Monthly Archives: December 30, 2013

A recent study in Appetite, an international research journal specializing in behavioral nutrition, shows that even small obstacles to snacking – like wrappers on candy – can help people control their eating. In one experiment, 60 women were divided into groups, with each group invited to snack freely from a bowl of candies for five minutes.  For one group, the candies were unwrapped, while the other group was given wrapped candies.  This small difference yielded significantly different results; on average, each participant in the wrapped-candy group ate 3.6 candies, while those in the unwrapped-candy group ate 5.5 candies each. The results of the study are in line with earlier research.  In a similar experiment, office workers ate a third less candy when the candy was kept inside a drawer rather than on top of their desks.  Simply placing food out of sight – hardly a significant impediment! – makes it far easier for us to control our appetites.The significance of small obstacles, or boundaries that stand between us and the fulfillment of our desires, should not be understated.  Human beings have a limited amount of willpower; there are only so many times we can stare our temptations directly in the eye and retain our self-control.  By setting boundaries – even small ones, like keeping candy wrapped and out of sight at home and in the office – we minimize direct confrontation with our desires and save our strength for the occasional Venetian tables that come our way.This principle lies at the heart of the halachic system, and particularly the laws that regulate conduct between men and women.  The Talmudic sage, Ulla, taught that men should conduct themselves modestly and carefully with members of the opposite gender – […]

As a teenager, William Cobbett, an 18th century English radical, worked as a gardener on a great estate.  One day, while walking through the streets of London during his free time, he noticed a copy of Jonathan Swift’s A Tale of a Tub in the front window of a bookshop.  He describes what happened next: “The title was so odd, that my curiosity was excited.  I had the threepence the book cost, but then, I could have no supper.”  He bought the book, and became so immersed in it that he read until it was too dark to see the words, ignoring his hunger.  Cobbett described this moment as a “birth of the intellect” – the first time his excitement over a book overwhelmed his basic physical needs. (cited in Margaret Willes, Reading Matters: Five Centuries of Discovering Books)

By completely immersing himself in Swift’s novel, Cobbet achieved a kind of ecstatic experience, described traditionally as ‘rapture,’’ in which one is “completely absorbed, engrossed, fascinated, perhaps even carried away” and which “underlies life’s deepest pleasures, from the scholar’s study to the carpenter’s craft to the lover’s obsession.” (Winifred Gallagher, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life).  These kinds of experiences are both exhilarating, and all too rare; losing oneself in a book, or any occupation, requires a high degree of attention and interest – all too uncommon in today’s world.

The Talmud relates: “It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn one tropaik, half of which he would give to the guard at the House of Learning, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family.  One day he found nothing to earn and […]

Spike Milligan was a world renowned 20th century comedian, best known for his 1950s British radio comedy program “The Goon Show.”  Milligan, who died in 2002 at the age of 83, asked that his tombstone be engraved with the words, “Here lies Spike Milligan. I told you I was ill.”

But alongside his humor, Milligan suffered terribly from severe bipolar disorder, experiencing at least ten major mental breakdowns over the course of his lifetime.  He wrote candidly about his condition, which was so at odds with his publicly joyous persona:  “I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalized and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much… Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning – I go to a dinner table now and I don’t say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the center of attention, keep the conversation going – so that is depressing in itself. It’s like another person taking over, very strange.”  (Spike Milligan and Anthony Clare, Depression and How to Survive It).

Milligan’s personal struggles would seem to be at odds with his chosen career as a comedian.  But like many other comedians, including Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks, Milligan found the strength to continue by immersing himself in the world of laughter.  His humor did more than make other people laugh – it kept him alive.  Mahatma Gandhi expressed this sentiment when he said, “If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

According to Chassidic tradition, the Baal Shem Tov had a lively sense of humor.  He taught his students that the divine vitality that gives a person life and awareness is […]