Ibn Ezra Devarim 8:3 Obesity is inappropriate for a Ben Torah Obesity (other than when clinically induced) reflects a lack of control that is incongruent with the personality of a Torah Jew. Obesity is America’s biggest health challenge. But obesity is not only about health. In the UK too, more than 50% of young boys will be dangerously overweight by 2050.[1] But obesity is about more than lifestyle. We overeat[2] because we have lost the balance of spiritual and physical nourishment. This loss of balance and its manifestation in obesity occurs as much in our religiou..

Devarim 8:10   Saying “Please” is Easier than Saying “Thank-you” The study of Torah, deep reflection into the wisdom of Hashem, is as nourishing to the soul as food is to the body. Both sources of nourishment are called Lechem . Both entail a struggle ( Lechem is aligned with locheim – “battle”). Both require that a beracha is said, both before partaking of them, and after. But for Torah, the more important beracha is said before reading it, and for a meal the more important beracha is said after eating. Our Bi..

Zeddaka and Chessed are different and they produce different results You know the story of The Giving Tree? It’s a charming children’s book about a lifetime’s relationship between a boy and an apple tree. The boy plays in the shade of an apple tree and climbs its branches. When he grows up and no longer wants to play, the tree gives him its apples so that he can sell them and earn money. Later, when the boy wants a house the tree offers him its branches with which to build a home and then its trunk with which to build a boat. Finally, the tree, having given the boy all of its resources, has n..