Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
August 25, 2023 • 8 Elul 5783 • Parshas Ki Seitzei (Deut 21-25).
The purpose of this email is to build some conversational muscle at the Shabbat table...please share.
The purpose of this email is to build some conversational muscle at the Shabbat table...please share.
Announcement - if you are an Apple Books user, our new book is finally available for you - https://books.apple.com/us/book/body-soul/id6451424543?ls=1 !!!!
Don't know about you, but I love being disabused of false notions.
Every time something I believed to be true turns out to be a myth, that's one step closer to total clarity.
This week's myth-busting is (no surprise) in the area of health and fitness.
The myth: The Jewish/Torah ideal of soul-body balance is not so radically different from other ancient cultures.
Take, for instance, the Latin expression, mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a sound body. It's usually used to justify PE and sports in the school or college curriculum - meaning, physical health helps the mind (or sometimes it is interpreted as a justification for requring athletes to develop their minds).
But when the Roman Poet Juvenal (ca. 2nd Century CE) penned the phrase, he meant something entirely different: that one should pray for both a healthy mind and a healthy body (among other blessings). Meaning: not that they are equally valuable, nor that one enables the other, merely that they are both valuable.
(That misappropriation of Juvenal was initiated in 1861 to promote the Liverpool Athletic Club.)
So what does the Torah actually say about the relationship between mind and body?
A lot more than space here would allow! But first and foremost, on one hand, developing your mind is immeasurably more important than developing your body, and on the other hand, strengthening your body helps improve your mind (acuity, memory, and mood).
In other words, even if daily exercise weren't a mitzvah (it is), doesn't it simply make good sense?
You don't have to become an athlete, and you don't even have to go to the gym....Start by taking a daily walk. Or merely using one of these.
Question for your table: Why is it so hard to change?
(My answer here.)
The countdown to Rosh Hashanah has begun... what's one habit you'd like to change or improve in 5784?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - For more exercise ideas and resources, see our Exercise resource page.
Every time something I believed to be true turns out to be a myth, that's one step closer to total clarity.
This week's myth-busting is (no surprise) in the area of health and fitness.
The myth: The Jewish/Torah ideal of soul-body balance is not so radically different from other ancient cultures.
Take, for instance, the Latin expression, mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a sound body. It's usually used to justify PE and sports in the school or college curriculum - meaning, physical health helps the mind (or sometimes it is interpreted as a justification for requring athletes to develop their minds).
But when the Roman Poet Juvenal (ca. 2nd Century CE) penned the phrase, he meant something entirely different: that one should pray for both a healthy mind and a healthy body (among other blessings). Meaning: not that they are equally valuable, nor that one enables the other, merely that they are both valuable.
(That misappropriation of Juvenal was initiated in 1861 to promote the Liverpool Athletic Club.)
So what does the Torah actually say about the relationship between mind and body?
A lot more than space here would allow! But first and foremost, on one hand, developing your mind is immeasurably more important than developing your body, and on the other hand, strengthening your body helps improve your mind (acuity, memory, and mood).
In other words, even if daily exercise weren't a mitzvah (it is), doesn't it simply make good sense?
You don't have to become an athlete, and you don't even have to go to the gym....Start by taking a daily walk. Or merely using one of these.
Question for your table: Why is it so hard to change?
(My answer here.)
The countdown to Rosh Hashanah has begun... what's one habit you'd like to change or improve in 5784?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - For more exercise ideas and resources, see our Exercise resource page.
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