Last week I mentioned Maimonides 4th chapter on Hilkhot de’ot and his advices for keeping a strong and healthy body, preventing sickness , etc.
In his Mishne Tora Maimonides wrote:
“Maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God (=habits which lead to God)- for one cannot understand or have any knowledge of the Creator, if he is ill.”
Maimonides also wrote on the advantages of working out.
Today I like to share with you some of Maimonides’ guidelines on exercises. I will quote from the book: ‘The life transforming diet’, by David Zulberg, which is based on Maimonides’ medical principles.
“Hippocrates taught that exercise is the cornerstone in the preservation of health and the repulsion of most illness. There is nothing that can substitute for exercise in any way” (pg. 99)
‘Hippocrates said that someone who is used to physical activity, even if he has a sick body or is old, is able to tolerate it better than a strong person who is not used to this activity” (102)
“Without exercise diet alone is not sufficient for the preservation of health and eventually medical treatment will be needed” (100)
“As to what you mentioned that you feel weak after exercises, the cause of this is the omission of regular exercises. If you resume exercising gradually, little by little, you will achieve…strength and vitality…” (102)
“A person who does not exercise will suffer from pain and depleted energy levels, even if the correct food s are eaten and all the rules of [preventive] medicine are followed” (De’ot 4:15)
List of Maimonides’ medical works https://rcpt.yousendit.com/991161011/548d0052e966765cf1910d714af34204
Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC | 130 Steamboat Rd. | Great Neck | NY | 11024
