Asceticism

One Talmudic opinion suggests that because the nazirite denies himself the pleasure of drinking wine, he is considered “sinful.” But why should it be wrong to deny oneself anything?

Some Jewish commentators saw the conflict between body and soul as insurmountable, others saw it as non-existent, yet others saw it as an opportunity for a step by step process of mystical synthesis

Many have been led to believe that spirituality translates as “shunning the physical and living an ascetic existence.” The further people distance themselves from worldliness, the closer they are to the divine. Judaism has a very different opinion on the ...

Although our recovery is based on spiritual principles, this does not imply that we can or should ignore our bodies in the name of spiritual refinement.

Would you take a sublime and transcendent spiritual being and lock it up? That's what G-d did when He sent your soul to earth. What was He getting at?

The things that are kodesh, "holy," are the ordinary events and stuff of life; remaining so, but separated from undesirable elements that would dilute and weaken them.

How does one simultaneously dwell in two contradictory worlds—the world of the spirit and the world of the flesh? Sprinkling every area of life with salt is the solution.

The nazirite is a holy calling—rising above the mundane by observing a meticulous lifestyle

It was an age of boors and ascetics, a time of conflict between body and soul. Then a master appeared. "Don't beat your beast," he taught, "don't overload him and don't abandon him. Help him"

Hedonism and ascetics are two sides of this same Hellenic coin: when the soul (flame) meets the body (wick), either the flame gutters out, or it consumes the wick leaving only formless soot behind...