Fasting Social Interaction

This idea of social fasting is nothing new. Many friends, especially during the lent season, are refraining from facebook, twitter, and even hanging out with much of their community. For centuries, people have done this, usually retreating to a cave, monastery or hermitage. My question is not whether it is right or wrong, but rather whether it is beneficial.

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

In light of Isaiah 58′s description of true fasting, it seems fairly counterproductive to retreat. It seems more productive and effective to, instead of fasting social activity, rethink how you spend your social life. Instead of just hanging out and posting random quotes on facebook or tweeting your lunch…being more deliberate in doing away with the yoke of oppression and loose the chains of injustice. This seems more in line with the type of fasting that is not only pleasing to the G_d of the scriptures, but also most beneficial to our neighbors…who we are instructed to love.