Walk Through the Parsha by Rabbi David Walk

And What Are You Serving?
Mishpatim 5768
January 30, 2008
If an anthropologist were to visit a modern synagogue, I'd be curious to hear the analysis of our cult of eating. It's amazing how much discussion revolves around what is to be served at any given event. Personally I love it. A good Kiddush requires cholent, and it's not really a party without brownies (with chocolate chips inside, NOT nuts). It's so easy to get passionate about food, especially Jews. But is it a good idea? With obesity surpassing malnutrition as a world health problem, maybe we obsess too much over the culinary aspects of our lives. It can't be denied that every ethnicity has its special foods and every individual has their own comfort food, but is this a positive phenomenon? And, for the sake of my weekly article, what does this week's parsha say about it?

Before I enter the dining room, allow, please, a note of introduction. This week's Torah reading has a fascinating dichotomy embedded within. This week we read the continuation of the epiphany at Sinai. Last week we had the pyrotechnics and the giving of the Ten Commandments this week's reading ends with the concluding ceremony of that momentous gathering. The material sandwiched between those highlights is the curiosity. The laws that God decided to impart at the foot of Mount Sinai are among the most mundane in our legal system. We've got the laws of Jewish slaves (really indentured servants), guarding property, rampaging oxen, theft, mayhem and rape. It's not the uplifting, spiritually moving list I might have expected. It reads more like a shopping list for ambulance chasers rather than the close encounter with God. With this backdrop in mind, let's face this week's conundrum.

As God prepares to depart this awesome scene, there are sacrifices and solemn readings, even a glimpse of the celestial throne, and then a curious verse: And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand, and they perceived God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:11). What gives? I can hear my mother saying to me, "How can you eat at a time like this?" And, of course, that's the question, it seems that the nobles lives were in danger for venturing too close to the mountain, but God doesn't strike them, and their response seems to be 'pass the ketchup.'

There are a variety of ways to deal with this issue. First I'd like to mention the Midrash: "And they beheld God." Just like a man looks upon his neighbor while in the act of eating and drinking. R. Yochanan said: They derived actual nourishment. R. Tanchuma said: The text teaches us that they uncovered their heads, became presumptuous and fed their eyes on the Shekhina. (Vayikra Rabba 20, 10). This source views the behavior of these Jewish leaders as reprehensible, chutzpa. However, this is by no means the only way to deal with the issue. The first century scholar Onkeles (c. 35-120) translates the verse this way: And they rejoiced in the sacrifices that were accepted with favor, as if they were eating and drinking. He doesn't criticize the leadership, because the eating and drinking is a metaphor for the pleasure they gained from their proximity to God.

There is a third approach to the verse, which has been popularized by Chassidic masters. Reb Yaakov Yosef of Poloneye (c. 1669-1781) wrote: They were not hindered by the sadness of their physical bodies, for they ate and they drank to gladden their bodies. As the Ramban (1194-1270) writes that this eating and drinking was connected to a mitzvah, for the joy over the Torah that they had received. The Rebbe explains that the sustenance we receive from food is necessary to free us from physical need and allow us to enjoy spirituality. Reb Simcha Bunim (1765-1827) from the unpronounceable town of Peshischa goes even further and suggests that 'the main purpose of eating is chewing well.' That sounds like my mother, but he means that eating provides pleasure in the taste of the food (which is in the mouth), rather than from the nourishment. Eating is good on its own, not because it contributes to my well being. Ultimately I believe this is the normative Chassidic position.

This idea is beautifully expressed by Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (1865-1935): What simple appetite for eating does for all animals, and for ordinary people, drawing a person to eat in order to fortify his life and powers, is done in a noble and elevated manner for those great in intellect, the righteous foundations of the world, by the desire to join with all the holy sparks concealed within the food, which arouse spiritual joy in the person who eats of it, to receive them in his soul, to add light and eternal happiness, and they themselves grow in strength and joy even before eating. The eating is an end unto itself, but only when done with the right intention. Rav Kook is building on that old expression about don't live to eat rather eat to live. The great rabbi adds that eating can give importance and purpose to the food itself. He concludes that eating can be a tikun (repair) to the world for its shortcomings, especially the sin of Adam and Eve, a sin of eating.

Now we can go back and look at the entire parsha. All these commonplace issues discussed at the foot of Mount Sinai become very holy and spiritual when performed with the right attitude and character. We have to involve ourselves in the minutiae of life with the spirit that we are doing God's work. Being honest isn't just nice. It is representing God and the Torah in this world. Every little act is the opportunity for sanctifying God or profaning our Maker.

So, when we embellish our next joyous occasion with some tasties, please, remember that it's a chance to make the world a better place. Bon appetit! But don't overdo.