Chacos column: I’m better at explaining pepperoni pizza than the Middle East

Chacos column: I’m better at explaining pepperoni pizza than the Middle East

In my religion, the most solemn day of the year is set aside every autumn for spiritual renewal, deep reflection and collective starvation. Yom Kippur is a grueling and emotional day, usually spent in a synagogue, that brings us together to ask for forgiveness and ignore our thirst. Growing up in the dense hub of the East Coast, I experienced this yearly ritual as something inherited and inflexible. My identity and my faith were defined as much …