Carpe Diem Syndrome?

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.

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 !!!!
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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.

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Yes, But Is It a Mitzvah?

The goal of this blog is to bring some mental fitness training to the Friday night dinner table  - please print and share, repost, forward, tweet, etc.

Big announcement this week!!

Before we go there, a question for your table:

Health and fitness is surely sensible, but is it a mitzvah?

(That's not an aside. It's a prep for the announcement. See if you can get everyone at your table to answer it before you read on.)

A couple years ago I compiled a source sheet of 18 nuggets Jewish wisdom on health and fitness, which has been available on our free teacher's resource site.

But in January this year, while I waited for my dissertation committee's action, for the first time I actually studied these sources, and increased the number from 18 to 40.

The result, completed this week, is a new book! Yay.

Health and Fitness – Is it a Mitzvah? 40 Weeks of Guidance and Advice from the Sages, Including Practical Exercises, on Caring for One's Physical Health

Now, the book isn't out yet. I believe there is a need and demand for this book, but how can I be sure?

Do you think this book is a good idea?

One way I could tell is if the crowd helps me publish it. In order to cover the expenses of publishing, the first pages of the book will be devoted to dedications.

If you would like to participate in the mitzvah of bringing it into the world, please sponsor a one-line ($18) quarter-page ($180), half-page ($500) or full-page dedication. Just click or tap "reply" to this email and let me know. (These are all tax-deductible donations.)

(By the way, the book includes some of the current scientific wisdom on confusing topics such as fat and cholesterol, and exercise, as well as a very useful food calorie index.)

Question #1 today, above, was "Is it a mitzvah?"

Let's end with a follow-up question:

What's the point of doing any mitzvah?


Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach


PS - Tis the season for my 2008 "Galactic Torah" article, still online here.


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