Dresser said she began fasting for Yom Kippur when she was 13 years old, after she had her bat mitzvah, when she was allowed by Jewish law to participate in the fasting.

“It’s kind of like a combination of punishment and cleansing,” she said. “It’s time for you to resolve anything from last year that you need forgiveness for.”

Many religions – including Judaism, Catholicism and Islam – have forms of fasting that take place during their holy times of year.

During Lent, the 40 days before the Christian holiday Easter, many Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays, as well as fasting and not eating meat during Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

The Islamic month of Ramadan marks a tradition of fasting every day for 29-30 days from sunrise to sunset.

For these religions, fasting represents a time of reflection, obedience to God and remembrance.

Rabbi Jonathan Sadoff, a visiting rabbi from Israel who is leading services at Hillel Jewish Student Center, 360 Charles St., said Yom Kippur is thought of as the day of atonement. The 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are meant to seek forgiveness, and the final 25 hours are the last opportunity to do so, he said.

“The fast for Yom Kippur is an elevating fast,” Sadoff said. “It’s meant to be a sort of breaking away from the most earthly of needs – like eating.”

In addition to fasting, he said some Jews traditionally abstain from wearing leather, bathing, wearing perfume, riding in cars, using electricity and watching TV.

“Generally, spiritual life is about finding your way to a higher self and thinking further than the next 40 seconds,” he said.

For Muslims, the Quran has designated the lunar month as a time to focus on the fourth pillar of Islam, which is fasting, said Mohamed Mahgoub, public outreach committee representative for the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing, 920 S. Harrison Road.

Fasting proves a person’s humblest obedience to God, he said.

“You feel hunger for people who can’t find food,” he said.

Abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent is meant to focus on needs other than physical, said Father Mark Inglot of St. John Student Parish, 327 M.A.C. Ave.

Inglot said because Jesus died on a Friday, the day is meant to be a way for Catholics to remind themselves of the solemn holiday.

“It’s not so much about depriving ourselves but to remember other hungers than the physical, like hunger for God, for faith, hope and love,” Inglot said.