Siman 32 - Proper Care of the Body

 

In this siman Rav Ganzfried emphasizes the importance of maintaining good health, and gives certain guidelines regarding a health-promoting lifestyle.

 

THE NEED FOR "LAWS" REGARDING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

 

Almost all of the advice in this siman comes from the Rambam (chapter four of Hilkhot De'ot - the Laws of Beliefs).  The Rambam was one of the world's leading physicians in his era, and his prescriptions reflect the best medical knowledge of the early middle ages.  

 

Most of the advice still reflects accepted medical opinion: eating sufficiently (se'if 2) but in moderation (se'ifim 3); getting sufficient exercise but not to over-exert right after eating (se'ifim 6 and 21); eating at regular times and not eating excessively between meals (se'ifim 10 and 19); eating a good breakfast (se'if 11); chewing properly (se'if 13); getting sufficient - but not excessive - sleep (se'if 23).

 

Other views are not orthodox medical opinion but are favored by traditional or holistic practitioners, such as balancing the body's tendencies with equilibrating food (se'if 7) or not drinking water together with food (se'if 17).  Still others are not much in favor today at all, such as refraining from eating fruit (se'if 16).  

 

Rav Ganzfried acknowledges the changes in opinions regarding diet by advising each person to choose his diet according to what experts believe to suit his or her own nature, place, and time (se'if 14).

 

We may ask, why do the Rambam, and Rav Ganzfried following him, consider it appropriate to include detailed health regulations in a book of law?  The habits recommended here are not obligatory even according to the author, and indeed, the chapter explicitly instructs us to modify these directions according to changing knowledge.

 

Perhaps the importance of writing down the instructions in "black and white" comes to emphasize that even though the specific foods that we eat are not a subject of obligation, a person on a high spiritual level will have a similar attitude towards his bodily needs as he has towards his spiritual ones.  Living according to Torah implies a recognition that our spiritual growth is not furthered simply by doing whatever gives us a spiritual lift, whatever feels good - even if the sensation is genuinely spiritual.  Discipline and traditional strictures are necessary to challenge these lifts into genuine spiritual elevation - a way of life which elevates, enlightens, and nears us to God.

 

Likewise, a person should not feel that his bodily needs are beyond the realm of rules and principles.  One's bodily health should also be subject to discipline - even if the particular rules are not the subject of revelation.  If we want a healthy body which will help us to receive and bear Divine enlightenment, we should choose our meals according to our better judgment and not according to our taste buds.

 

Rav Lichtenstein once pointed out that the Rambam does not frown on eating tasty food; he merely urges us (De'ot 3:2) that eating should not be MERELY to please the palate.  A similar inference could be made from what Rav Ganzfried tells us in siman 31 (se'if 2).  We could take the similarity of food and mitzvot in the opposite direction and learn from here that it is not inappropriate - within the framework of the halakha - to appreciate the "taste and smell" of a Torah lifestyle.

 

As we explained in the Introduction, the main purpose of this book is to reveal that the rules and regulations of the Torah are not MERELY strictures - a kind of cosmic game of "Simon Says."  Once we are able to connect to the commandments on a variety of levels, each individual mitzva acquires its own unique flavor and the different dishes in the banquet of a Torah lifestyle combine to make a harmonious feast.  

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH

 

The particular recommendations mentioned in our siman are really of secondary importance.  The most important message we extract from this chapter is that the proper care of the body is a very important Torah value.  According to the words of Rav Ganzfried (se'if 1), it is the subject of an explicit commandment (Devarim 4:15) "Be very careful of your life."  At the same time, in Judaism the body is never an object of devotion in and of itself, but only demands attention as a means of serving its Creator.

 

The proper balance of RESPECT for body without veneration of it is beautifully expressed in a famous Midrash.  The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba on Vayikra 25:39) relates that once Hillel the Elder parted from his students and they asked where he was going.  He replied, to perform a mitzva.  When they asked which mitzva, he said to go to the bathhouse!  He explained that if an earthly king is scrupulous to keep the public statues of his figure clean and dignified, so much the more should we take proper care of our bodies, since we are created in the Divine image.  

