Q:
If it’s true that Hashem made this world for our enjoyment what is the meaning of some maamarei Chazal that say that a person should avoid pleasures, like כאילו כפאו שד, or the idea that you should not eat so much at the meal; you should always leave over or hold back from something?
A:
What’s the meaning when Chazal urge temperance, self control?
And the answer is if you want to enjoy life, it’s necessary to taste it. But to taste it means just that – tasting. It doesn’t mean drowning in it.
Let’s say you love milk. And suppose you go now to a place where they have a milk depot and it’s being pasteurized. So first they pour it in a very big vat, a huge vat. And because you love milk, you dive into it. But you can’t swim. And even if you could, it’s just too much milk. Too much milk is not good for you.
Too much of anything is never good for you. You want to be a connoisseur and sip a little bit of the happiness of life; to taste a little bit here and a little bit there. And that’s a principle for everything. You taste and sip and practice up loving the One who gave it to you.
TAPE # 414 (August 1982)
