Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is a point of religious observance and renewed hope in Sara Goldfarb’s year, but the scene also reveals how she makes room for her pill regimen within a fast: she abstains from food while continuing to take the drugs she has classified as medicine.

A Strict Observance

After Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have passed, Sara believes the year will be a good one. She observes Yom Kippur more strictly than she has in a long time, taking no tea and drinking only water. The exception is her pills. Sara reasons that they are not food but medicine, and that a doctor’s prescription places them outside the fast she is keeping.

Prayer for Harry

During the observance, Sara thinks of Harry and feels sadness. She prays for him again, the repeated prayer underscoring how persistently she hopes to see her son. Her religious practice thus carries both atonement and personal longing: the fast marks the day, while her thoughts turn toward Harry and the possibility of reunion.

Place in Sara’s Story

Yom Kippur falls within a period when Sara’s hopes remain bound to television. A few weeks into the new year, she is calling McDick Corp. repeatedly to ask about her quiz-show card and the show she expects to appear on. The juxtaposition sets the solemnity of her fast and prayer beside the continuing force of her television expectation. Her distinction between food and pills also shows how religious observance coexists with, rather than interrupts, the regimen she has adopted.