Rabbi Elazar haKappar said: “Hakin’a vehata’avah vehakavod motzi’im es ha’adam min ha’olam – Envy, inordinate desire, and [the search for] glory remove a man from the world.” (Pirkei Avos 4:28, translation from Bunim’s Ethics from Sinai.)

Ta’ava, inordinate desire or lust, is one of the three things which take man out of the world.
First, what is ta’avah? Ta’avah is an overpowering desire or craving. In the Chumash, the first two places in which the word ta’avah occurs are related to a lust for food. In the story of the Garden of Eden, Eve is tempted to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Her desire for the food is described as “ta’avah hi l’aynayim,” (translated as “a delight to the eyes”). (Genesis 3:6) Ta’avah is again used in relation to food in Bamidbar. Bnai Yisrael are ready to begin the march to Eretz Yisrael, when the people begin complaining about missing the foods they had in Egypt. This event leads to a plague, is a source of great anger to Moshe Rabbeinu, and is the first of a number of incidents that prevent Bnai Yisrael from going directly into Eretz Yisrael. The place where the incident occurred is called Kivros-hata’avah, because “there they buried the people who had been craving (mis’avim).” (Numbers 11:34)

In the previous articles of this series, I have generally taken a concept from hashkafa, how we should lead our lives, and used it to understand how to better deal with eating issues. This month, we are going to try to learn something from eating that we can apply to the rest of our lives.

In the recently published book, A Divine Madness, from a manuscript written by Rav Avigdor Miller and edited by Daniel Zaslow, my “antennae” for eating-related themes perked up at this statement: “The loyal Jewish Nation had always considered the Torah as eternal, coming from the Eternal

“You may be asleep, but the yetzer hara is always on the alert.”
RABBEINU BACHYA IN DUTIES OF THE HEART
In November, I took part in what is called a “white elephant gift exchange” at my workplace. The concept is this: Each participant buys and wraps a gift that is within a specified price range. At the time of the gathering, all the gifts are put in the center. All participants draw a number, and that determines the order of play. Participant number one selects a gift from the pile and opens it so all can see. Participant number two

Sefiras Ha’omer is a time of counting days, but also naming days. Each day has a unique number, but our Rabbis have also endowed each day with a unique set of qualities. There are 49 days of counting from the second night of Pesach until Shavuos. A number of explanations are given for this: Bnai Yisrael needed to rise from the 49th level of defilement, and each day they could raise themselves up one additional level. Forty-nine is also seven-squared. The number seven in our tradition – as elaborated by the Maharal and many other Chachamim – represents this world

There is a famous Midrash that Rav Shimshom Dovid Pincus, zt”l, brings down in the sefer Shabbos Kodesh. Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi (Rebbi) and the Emperor Antoninus were friends. Once, Rebbi invited Antoninus for a cold Shabbos afternoon meal. Antoninus found the food especially delicious despite the fact that it was cold. The next day, Rebbi invited him for another meal of warm food. Antoninus reported that he liked the Shabbos food better. Rebbe told him that the weekday foods were missing a certain seasoning called Shabbos.

  One part of the mitzva of keeping Shabbos is the “zachor” aspect, to

We all know that our day begins at sunset: “And it was evening, and it was morning…” is the formula for each of the days of Creation. We are all clearly aware that Shabbos begins on Friday night and ends on Saturday night. Those davening Maariv or bentsching at night recite the appropriate sections (for Rosh Chodesh, etc) for the upcoming day.

But there is no time in the Jewish year where the beginning of the day at the evening is more obvious than during the counting of the Omer. We count the day in the evening, and if we