It is no exaggeration to say that the production, distribution and consumption of food lies at the very heart of Judaism. For millennia, our sacred teachings have urged us to cultivate sensitivity, mindfulness and gratitude for our nourishment.
In our everyday lives, eating and drinking offer us powerful opportunities to connect to the world around us, the very earth and water which our own bodies are composed of.
Eating mindfully, which essentially consists of eating while paying attention to our experience of the process of consumption, has been demonstrated to have powerful benefits for our physical health and our psychological relationship with food and our bodies.
Our kabbalistic tradition teaches that each act of consumption, like all of our interactions with the world, has the potential to heal not only ourselves, but the entire world.
In both our Kabbalah Through the Calendar course, and our Revolutionary Chasidic Ideas & Practices course, we explore this subject in depth.
Below are some classic teachings from the Talmud, Rabbeinu Bachya, the Ba'al Shem Tov and the Chernobyler Rebbe, to inspire and direct your practice, followed by some practice instructions.
Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 118a
Rav Sheizvi said, citing R' Elazar ben Azariah:
The task of providing a person’s food is as difficult as the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, as it is written: “Who gives food to all flesh, His love is eternal]” (Psalms 136:25), and juxtaposed to it is the verse: “Who split apart the Sea of Reeds, [His love is eternal]” (Psalms 136:13).
Chovot HaLevavot 2:5
Whoever contemplates the natural processes of the body – how when food enters it, it is distributed to every part of the body – will see such signs of wisdom that he will be inspired to thank the Creator and praise Him, as David said,
“All of my bones shall say: 'G!d, who is like You!'” (Psalms 35:10).
They will see how food passes into the stomach through a straight tube, called the esophagus, without any bend or twist; how afterwards, the stomach digests the food more thoroughly than chewing had; how then the food is carried into the liver through thin connecting veins that act as a strainer, preventing anything coarse from passing through to the liver; how the liver converts the food it receives into blood, which is distributed all over the body through tubes that look like water pipes and were formed specifically for this purpose...
Keter Shem Tov 194
Every act of eating and drinking that a person does is literally a portion of their sparks, which they need to repair.
Me'or Einayim on Parshat BeShalach
Food comes down from Heaven, from a holy place, through the dressing of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) in some form or another.
Me'or Eynayim on Parshat Mattot
There is nothing in this world that does not contain a sacred spark, emanating from the blessed Holy One’s word, which gives it life.
...
When a person eats it, the life-force ensconced within it, the holy spark, remains within the person. ...
The primary sustenance a person receives from the food which adds to their own strength is that holy spark which is that good flavor which a person tastes in that food or drink.
When a person eats or drinks, that spark unites with the person’s own life-force; and is added to their strength.
When that person has complete and absolute faith that this food or drink is also spiritual sustenance, with the Blessed One's Divinity garbed within in it, and gives their consciousness and their heart to that inner reality, cleaving with all of their life-force and consciousness, including the strength and life-force which was added to them through that holy spark which entered them [from that food or drink] to the Root of All, the One from whom all life flows, then they bring that holy spark, until now broken and exiled, back to the Blessed Divine, who rejoices greatly over this, as is known, since this is our essential task, to draw near all those sparks from their brokenness and lostness, and restore them to their holy place.
תלמוד בבלי פסחים קיח:א
אמר רב שיזבי משמיה דרבי אלעזר בן עזריה
קשין מזונותיו של אדם
כקריעת ים סוף
דכתיב
נותן לחם לכל בשר
וסמיך ליה
לגוזר ים סוף לגזרים
חובות הלבבות ב:ה
וכמו כן תראינה פעולות הטבע בתוך הגוף
למתבונן בהם בהגיע המזון אליו בחלקו אותו
על כל חלק מחלקי הגוף
יראה מסימני החכמה
מה שיזרז אותו להודות לבוראו ולשבחו כמה שכתוב דוד עליו השלום
כל עצמותי תאמרנה השם מי כמוך
והוא שהמאכל הולך אל הבטן
אל תעלה מוכנת על קו ישר
אין בה עקום ולא עוות והוא הושט
אחר כך טוחן אותו הבטן
יותר מן הטחינה שטחנו אותו השנים בתחלה
ואחר כך ישלחנו אל הכבד בגידים דקים נוגעים בינתים הושמו כמסננת
למזון שלא יגיע ממנו שום דבר עב אל הכבד
ויהפכהו לדם ויחלקהו על הגוף
וישלחהו אל כל חלקיו
בתעלות מוכנות לזה כתעלות המוכנות למים
כתר שם טוב קצ"ד
כל אכילה ושתיה שאדם אוכל ושותה
היא ממש חלק ניצוצות שלו
שהוא צריך לתקן
מאור עינים על פרשת בשלח
הלחם יורד מן השמים ממקום קדוש
כאמור על ידי התלבשות השכינה
בסבה מן הסבות
מאור עינים על פרשת מטות
אין לך דבר מזה העולם שאין בו ניצוץ הקדוש
שנאצל מדבורו של הקב"ה
המחיה אותו
...
כי לאחר שאכל האדם המאכל
ונשאר החיות בקרבו
...
כי עיקר המזון שהאדם ניזון ממנו
ומוסיף לו כח הוא הניצוץ הקדוש שבמאכל ההוא שהוא הטעם הטוב
שהאדם טועם במאכל ובמשקה ההוא
ולכן בשעה שאוכל האדם המאכל
נתייחד הניצוץ ההוא אל חיותו
של האדם ההוא האוכלו וניתוסף בו כח
וכשמאמין באמונה שלימה וגמורה
שזהו מזון רוחני שהוא אלהותו יתברך
המלובש שם ונותן דעתו ולבו על הפנימיות
ומדבק את עצמו עם כל חיותו ומוחו
ועם זה הכח והחיות שניתוסף בו
על ידי הניצוץ הקדוש שבא בקרבו
לשורש הכל שממנו נאצלו כל החיות
אזי מביא גם כן הניצוץ הקדוש
שהיה עד עכשיו בשבירה ובגלות אליו יתברך שהוא מתענג מאוד מזה כנודע
כי זה כל עיקר עבודתינו
לקרב כל הניצוצות הקדושות
מן קליפיות שהן בשבירה
אל מקום הקדושה
Practice Instructions for Eating Meditation
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Look at the food, and consider it with your intellectual curiosity.
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Look at the food still, but now consider it as an aesthetic object.
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If you let yourself take in how it looks, what thoughts or feelings arise?
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Bring the food to your nose, and let yourself smell it.
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If it is your practice, say a brachah (blessing) on the food. Try to bring kavanah (intention) to every word.
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If you like, offer an intention that the sparks of energy and Divinity within this food be raised up for good and returned to their Source.
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Close your eyes. Place a small amount of the food in the mouth, with the aim of exploring it for as long as possible before you chew.
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What does it feel like inside your mouth and what do you feel throughout your body?
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Let yourself chew it, slowly, and swallow it.
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What are you noticing in your mouth, and in your whole body?
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Once the food has gone down, what does your mouth taste like?
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What does your body feel like?
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Are you satisfied?
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Are you hungry for more of the same, or something different?
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Has the act of eating energized you, or made you tired?
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What feelings are arising? Practice noticing and accepting them.