|
|
Home
and Family
A Stone's Throw
by Rosally Saltsman
When I was living in Canada, I was always trying to lose ten
pounds. Then I moved to the States, and I was still trying to
lose those ten pounds. When I came to Israel, I only had to
shed five kilos. Later on, I spent some time in England, and
only had less than a stone to lose.
I'm thinking of going to live somewhere in Africa, with the
elephants. They measure their weight in tons, and I'll have
to gain weight! It's not surprising, our obsession with
weight, considering our obsession with food. Jewish women
have a special relationship to food, it being the energy of
spirituality and women being so spiritual.
Why is it so hard to lose weight? I've had a baby, visited
Communist Rumania two weeks before the revolution, worked in
a half a dozen professions, so why can't I lose those five
kilos? It's actually not only the problem of losing them; I
have actually lost them, several times, it's just that they
keep on finding me. Usually, I can lose the weight I want for
the week by Thursday. It just seems like sacrilege to diet on
Shabbos. So by the beginning of the week, I'm back where I
started.
So what's the big deal? Isn't it vanity to want to be slim?
Isn't it immodest to care about how thin you are? Yes and no.
There are three related issues which are definitely
spiritual. We are obligated to keep ourselves healthy and
fit. Being overweight is unhealthy, so staying your relative
ideal weight (note: relative) is part of keeping that
mitzva. There is also the idea of not being a glutton.
While being ascetic is not lauded in Judaism, many of the
tzaddikim subsisted on very modest diets and frankly,
many of us consume a lot of extra fuel.
The third issue is that we are supposed to appear pleasing to
our spouses. While that is also a relative value, more than a
stone's throw is usually too much. On the other hand, Jews
celebrate mitzvos with food. Weddings, brissim,
bar mitzvos, Shabbos and Yom Tov and other seudos
mitzva. Now, while it's true that a festive meal does not
mandate petit fours, you must admit that they do make the
atmosphere more festive.
So, in my continuing struggle to become a more spiritual
person, not too long ago, I bought a new scale and have been
trying once again to lose those ten pounds, five kilos, two
thirds of a stone and body part of an elephant. And on
Shabbos, when I indulge in oneg Shabbos, I will
concentrate upon the thought that I am eating for the sake of
the mitzva, and hope that, accordingly, it will be my
neshoma yeseira -- and not me -- that gains the weight
and takes it along with her when she departs after
havdola.
To our health!
|
