Food can be pervasive in Jewish culture, as it is in many cultures. However, gluttony and sloth are not honored in Jewish tradition. In fact, the opposite is the case.
Let us look at the writings of the Rambam—Moses Maimonides (d. 1204, Egypt). He is renowned for being a great Jewish philosopher, rabbi and physician. His writings throughout are filled with the necessity of balance in one’s life, in every possible respect.
His philosophical writings, for example his phenomenally important introduction to the Mishnah of Avot—Ethics of the Fathers, known as the Shemonah Perakim—Eight Chapters, deal with the wellbeing of the nefesh or soul. Soul in this case, as it is understood in Judaism throughout, does not mean a disembodied spirit (as understood in Christianity), rather the totality of the human being.
Maimonides speaks at the outset about diseases of the soul and in chapter four, concerning the cure of the diseases of the soul. He writes about what has become known as the she-vil ha-zahav—the Golden Mean, “Good deed are such as are equi-balanced, maintaining the mean between two equally bad extremes, the too much and the too little. Virtues are psychic conditions and dispositions which are midway between two reprehensible extremes, one of which is characterized by an exaggeration, the other by a deficiency. Good deeds are the product of these dispositions.…”
“Now, let me return to my subject. If a person will always carefully discriminate as regards his actions, directing them to the medium course, he will reach the highest degree of perfection possible to a human being, thereby approaching God, and sharing in His happiness. This is the most acceptable way of serving God….”
While Maimonides’ book, the Eight Chapters deals in the main with the psychic reality and disposition of humankind and the virtue of the Golden Mean, he eventually codified this in his major work of Jewish law, in the Mishneh Torah. In his first book, the Book of Knowledge, Laws Relating to Moral Dispositions and Ethical Conduct, he speaks explicitly of proper behavior in accordance with Torah teaching. It is instructive to look at this to grasp how Maimonides grappled with the very human tendencies to seek extremes of behavior, while shunning the medium path leading to and maintaining good health.
Maimonides writes, “A person should aim to maintain physical health and vigor, in order that their soul may be upright, in a condition to know God. For it is impossible for one to understand sciences and meditate upon them when he is hungry or sick, or when any of his limbs is aching.” (Law 3)
A most direct statement to the effect that physical health is vital to make possible the proper service of God, is to be found in chapter four, “Since by keeping the body in health and vigor one walks in the ways of God—it being impossible during sickness to have any understanding or knowledge of the Creator—it is a person’s duty to avoid whatever is injurious to the body, and cultivate habits conducive to health and vigor.” (Law 1)
Often times, we are misled into thinking that Judaism demands a particular action based on our exposure to certain persons who seem to practice the religion seriously, while acting in other ways which seem to fly in the face of what would intuitively appear to be proper. We must always take into account that we are all ‘human’ and subject to the frailties of any other mortal.
We, however, must take care and do our best to follow the paths to good physical and mental wellbeing as expected in the Judaism taught by our sages, as delineated in the works of Maimonides, urging us to pursue the Golden Mean in all that we do.
Answered by: Rabbi Sanford Shudnow