 

We see that Hillel understood that our Divine likeness is not limited to our unique spiritual and intellectual capacities, but extends even to man's physical form.  At the same time, he recognized that our bodies are no more than images - the ultimate reverence is due the King himself.  In the Midrash Hillel relates that the person who cares for and cleans the statues is a very respectable figure, but of course the king would never tolerate the statue-keeper honoring the statue at the expense of honoring the king himself.  Likewise, we need a sense of perspective and should keep our respect for the body properly subordinate to the respect of its Maker.

 

The Midrash then relates a similar story, in which Hillel related that the mitzva was to take care of a guest he had in his house.  When his students expressed surprise that he had a guest, Hillel explained that our eternal spirit, today lodging in the body and tomorrow returning to the world of souls, is no more than a miserable guest in this world, and due care needs to be given to its comfort.

 

From this story we learn from Hillel that so-called "bodily" pleasures give comfort to the spirit as well.  This is actually a common theme in the sayings of our sages, who inform us for instance (Berakhot 43b) that scent gives pleasure to the spirit but no to the body - unlike other pleasures which benefit body and spirit alike.

 

The expert workman is meticulous about keeping his tools in peak working condition; he knows how to care for them properly.  But the expert workman also keeps in mind that in the end he will be judged on how he gets the job done, and that cutting corners with his equipment, while on the whole imprudent, may occasionally be necessary in pursuit of the ultimate aim.  

 

Our body is the instrument with which we carry out God's will, and we should strive to keep it in good condition and give it proper care.  But we also need to keep in mind that the care of the body is only a means to the end of fulfilling our Divine service of Torah and mitzvot, and we should never place the means above the ends.

 

MATTER AS SPIRIT

 

What we have written until now relates to matter as the servant of spirit or the garment of spirit.  We have not challenged the fundamental distinction between the material and the spiritual.  Rav Kook, in a famous and controversial essay, hints at something beyond this dichotomy.

 

In his book Orot (Orot HeTechiya 33 and 34), Rav Kook bewails the fact that the Jewish people as a whole have neglected the health and might of the body.  He writes.  "We have forgotten that we possess holy flesh, no less than we possess the Holy Spirit."  Rav Kook then goes on to say that young people, in their training exercises performed to be able to serve the nation (namely, to enable them to defend the Jewish settlements in Israel) complements the spiritual power of the exalted saints who occupy themselves in the unification of God's names.

 

Rav Kook's words created great controversy, mainly because most of the young people engaged in these exercises were antagonistic to Torah Judaism.  But the underlying emphasis on the spiritual potential of the body has a firm basis in the words of our sages.

 

The sages of the Kabbala explain that the dichotomy between matter and spirit is not so clear-cut as it seems.  Modern physical theory, which since Einstein recognizes matter as a form of energy, and modern cosmology which hypothesizes that in the early stages of the universe the distinction between these two forms of energy was not so clear-cut, echo most remarkably the words of our esoteric works.  These works explain that ultimately our bodies are themselves merely a kind of greatly coarsened spirituality, and that in the early days of the creation of the world matter itself was much more rarefied - more spiritual - than it is today.  The "matter" which Adam and Chava knew before the sin was rather like the "spirituality" which is accessible to us today.  (See Rav Moshe Chaim Luzatto's book "The Way of HaShem.")

 

This principle is hinted at in Rav Kook's essay, since this essay - and the entire book - was written in the context of what Rav Kook believed was the beginning of the redemption.  The redemption involves the repair and perfection of all of the spiritual decline due to sin, including that due to the tragic mistake of Adam and Chava.  Therefore, Rav Kook's understanding of the HISTORICAL significance of our era led him to the belief that our SPIRITUAL state is one in which the redemption and re-spiritualization of the body, and ultimately all physicality, is under way.

 

In the time of the redemption, our physicality will refine itself and return to its elevated, refined state as it was in the time of the creation.

 

Whatever approach we adopt towards the amazing and confusing historical events of the last century, it is an uplifting thought that our physical nature is ultimately destined not only to faithfully serve the spirit, but also to complement and even to merge with it.