Regarding the last two posts:
For YEARS I had a wallet. I thought it was so convenient for storing money. [BRILLIANT!] Then it happened. One Erev Shabbos I was in Riverdale about 6 years ago [boooooy - does time fly!!!] and I was rushing out of a taxi. It was almost Shabbos. I took out my wallet, paid the driver, ran to my host's apartment, put my stuff down and went to shul. On Motza'ei Shabbos - my wallet was GONE!!! With my money. WHERE DID IT GO?? I still don't know.....:-). I searched and searched but to no avail. A friend gave me some money and I made my way back to the city. Since then I never got another wallet. And that is just COOL!! One less thing that I "need".
Food - Everywhere you go, there is TONS of food, especially on Shabbos. Back in Europe, our ancestors didn't eat in a month what we have at ONE Shabbos meal. When I go away for Shabbos, I look at all of that food on the table placed before me by the holy Jewish hostess and think - how is it possible to eat so much. The answer is - it isn't. Some ends up being eaten during the week and some is thrown out. Even many families of limited means have LOADS of food. Far more than they need in order to be satiated. We are soooooo used to eating sooooooo much that we think we really need so much food. But - we don't. We could be full on much much less.
So Shabbos is a question- maybe we should keep packing it in לכבוד שבת קודש [even though I suspect that not EVERYONE is 100 percent thinking about the holy Shabbos as the motivation for their eating...] but during the week it is no question - it is bad for the soul AND the body to eat so much.
THANK G-D [!!!!] for all of our food. For our Brach's and Pomegranate and Seasons and all of our kosher supermarkets which have limitless supplies of food which they give FREE OF CHARGE [besides swiping a card, but then they give it right back:-)!!]. But many of us would be much better off if we realized that food is a means to keep us alive and healthy and not much more. It is all too often used to overcome boredom or just because it is there or for pure pleasure regardless of the nutritional value [or lack thereof]. Food also has deep psychological implications and means different things to different people. But the more we are focused on the soul - the better. I still remember my wedding - I had ZERO desire to eat. I had to force myself. Like, I can eat any day, now I want to DANCE!!!
We should be zoche to have such exciting and stimulating lives that food should be quite low on the list of pleasures. We should also have healthy appetites and always have all of the many physical attributes necessary in order to eat food.
#healthhazard
