Lena Dunham plugs Israeli poet, Mark Zuckerberg marks Yom Kippur online
She may not have fasted on Yom Kippur, but Lena Dunham said she has experienced a new connection this year to the Jewish faith – via poetry.
In an Instagram post to mark the holiest day of the Jewish year, the actress and creator of the cult hit HBO show Girls said after her grandmother died, “I suddenly felt a desire to understand what the religion that meant so much to her had to offer her granddaughter.”
Dunham said that connection was forged in large part through the work of Yehuda Amichai, the award-winning Hebrew poet. She posted an image of Amichai’s poem People Use Each Other in Hebrew and English, and said she has “fallen in love” with his writing.
“While I’ve learned a lot, I haven’t started going to temple. I haven’t married a lawyer,” she wrote. “But I have fallen in love with the poetry of Yehuda Amichai and I am sorry to anyone I wronged this year (except for some people on Twitter.)” Writing on Twitter, Dunham said she “can’t fast for Yom Kippur (low blood sugar makes me destructive) but a digital fast will do. Have a gorgeous reflective Fri/Sat.”
Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg also digitally marked the holiday, with a Facebook Post marking the end of the fast.
“Tonight concludes Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews, when we reflect on the past year and ask forgiveness for our mistakes,” he wrote. “For those I hurt this year, I ask forgiveness and I will try to be better. For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.”
Last month, Facebook was strongly criticized after it was revealed that it allowed advertisers to specifically target antisemites and neo-Nazis using the social media site. The site has also been involved in the heated debate over its influence in the 2016 presidential election – and the possibility of Russian intervention.
Just a few weeks ago, Zuckerberg wrote an emotional post about Shabbat and gifting his daughter with an heirloom kiddush cup.
There were plenty of other Jews who weighed in online ahead of and during Yom Kippur. Singer Paula Abdul wished her more than 2.5 million followers an easy and meaningful fast” and a “Gemar chatima tova” on Friday. Actor Michael Ian Black wished his fellow Jews “a miserable and guilt-ridden Yom Kippur” and Bravo TV host and producer Andy Cohen wrote Saturday night, “Hope you had an easy fast! (I did!).”
Even some gentiles weighed in on the holiness of the day, like comedian Conan O’Brien, who recently got back from a trip to Israel.
“Best wishes to my Jewish friends who are fasting for Yom Kippur or because they’re trying to make it in Hollywood,” he wrote.