prohibited to listen to music. Do you know how hard that is? These last nine days are especially stringent. I was pretty lax about it up until now, but I'm doing my best to refrain from prohibited activities during the Nine Days. It ends with Tisha B'Av, or the Ninth (Day) of (the Month of) Av, a fast day for the Yidden. I don't fast well. The fast is not the main point of a fast day. Rather, one should focus on doing teshuva, a concept similar to repentance, though the actually word means return. I'm a fool, though, so I concentrate more on not eating and how miserable I am.
Originally posted on drkaufman.vox.com