You shall rejoice in all of the good that G-d gave to you
-Devarim 26:11

Ever notice everything in Judaism seems to be related to food? On Pesach, we eat Matza and Marror. On Shavuos, we eat cheesecake. Chanuka has latkes and jelly donuts. Shabbos has cholent, kishke, gefilte fish and potato kugel. Even Yom Kippur has traditional foods – or at least Erev Yom Kippur: kreplach (ground meat in a dough). If someone has a baby, there’s food! A Shalom Zachar and Bris for a boy both have food and a Kiddish for a girl is full of delicacies. Bar and Bas Mitzvahs have food and weddings have huge meals. Even when mourning, there are traditional foods. Whenever Jews gather together, even during a weekly class on Sunday mornings, the sign advertising the event always states “Refreshments will be served.” Why does everything in Jewish life have food in it?

Food makes a person happy, while a person who fasts is usually in a grumpy mood. This is one of the reasons why our great Rabbis recommend people to eat a few cookies or crackers after work before walking inside the house as then the family can greet each other with smiles on their faces (don’t eat too much though because then there will be other problems when one does not eat the dinner cooked for him). Also, when children get home from school, before anything else, they should be given a snack. These small amounts of food will change a person’s mood and make him happier.

This is the reason why food is such an important part of Jewish life: we are to be happy people. Many religions of the world have a large focus on deprivation to make oneself holy. Judaism recognizes there must be limits, but a person must also have pleasures. Without pleasures, a person will have great difficulty to be able to reach higher spirituality because our spirits live within a worldly body that needs physical pleasures. Food is one of these requirements. Without food, a person would become depressed and depression is the worst thing a person can do.

A good friend of mine once told me that just like when a person is rising spiritually, he needs to take it step-by-step, so too when a person goes down in spirituality, it is step-by-step. A person does not sink to the bottom overnight. The question is asked regarding the Golden Calf – how is it the Jews could go from such a high spiritual level to such a low one almost overnight? They should have fallen step-by-step and not been able to fall so quickly. The answer is there is an exception to this rule of falling step-by-step and the exception is depression. When a person is depressed, he can fall to the lowest level in a moment.

Since depression is so dangerous, Judaism wants to make sure we avoid it. Therefore, we are taught to enjoy life and to be happy. This is the reason we have so many events with food as food makes us happy. Of course, this does not mean we should over-eat, as this will make us feel sick and depressed. But when we eat foods for the right reason, which is to satisfy our physical desire so we can avoid depression, then we are performing an extremely holy act.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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