Rosh Hashanah and dieting, how are they similar?
- Tracking food is comparable to vidui where we don’t just admit what we did wrong. We need to admit it out loud, or in our case, on paper.
- Scales. They can weigh our food or our weight. Scales are also the symbolic icon of the ‘day of judgment.’
- On Yom Kippur we make a lot of commitments to be better or even perfect, but then we quickly go back to our old ways unless we make small commitments that we stick to long after the inspiration is gone. Same with better eating. In order to make real changes and make our inspiration last, we must make concrete, specific AND sustainable changes.
- In the same way we are accountable to Hashem, we are accountable to our bodies (even if we eat/sin in private). Hashem knows what we did wrong and if we don’t correct it, he can’t fully forgive us. So too, our bodies know what we ate and we are accountable for it. The only way to become better is to make a genuine change.
- Say you cheat on your diet or have a sin, that doesn’t mean it’s all over; you repent and start again.
- May we all have a successful teshuva year in all aspects; mental, emotional, AND physical.
