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P. 116
JUST YOU WAIT
RESTORING SANCTITY TO EATING…
Mby Janet S. Sunness, M.D. AND TO THE REST OF OUR LIVES, PART 32
an in general, and bnai
Yisrael in particular, have a eat at night. I am getting somewhat bet- get invoked by wanting to eat after
difficult time waiting for ter at refraining, but it is still very diffi- you’ve finished everything you were
things. Our Sages tell us that cult. If I can hold out until the deadline allotted for that day. Or you could go
had Adam, in the Garden of (when I go to sleep), I am okay, and I upstairs or any room that is not the
Eden, held off and not eaten can truthfully tell myself that I will be kitchen after supper, and not enter the
from the Tree of Knowledge until able to eat again when I awaken. So enticing areas of your house until the
Shabbos, the seventh day, the ban on we’re not talking about waiting an eter- morning. Or, you could just go to sleep
eating from the tree would have been nity to eat, just a short time. Yet it is still earlier.
rescinded, and Adam could have lived very difficult.
in Paradise forever. We can remember, too, that Hashem
Interestingly, when we know that gives us experiences to strengthen us. I
Bnai Yisrael were supposed to wait delaying eating is a commandment tried to think about the value of expe-
until Moshe came down from Mount from Hashem, as on a fast day, we don’t riencing such an insatiable longing for
Sinai. They did wait, for 40 days have trouble holding out. Or if we are food (even though, logically, it is ridicu-
according to their flawed count, but at a gathering at which there is no lous), and then it hit me: As bad as the
had they waited a few more hours, kosher food, we can wait until after the Jewish people are at waiting for things,
Moshe would have come down, and party to eat. So we do have the strength we are commanded to wait for the
there would have been no Golden Calf. within us. When it’s an absolute coming of Mashiach. We may say or
requirement, like a mitzva, not to eat, sing about this longing, but most of us
And the great King Saul was to have we are able to muster the extra resolve don’t live with this feeling at each
waited in Gilgal for seven days, until to avoid eating. But if it’s just a fight moment. Imagine if we could yearn for
Samuel came and brought offerings. between my lust for food and my good Mashiach in the same way we yearn for
But the Philistines were massing to sense, the outcome is often negative. food! We would not take no for an
fight against bnai Yisrael, so Saul And the result is waking up with the answer, and we would do everything we
brought the offering himself, only to sinking feeling that “I did it again,” could to bring him sooner. This would
have Samuel arrive a short time later unraveling all our subsequent daytime create a different world, a different exis-
and tell him that his kingdom would efforts to control our eating. tence. So, try to imagine marshalling
not endure because of this sin. your desires in this direction. It may
How can we deal with this difficulty keep you from eating, if only for a
Waiting is an important part of man- of delaying our gratification? One way is night.◆
aging our food intake. We have all been to make our plan for eating more
told that it takes 20 minutes for a per- absolute: I resolve not to eat after sup- Janet Sunness is medical director of
son to feel full after he eats a meal. Yet per, period, come what may! Another, the Richard E. Hoover Low Vision
there is this little (sometimes big) nudg- discussed in a previous article Rehabilitation Services at the Greater
ing voice that says, “I want more, and I (http://www.wherewhatwhen.com/arti- Baltimore Medical Center. She can be
want it now.” It is not driven by hunger cle/night-and-day-restoring-sanctity-to- reached at jsunness@gmail.com. Her
but simply by a desire to eat. As read- eating-and-to-the-rest-of-our-lives-part- Sunday 8 p.m. class at Shomrei
ers of this series know, my biggest 6), is to redefine the beginning of the Emunah for women on the Teachings
obstacle to keeping weight off and not dieting day. If it starts at night, so that of Rav Schwab will resume in the fall.
