אַאַמוּ"ר כּוֹתֵב בְּאֶחָד מִמַּאֲמָרָיו: תַּעֲנוּג נַפְשִׁי עַל אֱלֹקוּת יָכוֹל לִהְיוֹת מִזֶּה שַׁמְנוּנִית בַּגוּף. אוֹמְרִים עַל הָרַב ר' נָחוּם מִטשֶׁרְנאָבִּיל שֶׁהָיָה שָׁמֵן בְּגוּפוֹ מֵעֲנִיַת אָמֵן יְהֵא שְׁמֵיהּ רַבָּה.

My revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], writes in one of his maamarim:1 The soul’s delight in G‑dliness can actually make a person fat. It was said that [the holy tzaddik,] R. Nachum of Chernobyl, became portly from [his sheer delight in] responding Amen, Yehei Shmei Rabbah.2

Delving Deeply

Pleasure makes a person feel relaxed and satisfied, and can even cause him to expand physically. This is true of hearing glad tidings,3 for example, or of various spiritual delights.

Thus, after recording the above tradition concerning R. Nachum of Chernobyl, the Rebbe Rayatz continues: “This we see with our own eyes: when one observes a Jew studying Torah, the very sight does good for one’s physical heart and body. If I were to sit in the midst of a hundred people studying Torah, then if a person normally needs, say, a pound of bread a day, I would need no more than a quarter, and if a person normally needs half a pound, then for me an eighth would suffice.”4