"You will eat, and be satisfied, and bless." One verse in Parashat Ekev, and an hour on the most ordinary thing any of us does.
Before anything else: our guest Deborah Jacobi has just launched her own podcast, Jewish Political Watch. One tap to back her: https://www.youtube.com/@JewishPoliticalWatch770
Shlomo is joined by Deborah Jacobi, author of The Intimate Act of Eating and The Moral Act of Eating, for a conversation about food, the body, and the idea that we have never once eaten a meal in private. Deborah brings the Rambam's medicine of 800 years ago into a world he would barely recognize: eat when you are hungry, drink when you are thirsty, stop at three quarters full, move your body every day. Alongside it runs a Chassidic claim that most of us quietly do not believe, which is that the body is no less holy than the soul, and that how we treat it is not preparation for a mitzvah but the mitzvah itself.
This episode is dedicated to a refuah shleimah for Pesya bat Chana and for Malka Ester bat Sarah Leah.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Parashat Ekev, the verse, and the dedications
01:31 Why Deborah wrote the books, and the Rebbe who kept asking
02:59 The body is no less holy than the soul
06:17 What the Rambam understood 800 years ago
09:18 Overeating, inflammation, and the case for bitter foods
11:29 Do cells have likes and dislikes
14:30 Why the Arizal and Rebbe Nachman put the evil inclination at the table
17:55 A four part summary, and where it needs correcting
20:30 Moderation as the Rambam's entire philosophy
22:39 When to eat, and the truth about drinking water
26:11 What eating with consciousness actually means
30:33 Chewing, the tongue, and 32 pathways of wisdom
35:22 Does it matter where you eat
39:53 What horses teach about simplicity
42:18 Eating in the land of Israel
48:17 Fermented foods, bitter foods, and parasites
53:08 Elevating the mundane, and a baby's first act of giving
56:07 Deborah's mission
57:56 Where to find Deborah
ONE TAP FOR DEBORAH
Deborah recorded this from London, where she is looking after her mother. She has also just started a new podcast, Jewish Political Watch, and a new show lives or dies on its first few hundred subscribers.
If this hour was worth something to you, this is the easiest way to say so. It takes one tap and it costs nothing.
Jewish Political Watch Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@JewishPoliticalWatch770
Let's show her what this audience is like.
MORE FROM DEBORAH
Website
https://deborahjacobi.com
Email
[email protected]
The Intimate Act of Eating
https://www.amazon.com/Intimate-Act-Eating/dp/1568717008
The Moral Act of Eating
https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Act-Eating/dp/1568717016
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