I was recently listening to a lecture from Rabbi Mordechai Becher and he asked a question: “What is the first statement G-d made to Adam after creating him?” Many people think the answer is ‘Adam should not eat from the Tree of Knowledge’, but this is not correct. Right before saying this (Bereshis 2:16) G-d said “You may eat from every tree in the Garden.” Only after stating that everything is allowed does G-d say that the Tree of Knowledge is off limits. Many people think of Judaism as a religion that limits people and tries to make people avoid pleasure. The exact opposite is actually true. We are not only supposed to have pleasure, but the first statement ever made to man is to enjoy from all of the great foods in the world.

But if we are supposed to live a life of pleasure, why are there so many limiting factors put on us? For example, I’m not even allowed to pick up a pen on Shabbos! Why? There are many answers to this question, but I would like to offer one possibility.

I like eating pizza. I like it a lot! I would gladly eat numerous meals where the only thing being served is pizza. But let’s imagine every meal I am served for a month is pizza; although I like eating it, after a few days I would be sick of it. The pleasure comes because I do not have it for every meal. This is the reason why we have limits in Jewish law. One of the reasons we celebrate Shabbos is so we can appreciate the other days of the week more. We realize how pleasurable our life really is when we limit its use.

A few years ago the night after Sukkos was over, a friend of mine called me up to say he was moving away from North Miami Beach and getting divorced from his wife. He said Judaism had too many limiting factors and was not for him. He then started complaining about the rules of family purity. After this conversation, I began thinking about these laws of family purity and realized these laws are extremely important. Nowadays, so many couples lose their love for each other after a few years, and experts say one of the reasons is because they are always together. The experts’ recommendation is basically to follow a path that is the same as the Jewish family purity laws – have a limiting factor! With limits, people enjoy things more. My friend did not understand this and felt the limits took away from his pleasure. If only he could have realized that in the future he would have more pleasure by following these laws.

The limits we have in Judaism are not so we live lives without fun. The reason we have these laws is so we can maximize our pleasure in this world!

Good Shabbos
-yes
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