Today people pride themselves on being "foodies". We are inundated by advertisements for "gourmet food", a constant influx of kosher cookbooks, women's magazines filled with endless pictures of food and recipes, advertisements for hotels feature a host of superlatives about the quality and quantity of food etc. etc.
I MUST make a "public service announcement": All the kudos to mothers who faithfully cook for and feed their families. It is WONDERFUL!! It makes the home a much more pleasant place to be, adds to שלום בית, enhances Shabbos and Yom Tov etc. etc. Many women also enjoy the cooking experience which is also a value. Life can't be all work and no pleasure or hobbies. We are also not supposed to be ascetics. In this generation in particular, it is unhealthy for most people to strive to live an existence where he eats the minimum of bland food. So EAT AND ENJOY!!
BUT - and this is a big "but" - there is almost nothing in the world that can bring a person down spiritually like food. The only desire on the level of food is the sexual desire but that is understood by all to be a passion that must be curbed [not anymore but that is besides the point]. But when it comes to food the desire is powerful, almost constant and people think that there is nothing wrong with it. People are not embarrassed to call themselves "foodies". People have no issue with spending hundreds of dollars on a meal just for the pure pleasure of the food - and then to be on the lookout for new, even more exciting culinary experiences. When I see an ad telling me that a hotel has a 24 hour tea room I say "there is NO WAY IN THE WORLD I would go to this place. It might destroy my soul". All of these ads are as if they are saying "24 hours of beautiful women waiting anxiously to please you". Sounds pretty good to many men but we know that it is a paved road to the lowest levels of depravity.
How can one compare גילוי עריות to eating a delicious meal? Obviously they are not the same. Or are they, on some level? The psukim indeed compare the two - such as Mishlei 30-20:
The Ramban at the beginning of this weeks Parsha talks about someone who overeats and over emphasizes food as transgressing the basic commandment to be holy. It is the OPPOSITE of holy to place excessive focus on food. We need to eat in order to live. So eat, eat healthily, eat well, enjoy your life, make brachos with the same enthusiasm that you eat - but don't make food the centerpiece of your life. Eat to live - don't live to eat.
Mothers - keep cooking up a storm. The more positive and pleasurable home life is, the more likely the child is to continue our traditions that he or she learned in the home. Honor Shabbos and Yuntiv with especially delicious food. Show your husband how much you love him by making sure his stomach and palate are satisfied. But we must ALL always remember that eating is a means and not an end!! Eat reasonable measured amounts and limit your spending on food so that the extra money can be used for things that matter much more [like feeding people who really can't afford food and don't just eat for pleasure as we do].
