92. With the Body

I must say that the discussion should not focus on fasting. Most people are not more fragile than our ancestors were, quite the contrary! Instead, with the whole idea of "change" sweeping our nation like a deadly virus, we must remain totally centered in who we are and what we believe in. We get taller, smarter, hairier, in many cases, less hairy - people always remain the same. So, this whole idea of change sweeping the nation is likened to a virus. If you say or suggest that someone must or should change, you are saying that the individual is not good enough, smart enough, does not look the way that they should. This is the absolute wrong message to be putting out there. People need to love who they are! People need to love that they are thinking, loving, unique individuals unlike anyone else who has ever existed, does exist and will ever exist. We should live life loving our G-d given body and mind and soul. People only have one life to live. Love it!

Fasting a few times a year is actually good for you. It gives your digestive system a rest, and some time for your body to make small internal adjustments almost like fine tuning. That's why we can follow every fast day in the Jewish calendar. It is healthy.

As a young guy in my late teens and beyond, full of enthusiasm, fasting was part of our spiritual activity. Unfortunately , fasting was seen as an addition to our prayers, thinking it would please G-d and thereby place added pressure on G-d to answer our urgent requests.
Now 50 years later I still practice fasting, but now it' serves other purposes.
1. Personal discipline
2. After a three day fast ones mind is clearer (less toxins in the body ?) and Scripture takes on new depth and understanding.
3. G-d doesn't need pressure to back up prayer - He is always ready with an answer (His silence is also an answer).
The discipline of fasting makes one more alert and attentive, and enables the person to better LISTEN (to G-d)

awesome!!!
if our 'bodies' are thought to be like 'temples', surely they are to be cherished, cared for and honored! (fasting on Yom Kippur and the very few other proscribed fasting days separate of course).
'punishing' and fasting' to excess - personally makes me want to turn around and run the other way particularly if it's forced on me!
every day i pray to G-d to keep me healthy to come and go and do what i hope He wants me to do!

Nice article Rabbi Freeman. I had just thought about whether or not we still should fast.

Your article confirmed what I believed that it was not necessary but just to bring your body, soul, and mind under subjection of G-d's Spirit.

Thanks for sharing.

Hurrah for acknowledging the body finally. We need to have unity - body, mind and spirit.

I'm not sure why fasting is seen as something that is done "against" the body. Fasting, if don't right, can be done just as much WITH the body as eating. I think the reason many of us are so weak in our generation is because of the diet of our generation. Earlier generations did not have sugar and processed wheat and boxed and frozen foods. It's partly the foods of our generation that "weaken" us. It can strengthen us to eat foods that are fresh and whole, but mostly to know that our nourishment comes directly from H-shem and nowhere else. Ironically, clearing our bodies of the toxic foods of our generation leads us to the realization that ALL comes from above. The toxins that we put into our bodies are as much a distraction from H-shem as any of the technology of our time.

I wish there was a definitive diet that every nutritionist could agree upon. It seems to be mainly business.Trans-fats and cigarettes, both with irrefutable evidence of ' bad ' for you. 1000 titles later on diet and we have arrived at diets of 8 glasses of water a day, cutting way back on sugar, processed foods and going gluten free. Not all nutritionists agree on this short list. Maimonides had good advice on eating : " eat when you are hungry. " I don't think they had anorexia or bulemia in his day. Basically I still like his advice except that not being hungry in the morning means missing out on the most important meal of the day. He also put forward exact foods that were good for you. Time has proven some of the foods to not be healthy, but in the 1500's Maimonides still had the best ideas.

Sometimes it seems that every single food is bad for you. An apple a day is good. i am up to 1 apple a week, sliced chunks every day. Broccoli is non-kosher.

Rabbi: In the light of your message, what about Yom Kippur and otherHoly fast Days?