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the attempts to get Mordechai to bow with supper. Then, when you finish lot of time to thinking about eating
down before Haman were equally supper, you are not stranded with no and food, it is distracting me from the
relentless: “And it was when they food left to eat on your meal plan. more purposeful things I could be
spoke to him day after day, and he Rather, you can eat what you want doing. The directive “Shivisi Hashem
didn’t listen to them.” and count it in the day’s tally. That lenegdi tamid (I have set Hashem next
means if you eat more at night, you to me always)” is incompatible with
You can resist temptation and coer- will have less left to eat during the existing in a state of bingeing and
cion over an extended period of time, following day. On the other hand, you unreality. We have a holier purpose in
whether the temptation comes in the won’t be stranded at night with a des- this world, and we should not let our
form of torturing oneself about eating perate feeling that you should not be physical urges detract from this.
a food that is off limits (because it will eating anything else. This also helps
provoke a binge, etc) or the “coercion” with eating before supper. If I know Purim tells us that the physical can
comes in the form of prodding by that my “day” starts again with supper also be a way to relate to and come
friends or family members that may go and that I can eat relatively generous- close to Hashem; that’s why our holi-
in directions you don’t want. You don’t ly then, I won’t be so driven by my est day is called, Yom Kippurim, a day
have to get worn down. appetite on the way home from work like Purim. Both have the potential to
or while making supper. elevate us.◆
Turn it upside down (venahafoch
hu): What about turning around the Finally, I am here for a purpose: Janet Sunness is medical director of
way you approach your day’s eating? I Esther was galvanized by Mordechai the Richard E. Hoover Low Vision
tried this a few years ago successfully, telling her that she was put in her Rehabilitation Services at the Greater
even wrote about it, but somehow position to act for the Jewish people Baltimore Medical Center. She gives
this trick escaped and I have not and that if she failed, she and her fam- classes and talks on a variety of topics
used it since. I am going to try it, as ily would be lost but Israel’s salvation in the Baltimore area for the Women’s
soon as Purim’s over. Suppose your would come from elsewhere. Institute of Torah and Cong. Shomrei
problem, like mine, is difficulty con- Emunah. She can be reached at jsun-
trolling eating at night. Instead of We are not in such dramatic posi- ness@gmail.com.
defining your day of counting your tions. Nonetheless, each of us was put
points, calories, etc., from the morn- where we are to fulfill a specific pur- © Janet Sunness 2017
ing, start your day in the evening, pose in this world. If I am devoting a
108 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
down before Haman were equally supper, you are not stranded with no and food, it is distracting me from the
relentless: “And it was when they food left to eat on your meal plan. more purposeful things I could be
spoke to him day after day, and he Rather, you can eat what you want doing. The directive “Shivisi Hashem
didn’t listen to them.” and count it in the day’s tally. That lenegdi tamid (I have set Hashem next
means if you eat more at night, you to me always)” is incompatible with
You can resist temptation and coer- will have less left to eat during the existing in a state of bingeing and
cion over an extended period of time, following day. On the other hand, you unreality. We have a holier purpose in
whether the temptation comes in the won’t be stranded at night with a des- this world, and we should not let our
form of torturing oneself about eating perate feeling that you should not be physical urges detract from this.
a food that is off limits (because it will eating anything else. This also helps
provoke a binge, etc) or the “coercion” with eating before supper. If I know Purim tells us that the physical can
comes in the form of prodding by that my “day” starts again with supper also be a way to relate to and come
friends or family members that may go and that I can eat relatively generous- close to Hashem; that’s why our holi-
in directions you don’t want. You don’t ly then, I won’t be so driven by my est day is called, Yom Kippurim, a day
have to get worn down. appetite on the way home from work like Purim. Both have the potential to
or while making supper. elevate us.◆
Turn it upside down (venahafoch
hu): What about turning around the Finally, I am here for a purpose: Janet Sunness is medical director of
way you approach your day’s eating? I Esther was galvanized by Mordechai the Richard E. Hoover Low Vision
tried this a few years ago successfully, telling her that she was put in her Rehabilitation Services at the Greater
even wrote about it, but somehow position to act for the Jewish people Baltimore Medical Center. She gives
this trick escaped and I have not and that if she failed, she and her fam- classes and talks on a variety of topics
used it since. I am going to try it, as ily would be lost but Israel’s salvation in the Baltimore area for the Women’s
soon as Purim’s over. Suppose your would come from elsewhere. Institute of Torah and Cong. Shomrei
problem, like mine, is difficulty con- Emunah. She can be reached at jsun-
trolling eating at night. Instead of We are not in such dramatic posi- ness@gmail.com.
defining your day of counting your tions. Nonetheless, each of us was put
points, calories, etc., from the morn- where we are to fulfill a specific pur- © Janet Sunness 2017
ing, start your day in the evening, pose in this world. If I am devoting a
108 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
