aren't we like animals ...

greenfire

Sun, Dec 20 2009, 2:18 pm

how does anybody have the ability to eat just to sustain ourselves to do mitzvos ... we are not on the level of the Rambam ... aren't we more like animals - we see - we eat - we desire - so what - how can we be expected to be different ?!?!?!

rydys

Mon, Dec 21 2009, 7:35 am

That's the whole point! Without Torah, we would be just like animals. We use the Torah to learn how to elevate ourselves so that we are not just following a taavah.

If you think about it, through Torah, you already have tremendous control. Do you eat a milchig chocolate bar after a fleishig meal just because you "want" it? Would you eat a treife hamburger that looks really good? How about chometz on Pesach? or cooking up a really delicious meal on Shabbos?

These things seem natural to us, but really are the way the Torah teaches us to overcome the Yetzer and make our own choices, not to just "do what we want."

To carry it a step further with food, there are stories of Rabonim who followed extremely strict diets for health reasons--to the degree that their doctors were astounded. This is because to them, "vnishmartem meod linafshoseichem" was as basic as basar b'chalav. What the doctor said, they did and they could no sooner have deviated from the diet prescribes as they could have eaten a cheeseburger.

rydys

Mon, Dec 21 2009, 9:57 pm

greenfire wrote:

rydys - the entire point is that we are NOT on that madreiga ...

Of course we are not on that madreiga. The purpose of our lives is to raise ourselves up to higher and higher madreigos. We are each given a different starting point and abilities and use the mizvos to elevate ourselves. It takes an entire lifetime to reach our potential.

The Rambam was on a very high madreiga. Personally, I'm not sure I can reach that madreiga. I do enjoy my food. However, knowing that such a madreiga is possible gives me something to strive for.

My point in showing all the basic areas that frum yidden do have control is to show that at a basic level there is a difference between us and animals. An animal does not have that bechira. It is hungry, it seeks food, and it eats. A Jew who is hungry, but all the food around is treife, will hopefully make the choice to wait to satisfy her hunger until she finds a kosher food--even if she would prefer the food that is treife. This is how we work on ourselves. Each time that we do this it elevates us even more.

For some, it would be a tremendous nisayon not to eat the treif food in that example. For others, there is no choice--treife food is so clearly ossur as to be similar to eating a piece of dirt so it is no challenge. For those people, there are other food related challenges. I'm sure even the Rambam had his challenges.