"This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, [he] does not
listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother;
he is a glutton and a drunkard" (21:20).
The Torah points a finger at the characteristics of the
rebellious son who is eventually condemned to death. The
distinguishing signs: he is disobedient and refuses to submit
to what is expected of him but only submits to his own desires
and drives. He disregards his parents who are charged with his
education. They may know what he is supposed to do, but they
cannot understand what it is he really wants to do. In this
area, he reigns supreme, and this is expressed in his
lifestyle. He does not eat -- he gluts himself full. He does
not drink -- he guzzles. His entire life revolves around the
axis of satisfying his lusts in the quickest and fullest way
possible.
This week's portion teaches us that from a person such as
this, one cannot expect anything good in the future. Better
that he die in his prime, rather than reach his anticipated
bitter end. The Torah takes it for granted that such an end is
inevitable.
In other words, we can state that there is a manner of eating
that is a very symptom of a perversion of everything he is
expected to believe in, a major flaw in his very
emunah. This is eating that is not designed to
strengthen the body for the sake of the soul, but is merely
eating for the sake of eating.
The mussar works, Menoras Hamaor and Orchos
Tzaddikim extract from this portion some basic rules
establishing a proper attitude towards eating and drinking
which constitutes an inseparable part of our lifestyle. They
determine the demarcation line between eating and gluttony,
between drinking and guzzling, in short: between what is holy
and what is profane.
Every person is tested and sized up according to his deeds,
writes the Orchos Tzaddikim, Shaar Loshon Hora. How? If
you see a man who is wont to extol good food and wine and who
despises plain nourishing food, know that he is a glutton. By
what yardstick can we truly gauge him? By the way he relates
to food -- if he doesn't make an issue of it.
One whose conversation revolves around food shows that eating
carries a great deal of weight with him; it is important above
and beyond what is normal and natural. Food, apparently,
serves him as a means of satisfying his lusts and not merely
as fuel to keep his body going. And this is precisely the
definition of the Biblical glutton, the zollel vesovei,
one who is perennially involved in satisfying his desires.
Menoras Hamaor expands on this in Chapter Two of the
second volume: "`A tzaddik eats to satisfy his soul.'
This means that the righteous and intelligent man eats just
enough to sustain his soul so as to enable him to serve his
Creator. The sinner and fool is different. He eats for
enjoyment; he fills his belly with food, for in his inanity,
he thinks that the world was created for his pleasure, and he
owes it to himself to eat and drink his fill. Those who are
addicted, that is, held in the thrall of their drives and
pursue them constantly, will satisfy them today from what is
permissible -- and tomorrow from what is forbidden. For when
they cannot fulfill their desires through the means at their
disposal, they will blithely go and steal from others. The
Torah had the foresight to command that a father kill such a
son if he sees that he has already begun guzzling food and
drink."
The idea captured in these words is that when one develops the
proper attitude towards eating, the attitude of making oneself
suitable and qualified for the sake of a mitzva [in the
ultimate definition of `kasher'], for the sake of
sanctity, his table will resemble an altar and the physical
act of eating upon it will not detract from his spiritual
level whatsoever. On the contrary, it will increase his piety.
But a person who gorges himself to satisfy his lust for food,
is treading the path chosen by the glutton and will soon
deserve that negative epithet.
Kol Mevasser brings that when the Gerrer Rebbe, the
Beis Yisroel zt'l visited Maran the Chazon Ish
zt'l in 5710 (1950), he mentioned the question asked by
Meshech Chochmah on the Tosefta in Negoim
that states that the laws of the profligate son do not apply
in Jerusalem. Why precisely there? Said the Beis Yisroel along
the lines of chassidic approach: Chiddushei HoRim says
in the name of R' Bunim of Pshischa that the very act of
eating the ma'aser sheini developed a great measure of
G-d-fear in a person. He derived it directly from the Torah
that states: "And you shall eat before Hashem your G-d, a
tithe of your grain and grape harvest and olive harvest in
order that you learn to fear Hashem your G-d." This is a proof
that the very act of eating ma'aser sheini, eating in
sanctity, developed piety in a person. This is why the law of
the profligate son did not apply in Jerusalem, for there was a
plethora of ma'aser sheini produce which was eaten
there. Surely, the potential sorer umoreh must have had
the opportunity to eat of this holy produce and would, thus,
be cured of his evil tendencies so that he would never reach
that bitter end. Rather, the holy food which he ingested would
generate holiness and piety within him!
The eating of ma'aser sheini can serve as an example
and review of the real purpose of any such consumption, for it
is not only the tithe that one ate from a `high table.'
Rather, any, or every, table should be `high,' elevated,
exalted indeed, through the act of eating properly, for the
right reason, purpose and end -- to sustain the body for its
role of serving Hashem.
