H.A.L.T.

One of the most impressive, respectable teachers in my place of employment is sitting across from me in the teacher's room. He mentioned that he's going to the school play because his wife wants to go. I asked him, "Is that really her first choice for where she wants to go out?" At that point a science teacher laughed out loud and says that our conversation is very funny. Thank you very much. I like coming up with spontaneous humorous comments, funny on the spot. On Shabbos at Camp Moshava I was standing in front of the lake at sunset with some seniors. In the middle of a discussion my eye noticed a sign on a shack behind one of the kids. The little building had a faux street sign on it that said "The Lake." The words just came out, "I just want to point out that what we think is the lake isn't, the real lake is in there." Back to my colleague, he tells me that as a young married rabbi he tried to convince his wife that when he did an unveiling and brought her along that counted as going out. She considers anything else a step up from the unveiling. I hope to go to the play - doin' it for the children.

H.A.L.T.

Sometimes, like this one right now,

I remember to halt and see

how one of these four things

is affecting me -

being hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.

I have been thinking a lot lately about food. I wrote about it a few posts back and had a good comment thread with Lavender Garden about it. That was during the time that something went awry with Blogger and the comments were lost. I'm sad about that. I just checked and see Blogger is still a bit off. The comments have reappeared, but the post is elusive. Hopefully if you click here you'll see it.

I need to choose other activities for entertainment other than eating. It's a problem in today's world that - with all we know of the ills of overeating - eating is still a major social activity (you often hear "Let's do lunch," but seldom hear - let's do a walk). It is so common to soothe our pain by eating rather than dealing with it directly that we have given an affectionate nickname to what we imbibe at such times - "Comfort Food" (what could be bad about that which comes to soothe our pain? - he asked, knowing the answer to be "a lot"). We never need to be bored, but rather than study or read or write or sing or paint we often choose to eat. We encourage each other to eat unhealthy foods. We gift each other with cakes, kugels, and cookies. We douse vegetables with bad oil. We eat way too much at once.

I'm thinking about this now because I'm hungry. Are we ever truly hungry for food? How much food do we need to get by? We all deal differently with issues of weight that weigh heavily upon us. I respect every approach. A prominent rabbi who is overweight (like most of us living in the USA) said he'd rather be fat than stupid. I hope he's not both. Why are we humans so prone to either or thinking? Is it because it gives us an easy out?

Rav Elimelech Bar Shaul says that when G-d wrote that the Torah is not in heaven he meant the following: Many religions set their standards so pie in the sky that it's understood that no human can reach that standard. This allows people to opt out and say that they just can't do it, so they have a good excuse to call the whole thing off. Judaism, G-d tells us, is do-able. It is accessible and its standards are achievable.

This idea reminds me of what Weight Watchers always says - that eating right is within reach, a lifestyle not a crash diet. And yet at every meeting I attend the room is mostly populated with people who are re-starting after having lapsed. For many it does not feel or seem do-able. In the last few years I've gone way up in weight. In the last seven weeks I've gone down ten pounds. I hope that this week I lost weight again. I've been eating consciously. Slowly, slowly, slowly says the sloth.