Aholiday is a holy day because it interrupts the daily flow of our unexamined lives with messages and reminders that we need to make life worth living. As we approach the holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, let’s remember the purpose of this first 10-day period of the year—to fill us with humility and soul searching, introspection and self evaluation.
The 12th century Spanish rabbi, philosopher and scholar, Moses Maimonides, was a great physician by profession. In the Mishneh Torah he wrote: “Since it is impossible to have any understanding and knowledge of the Creator when one is sick, it is one’s duty to avoid whatever is injurious to the body and to cultivate habits that promote health and vigor.” Can you honestly claim that in your daily life, you perpetuate eating habits that promote health and vigor?
Your body is not just a body; it’s the receptacle of the soul. G-d’s spirit lives in it. So, you have a choice: Do you want G-d’s spirit to reside in a healthy house, one that’s full of healthy energy and life—or do you want G-d’s spirit to live in a house with a myriad of medical problems, dependent upon prescription drugs to keep it going?
On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, when performing tashlich and casting your sins into the water, you are showing your disgust with all the improper decisions you’ve made and actions you’ve taken that have contributed to your unhealthy body. But for repentance to be accepted, it must be accompanied by a commitment to change.
On Yom Kippur, when fasting, you are showing your disgust with your own improper behavior through a concrete act of self-denial. By the ability to “just say no” to whatever may tempt you this day, you prove to yourself and to G-d that in the coming year you can be master of your own destiny and you can control your behavior.
I read somewhere that in the Zodiac the sign that invariably corresponds with Rosh Hashanah is Libra— the scales. And I guess one could say that this sign is a symbol of the religious meaning of this time in the Jewish year. As the rabbis of the Talmud put it, G-d brings out His scales in order to weigh the deeds of every person.
Just as it is always the first steps we take on any journey that sets our course, how we start the New Year, perhaps, is the key to everything else that follows. Do yourself a good deed: Make a commitment to tip the scales in your favor, and get your “house” in order!
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Lori Boxer is the Director of Weight*No*More Diet Center with offices in Brooklyn, Long Island and New Jersey.
