Today is the 21st day of Iyar, 5771/ 36 days of Omer (5 weeks, 1 day)

Maimonides tells us that we should care for the intellectual development of our children, instructing them in the principles of our faith. For Maimonides, intellectual development, is a prerequisite and the key for the right spiritual development.

“We must teach our children that God is One, which means among other things, that we must not serve or consider the existence of any other supernatural power. God Almighty is the only one to Whom we should direct our prayers….”

“Then, we teach them that God Almighty does not posses a body, and that there is no resemblance whatsoever between Him and His creatures.”

“We should expect our children to challenge this last assumption, because in the Torah and Prophets there are verses which seemingly imply that God has a body (=the Torah mentions: “the Hand of God; and God saw; and God appeared, etc.”). We must clarify to them that certain words in the Torah should be understood in a metaphorical way. And certain terms should be understood as mere homonyms (=words that are written the same way, but have a different meaning)…”

“Our children should learn to follow the teachings of the Oral Law, found among other books in the “Targum Onkelos” (=the official Jewish translation of the Torah–to Aramaic– written almost 2000 years ago, which Maimonides considered an integral part of the Jewish Oral Law or Torah shebe’alpe)”

Adapted from MORE NEBUKHIM, Section 1, Chapter 35 -36.

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“A man should not be wrathful and easily angered, and from the other side he should not be cold as a corpse, having no feelings and being moved by no thing. A man should adopt a middle-of-the-road-way, displaying anger only for a very serious matter and only in order to prevent that matter from happening again”.

In other words, Maimonides prescribes to practice a ‘controlled anger’ and display it just for practical purposes. Anger should ‘never’ come as an impulsive blind reaction.

“Similarly” -Maimonides continues- “a man should not desire more than what he needs for his body and for whatever necessary to live. Like the Pasuk says: a righteous man eats to satisfy his soul(=body)”.

haRambam is giving us an illustration in the area of overeating or with being obsessed about ‘what’ one is going to eat next. He is definitely not referring to poor people who have nothing to eat but to those who are wealthy and are permanently thinking ‘what’ (or in which restaurant) are they going to eat next.

A righteous person does not think too much about food and eats what and when he or she needs.

For previous Halakhot on this matter see here the section ‘Kosher Habits’

Maimonides (Rambam) writes in Hilkhot De’ot Ch. 1, that we all have different habits and tendencies. In this area, the good path is the middle path. The path which is equidistant from both extremes.

But what happens when we ‘naturally’ lean toward one of the extremes? How can we get to be in the middle of the road? We know we have to correct it, but can we correct it? And if so, how?

Before we ask haRambam, first ask a gardener.

If you have in you backyard a small tree or a branch leaning to one side, what should you do so it grows straight?

Your gardener will first assess your tree. If your tree has a 20 degrees inclination, and it grows on a 70° angle you have to stake your tree. When you stake your tree do not tie your tree at 90°! When you are coming from 70° and you aim to get to 90° you must stake your tree at 110° angle on the opposite side! With time, the 110° you impose on your tree will balance its ‘natural ’70° deviation and you will get a tree growing at 90°.

Maimonides explains that a similar process will take place with our character. If we have a natural inclination to one side we need to force ourselves ‘acting’ for a while on the other equidistant side. In this way, with time we will attain the desired balanced ‘golden’ way.

Maimonides (Rambam) writes in Hilkhot De’ot Ch. 1, that we all have different personalities and tendencies.

To illustrate, Maimonides brings a few examples of extreme character traits:

There are people who are constantly angry, they would explode for any small thing. From the other side, there are individuals who are so cold and indifferent, that nothing moves them to anger. There are people who are so greedy, nothing is ever enough for them. Others, are materially conformist with very few desires in their heart. There is a very proud man and one who is extremely humble.

These behaviors, explains Maimonides, are some times a product of our genetic build-up and sometimes they are acquired seeing our friends, family members, etc. . With time they become an integral part of our personalities.

Maimonides asserts that in this area, the good path is the middle path. The path which is equidistant from both extremes.

Anger, should be reserved for very special circumstances and only when by showing anger we will help to avoid something bad from happening again. Greed, should be balanced: desire all what you need, not all what you want. Don’t be stingy, neither ostentatious.

“This is the path of the wise man. Every man whose character is balanced and moderated, is considered a wise man (chakham)”

As a good doctor, Maimonides does not end just by telling us what is right and what is wrong. He will also teach us, next week, how to get to (and stay in) the middle path.

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Maimonides (Rambam) affirms in Hilkhot De’ot that we’re all driven by habits. These habits are part of our personalities, either because of a natural (today we would call it: ‘genetic’) tendency toward a specific behavior or because we have acquired this habit, imitating our peers, family members, etc. With time habits -good and bad habits- become a second nature.

By being more conscious of how habits are formed and how they become part of our character, we might be able to control them.

Illustration:

What is more significant in terms of character formation? To give a big amount of money to charity at once or to give one dollar at a time? (We are not examining here the merits of the different charities, just the impact of this habit on our character)

Maimonides says:

“positive behavior characteristics are not acquired by doing (a one time) great positive act but rather through the repetition of many positive acts. For example, giving one thousand gold coins to one charity will not accustom a person to the habit of ‘generosity’, whereas giving one gold coin to a thousand charities will do so. By repeating an act many times, an established behavior or emotional pattern is formed. In contrast, one great act might represent a one time arousal to good, after which that motivation might disappear”.

Over time, one simple act repeated several times -a string of small experiences- can accumulate to become strong enough to overwhelm even a major experience.

Maimonides (1135 -1206) wrote extensively on medicine, as a physician and as a Rabbi, knowing that we need a good health to better serve God.

Maimonides, for example, recommended avoiding medicines for minor temporary illnesses and depend more in the self regulatory action of our body’s nature.

The following examples on the subject are taken from the biographical book: ‘Maimonides’ by Joel L. Kraemer. (p. 453-454)

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:

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.

In other words, Maimonides anticipated the modern concept of ‘preventive medicine’ by eight centuries. In this interesting chapter Maimonides deals with: diet, exercises, sleeping habits, sexual life , hygiene, and other practices common in his time.

A few selected illustrations of his advices on diet:

“…Maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God… one must avoid that which harms the body and accustom himself to that which is healthful and helpsthe body becomes stronger”.

“.. a person should not eat until his stomach is full. He should stop eating approximately at three quarters of full satisfaction”

“…overeating (akhila gasa) is like poison to anyone’s body and it is the main cause of all illness”.

“Don’t eat unless you’re hungry”.

The Jewish people are commanded in the Torah to take care of their physical well being. The Torah (Debarim 4:9,15) states explicitly that one must keep a close watch over his health. Maimonides (Hilchot Rotseach 11:5 – 6) writes that one who engages in unhealthy activities and declares that he has the right to do as he wishes to his own body deserves a punishment. The Talmud (Hullin 9a) states explicitly that one must treat dangerous activities with greater stringency than one would treat Halakhically prohibited activities.

In modern days, most (if not all) Orthodox rabbis consider smoking cigarettes as a Halakhically forbidden activity.

Why?

Cigarette smoking causes a variety of life-threatening diseases, including lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. An estimated 400,000 deaths each year in the U.S. are caused directly by cigarette smoking. Smoking is responsible for changes in all parts of the body, including the digestive system. This fact can have serious consequences because it is the digestive system that converts foods into the nutrients the body needs to live.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef points out that just as we rely on the wisdom of doctors to permit doing otherwise forbidden activities on Shabbat or eating on Yom Kippur, so too we are required to listen to them and distance ourselves from those activities they deem dangerous, like smoking.