gaining more is an insatiable desire to food is allowed, the sense of “forbidden © Janet Sunness 2016
waters are sweeter” (Proverbs) does not
112 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
RESTORING SANCTITY TO EATING…
Mby Janet S. Sunness, M.D. AND TO THE REST OF OUR LIVES, PART 32
an in general, and bnai
Yisrael in particular, have a eat at night. I am getting somewhat bet- get invoked by wanting to eat after
difficult time waiting for ter at refraining, but it is still very diffi- you’ve finished everything you were
things. Our Sages tell us that cult. If I can hold out until the deadline allotted for that day. Or you could go
had Adam, in the Garden of (when I go to sleep), I am okay, and I upstairs or any room that is not the
Eden, held off and not eaten can truthfully tell myself that I will be kitchen after supper, and not enter the
from the Tree of Knowledge until able to eat again when I awaken. So enticing areas of your house until the
Shabbos, the seventh day, the ban on we’re not talking about waiting an eter- morning. Or, you could just go to sleep
eating from the tree would have been nity to eat, just a short time. Yet it is still earlier.
rescinded, and Adam could have lived very difficult.
in Paradise forever. We can remember, too, that Hashem
Interestingly, when we know that gives us experiences to strengthen us. I
Bnai Yisrael were supposed to wait delaying eating is a commandment tried to think about the value of expe-
until Moshe came down from Mount from Hashem, as on a fast day, we don’t riencing such an insatiable longing for
Sinai. They did wait, for 40 days have trouble holding out. Or if we are food (even though, logically, it is ridicu-
according to their flawed count, but at a gathering at which there is no lous), and then it hit me: As bad as the
had they waited a few more hours, kosher food, we can wait until after the Jewish people are at waiting for things,
Moshe would have come down, and party to eat. So we do have the strength we are commanded to wait for the
there would have been no Golden Calf. within us. When it’s an absolute coming of Mashiach. We may say or
requirement, like a mitzva, not to eat, sing about this longing, but most of us
And the great King Saul was to have we are able to muster the extra resolve don’t live with this feeling at each
waited in Gilgal for seven days, until to avoid eating. But if it’s just a fight moment. Imagine if we could yearn for
Samuel came and brought offerings. between my lust for food and my good Mashiach in the same way we yearn for
But the Philistines were massing to sense, the outcome is often negative. food! We would not take no for an
fight against bnai Yisrael, so Saul And the result is waking up with the answer, and we would do everything we
brought the offering himself, only to sinking feeling that “I did it again,” could to bring him sooner. This would
have Samuel arrive a short time later unraveling all our subsequent daytime create a different world, a different exis-
and tell him that his kingdom would efforts to control our eating. tence. So, try to imagine marshalling
not endure because of this sin. your desires in this direction. It may
How can we deal with this difficulty keep you from eating, if only for a
Waiting is an important part of man- of delaying our gratification? One way is night.◆
aging our food intake. We have all been to make our plan for eating more
told that it takes 20 minutes for a per- absolute: I resolve not to eat after sup- Janet Sunness is medical director of
son to feel full after he eats a meal. Yet per, period, come what may! Another, the Richard E. Hoover Low Vision
there is this little (sometimes big) nudg- discussed in a previous article Rehabilitation Services at the Greater
ing voice that says, “I want more, and I (http://www.wherewhatwhen.com/arti- Baltimore Medical Center. She can be
want it now.” It is not driven by hunger cle/night-and-day-restoring-sanctity-to- reached at jsunness@gmail.com. Her
but simply by a desire to eat. As read- eating-and-to-the-rest-of-our-lives-part- Sunday 8 p.m. class at Shomrei
ers of this series know, my biggest 6), is to redefine the beginning of the Emunah for women on the Teachings
obstacle to keeping weight off and not dieting day. If it starts at night, so that of Rav Schwab will resume in the fall.
gaining more is an insatiable desire to food is allowed, the sense of “forbidden © Janet Sunness 2016
waters are sweeter” (Proverbs) does not
112 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
