Rabbi's Blog

Does the word "diet" immediately make you think of an unpleasant weight-loss regimen? If it did, you are probably not alone. For example, consider the use of the term "diet" in marketing food products—it usually describes foods low in calories, such as diet soda.

But there is another meaning of this word. Diet can also refer to the food and drink a person consumes daily and the mental and physical circumstances connected to eating. Nutrition involves more than simply eating a “good” diet—it is about nourishment on every level. It involves relationships with family, friends, nature (the environment), our bodies, our community, and the world.

There is a cute but serious story of a horse and its owner. The owner had a great relationship with his horse; the horse was trustworthy, faithful, hard-working, dependable, strong, everything and anything an owner would want from their animal. In return, the owner provided three well balanced meals a day with plenty of snacks in between and as much to drink as it pleased. One day the owner thought to himself that the horse was eating very well, working hard but was costing him a fortune to feed his horse. He decided to experiment and cut the rations of the horse in half! Lo and behold the horse still produced. Seeing the horse still working hard he went ahead and cut his daily intake again by fifty-percent. Despite eating about a quarter of what he used to eat he still produced but not as much. The owner was encouraged as he was saving money and still getting the horse to work. This scenario repeated itself until the horse was eating next to nothing. One morning the horse is not outside roaming around but was found dead in the stable. To which the owner remarked “I can’t believe he died on me, I almost had him working for no food at all!

Revisiting the diet competitions of late, there are other diets that people go through but not necessarily related to food. In the definition I mentioned earlier, diet is about nourishment on every level including the spirit. Some people consume an incredible number of spiritual calories and are gaining a tremendous amount of ruchniyus through their davening, learning and performance of good deeds. Others maintain a very steady intake of spiritual calories not necessarily gaining or losing any spiritual weight. Unfortunately, there is another diet that people are trying and that is that of the horse’s owner, trying to figure out how little they can eat or spiritually do and still maintain their same level of religious observance. As people fool themselves into thinking they can cut corners and do as little as possible, the obvious result will be a dead horse that was once healthy, strong and vibrant. 

This week’s parshas Korach is overshadowed by the episode of Korach challenging Moshe. At the end of the Parsha we read about the Matnas Kehuna, the Priestly gifts. In Bamidbar 18:19 the Torah states: “Kol Trumos Haadashim Asher Yarimu B’Nei Yisrael La’Hashem, Nasati L’Cha Ul’Vanecha V’Livnosecha Itcha L’Chok Olam Bris Melach Olam Hee Lifnei Hashem, L’cha Ul’Zaracha Itach”. “I have thus given you, together with your sons and daughters, as an eternal portion, the elevated gifts from the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to God. For you and your descendants, this is a covenant that shall be preserved (with salt) forever before God”. *Rav Yisrael Eliyahu Yehoshua Trunk (1821-1893) explains the significance of salt being a part of a covenant. Salt is very strong that it burns through that which it is applied to. Even though it is used as a preservative and it will sustain something, nevertheless there is an investment and a partial loss to that which it burns through. The Hebrew phrase of ‘Yatzah Hefsedo Bischaro’ loosely understood as the loss is made up in the gain demonstrates the benefit outweighs its loss. Even though it loses some of its own property the entire value gains as it maintains a great more that otherwise would have been lost. ‘Teruma’, Pledges, and sanctifying things to holy and noble causes work the same way. Even though the giver is losing something as he gives it away, ultimately that giving will preserve all that remains. Now that he parts with his money he will secure the remaining wealth that he has. Chaza”l explained this in a similar verse in Bamidbar 5:10 “any man who gives to a Kohein, to him it will be”. Meaning if you give what you are supposed to give a Kohein, you will keep the rest that is yours, which will be a lot of money. The gemara in Kesuvos 66 states that salt and money both take away but in the end, preserve and increase that which you have.

Medrash Lekach Tov Bamidbar 18:10 on the words “Kodesh Yihyeh Lach” “it shall be holy to you” seems to be superfluous. The indication is that everything that is given to Hashem through the Kohein will be holy is obvious. The Medrash answers that you might think only things that are worthy of eating are holy? Comes along the Torah and instructs us that even items that are not fit for consumption such as the bones and sinews are holy and must be treated with respect and not discarded. Every part of the human being is holy, including mind, body and soul.

Today’s generation (millennial’s) governs itself on productivity and keeping busy. There’s a tendency to feel a ‘wasting of time’ by doing something that does not relate to them or has ability to impact them. The error in judgement is recognizing that it may be that which one feels they lack is THE investment that will come to protect what they have and improve for the future. Every component of davening, learning, performance of mitzvos is holy and is an integral part of the entire process. The investment of what might seem to be time ill invested in something may be the key to the rest of the situation. Time and patience is required in building our spiritual essence. Our spiritual DNA needs to be nourished with the full number of calories and not trying to shed some of it to the bare minimum.

The lesson of the twenty-four Priestly Gifts teaches us that every part of everything that is holy has a purpose and a need. Even those items that appear to be useless and superfluous has meaning and purpose. We think we can cut down on some of the spiritual things in our life and still maintain a complete and full working Jewish life. This is not the case, if we start to chip away and cut corners our neshamos begin a silent starvation diet. The antidote to the spiritual diet is to load up with the sweets and fats of the Torah and crave a closeness to God. 

*Born in Plotsk, he received most of his teaching from his father, who was niftar when the boy was just 11. As a teenager, he spent 3 months with the Kotzker Rebbe, who’s direction he followed for the remainder of his life. When he was twenty, Rav Yisrael Eliyahu Yehoshua founded a yeshivah and served as rav in Shrensk for seven years. Later in Vorka, his fame as a posek grew. In 1860, he moved to Kutna, which lies near Gustenin and Zichlin. The first record of Jews in Kutna is a document from 1513, in which King Zigmund of Poland grants a year’s moratorium to the gentile debtors of three Kutna Jews – Moshe, Shlomo and Liebke. Rav Yisrael Eliyahu Yehoshua published several sefarim, including Yeshuas Yisrael, on Choshen Mishpat, Yeshuos Malko, and Yavin Daas. His only son, Rav Moshe Pinchas, succeeded him as Rav in Kutno. The demise of the Kutna kehillah came when the Nazis finished liquidating its remaining Jews on March 26, 1942.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky