Natural Teshuva

לרפואת שושנה בת מרגרט
נח משה בן שיינדל
בתוך שח"י

Regarding this post.

Rav Kook [בריש ספר אורות התשובה] says that the first step to teshuva is תשובה הטבעית - "natural teshuva". This means a return to a healthy body. Eat healthily, sleep well, exercise etc. etc.

We live in a plentiful society where people overeat [even the skinny ones], eat unhealthily, sleep too little and get by on drugs [i.e. caffeine]. There are still many [even frum people] who smoke despite the absolute, incontrovertible proof that first it makes a person sick and then it kills him. Yet, tens of millions of people pay money for this dubious "privilege" of slowly committing suicide.

The principal is - self control. People have a hard time controlling themselves. The Rambam says in hilchos teshuva that one must do teshuva not only for aveiros that involve action but also for those of attitude and personality such as running excessively after food and money. People see their tyvos in front of their eyes and there is no stopping them. This is the cause of great mental and physical anguish.

There is a dieting group for women in my neighborhood. They have a nutritionist give a "drasha", then they weigh themselves and talk about food. This is wonderful, as it is an opportunity for women to get together and be sociable. We don't have Facebook and other social media here and anyway face to face communication is the most real and meaningful.

A man [of a very protruding waistline] told me that if I know of any such groups for men, I should tell him. He said that his wife puts the food on the table and he eats and eats and has trouble stopping.

I wanted to say "Sweet friend. You don't need a dieting club and weekly meetings. You just need to control yourself. One helping and that is it. We are not animals. Cut all [or most] of the junky-junk out of your diet, learn the basic rules of nutrition, exercise regularly and you will be a NEW MAN."

Rosh Hashana [as we have discussed in shiurim] is about becoming a NEW PERSON. The first step is a revolution in our eating and general health habits.