General Topics



What is religion to you? Pleasure or pain?

We are in the fasting season. We started with the Seventeenth of Tamuz, a full day from dawn till dark. Next week we move on toward the Ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av), a 25-hour marathon in the height of summer.

I am intrigued by the role of fasting in Judaism. In theory it goes against the grain of a tradition that delights in the permitted pleasures of this world and encourages one to enjoy, to eat, drink, and be merry and thank God for the pleasure. The Torah only mentions one fast, Yom Kippur. But over time we have added plenty, to mitigate disaster, record tragedies, as antidotes to anything from bad dreams to excessive celebration, or just to increase piety.

Zechariah (8:19) looks forward to a day when fasts are abolished (other than the Torah fast, of course); so clearly he has reservations about the spiritual validity of adding fasts.

There is plenty of published literature about the extent to which customs have been influenced by the different Christian and Muslim environments in which Judaism has survived. Cycles of strictness, reformations, and counterreformations in Judaism seem to have followed external conditions pretty closely. The medieval pious Hasidei Ashkenaz movement, for example, coincided with the Crusades. A rash of pseudo-messiahs came with the post-expulsion traumas of Sefardi Jews, as did popular mysticism. Self-laceration, particularly before Yom Kippur, appears to come from both Christian monastic and Shia Ashura customs. But I do not think that is the complete story.

Religions are not simple monolithic structures, despite the impression some like to give, and Judaism contains many different types of spiritual expression. The spirit of the prophets was different than that of the Temple priesthood, and Temple Judaism had different rules and regulations than what went on outside. Pharisees battled Sadducees, then the Rabbinates fought Kaarites. It is true that Rabbinic Judaism won the battle of history. But even within there were differences, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, kabbalists, rationalists, Hasidism, and on to the multifaceted variations of Judaism nowadays, both within Orthodoxy and without. Even all those that technically follow the same constitution do so in markedly variegated ways. To give one trivial example, some Jews fast on the anniversaries of their parents’ deaths while others drink LeChayim!

There are two strains of Greek philosophy, the Stoic and the Epicurean. Stoicism is the more ascetic approach to life. Think of Diogenes and his barrel, rejecting this world. Epicureanism delights in physical pleasures. Of course, I am being very simplistic here to make a point. Even within Hasidism you have those charismatics who fasted all week and only reluctantly ate on Shabbat because they were obliged to by law. On the other hand, you can find those Dionysian characters that delighted in all the halachic pleasures of life and made an issue of appearing well fed and watered.

As a child, I noticed how some religious kids simply seemed more naturally pious. They positively reveled in self-denial, in praying longer than anyone else, in fasting as often as they could, in denying pleasure, in studying rigorously and with apparent delight. People are different and asceticism comes naturally to some that is fine, but not everyone is like that or has to be like that.

I was reared in a family where Torah was joyous. Those who know me are aware that I delight in Torah. A halachic way of life brings me immense pleasure. I am in the “religion can be enjoyable” camp, not in the “it’s good to suffer” one. I guess I am an epicurean by nature. I know the dangers of Epicureanism, just as I know the dangers of asceticism. I decided early on that there seemed too many killjoys in Orthodoxy, so I consciously took a different path to show people that you could enjoy it and it needn’t be a self-denying ascetic penalty. But I also know that for many the disciplines of religion are essential and the rigors of halacha can be beneficial in other ways.

All religion contains these different trends, elements, fashions. It seems to me that both sides of the religious spectrum need balance. Therefore, despite my visceral objection to fasting, I force myself to see the positive. Partly it is communal. I am associating with, participating in, Jewish community togetherness, in pain as well as joy. Given the extent to which I feel alienated from so much Jewish community life, I feel it a necessary antidote to fast with those I might not always feel close to. And I feel that materialism has gone too far.

On a very epicurean level, if I am prepared to suffer for the sake of physical fitness and vanity, then why not do it for religious reasons too? Fasting as a diet need not just be for vanity. Sometimes it can be for a higher good!!!

9 thoughts on “Fasting

  1. Technically, all music is forbidden since the destruction of the Temple. An exception is made for music in the context of Mitzvah. Even so, many Charedi Rabbis only allow one instrument at a wedding in Jerusalem.

    The context of forbidding music during various periods of mourning is the association of music with parties, banquets, and public celebration. I adhere to the halkacha in this regard.

    But private iPod/mp3/CD music is another matter. It is more recreational than celebratory, is usually a lone and private experience rather than a public one. I draw a difference between serious music in its varieties and trivial or sexually explicit music. (I don’t listen to that anyway.) But I do listen to serious music on my mp3 player during the three weeks.

  2. I have a few follow-up questions:

    1) If all music is forbidden, other than for a mitzvah, does that mean one should not attend a concert of non-religious music?

    2) Are you saying that during the 3 weeks you would not play music at home with your family or friends, but would only listen using headphones?

    3) When you say “serious” music, do you mean it has to be solemn, or would upbeat, uplifting music fall into the category you mention?

    4) I have said that you listen to the Beatles, which I assume you would consider trivial. Do you not listen to them during the Three Weeks?

  3. Good questions!

    The fact is that even most ultra-Orthodox Jews do not take the universal ban on music seriously anymore. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be all these Hasidic pop concerts (and the reason for those who ban them is modesty, not music per se). Here is a good example of a clearly stated post-destruction custom/law falling into abeyance.

    No, I do not think there is a real, serious problem with listening to serious music at home.

    As for the distinction between serious and not, of course this is highly subjective but what I think is inappropriate is either getting up and dancing around the house or blaring the music at full volume. But I agree it is a fine line. I try to make a distinction because it is, after all, a period of mourning generally accepted. And in fact I do only listen to classical music during the Three Weeks, but I am not in favour of imposing that restriction particularly on kids.

    And I agree my position is not necessarily a logical or consistent one. After all, I love jazz, and Coltraine is hardly pop stuff, it is serious as well, but I do avoid it too. However if I went somewhere or was in a public place with it on I would not run out!!!

  4. If we can set aside the ban on instrumental music, what is your feeling on the recent institution of music in some Conservative Shabbat services?

    The prohibition on instruments on Shabbat is related to not repairing them if they are broken, rather than being an actual melacha, right? But since you can just not play, or have a backup instrument in case of breakage on Shabbat, I don’t understand what the underlying concern really is. Especially since music is known to enhance one’s spiritual or religious experience.

  5. Music on Shabbat has been part of rabbinic Shabbat Law, quite separately from the Destruction in the same way as the ban on riding, making/using medicines, even if the reasons given were simply ‘excuses’ or ‘hooks to hang it on’, the feeling was that such activity was simply not appropriate for the atmosphere of Shabbat and I have to say I see no basis whatsoever for changing this.

    It so happens that in medieval Venice they used to play instruments in the synagogue on Kabbalat Shabbat but put them away when Shabbat came in! (Zimmels Sefardim and Ashkenazim).

  6. I think the that “reason” they see fit to break with that tradition would be because of the positive use of music in drawing people in, giving a more uplifting spiritual religious service. Of course, we don’t violate a d’oraisa prohibition for such a reason, but perhaps they see this as a greater good, and precisely that it *is* appropriate for Shabbos to have musical enhancement.

  7. Also, it was infelicitous of me to bracket medicines with riding and music, etc. The reason for banning medicines was overwhelmingly to do with their preparation. There have been radical changes in the way medicines are made and sold nowadays

Leave a Reply to Abraham Cancel reply