2008 Woodie Awards
Food For Thought
Health, Humor and the Pursuit of Happiness
Ari Shapiro
Issue date: 9/4/07 Section: Sports
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Welcome readers to the every-third-week column on health and well-being (even though health is important every day!). Over the course of this year, I hope to bring up, as [healthy] food for thought (pun intended), important current issues regarding health and well-being. For this first edition, however, I would like to outline a general overview of the attitude for healthy living, geared specifically toward the situation of a college student and even more so toward the situation of a Yeshiva University college student.
As most are aware, the transition to college-living challenges even the most prepared student. A student entering university is immediately bombarded by numerous new experiences and responsibilities. Like in a one-sided game of tug-of-war, everyone is yanking on the student, trying to entertain a small portion of the student's precious time; thus, the only one left in the mud is the student himself. At times, the many twists and turns of student life can become unsettling and dizzily fast-paced, like the first subway ride experienced by a West Coaster. The situation becomes even more overwhelming in YU's case, where, unlike every other standard college, half the day is spent surveying ancient Jewish texts, only adding to the already abundant activities of the day. So who has any time to worry about what's going into one's mouth or when the last time one broke into a decent sweat? Still, many students initially arrive on campus, no doubt laudably, with a burning enthusiasm to help out in the community, surviving on minimal relaxing "moments" throughout the day between volunteering projects. Yet with all the college focus (and dare I say competitive energy!) on caring about others, students often forget to care first (or at least second) about themselves.
If you like the idea of being selfish, at least when it comes to your health, you'll be happy to know that for persons of the Jewish persuasion, health embodies an added level of significance. Starting as far back as the first parsha of the Torah, Man, out of all the animals, is made in the image of God. If nothing else, this gives us the obligation to treat our bodies, God's personalized gift to us, with proper care and respect. The Torah later instructs us: "V'nishmartem me'od l'nafshoteichem," "And you shall greatly guard over your souls," an important command, referring to the requirement to care for both one's spiritual and physical well-being. The Rambam, one of the greatest sages of all time, goes as far as incorporating an entire section on healthy living in his halakhic code, The Mishneh Torah.
As most are aware, the transition to college-living challenges even the most prepared student. A student entering university is immediately bombarded by numerous new experiences and responsibilities. Like in a one-sided game of tug-of-war, everyone is yanking on the student, trying to entertain a small portion of the student's precious time; thus, the only one left in the mud is the student himself. At times, the many twists and turns of student life can become unsettling and dizzily fast-paced, like the first subway ride experienced by a West Coaster. The situation becomes even more overwhelming in YU's case, where, unlike every other standard college, half the day is spent surveying ancient Jewish texts, only adding to the already abundant activities of the day. So who has any time to worry about what's going into one's mouth or when the last time one broke into a decent sweat? Still, many students initially arrive on campus, no doubt laudably, with a burning enthusiasm to help out in the community, surviving on minimal relaxing "moments" throughout the day between volunteering projects. Yet with all the college focus (and dare I say competitive energy!) on caring about others, students often forget to care first (or at least second) about themselves.
If you like the idea of being selfish, at least when it comes to your health, you'll be happy to know that for persons of the Jewish persuasion, health embodies an added level of significance. Starting as far back as the first parsha of the Torah, Man, out of all the animals, is made in the image of God. If nothing else, this gives us the obligation to treat our bodies, God's personalized gift to us, with proper care and respect. The Torah later instructs us: "V'nishmartem me'od l'nafshoteichem," "And you shall greatly guard over your souls," an important command, referring to the requirement to care for both one's spiritual and physical well-being. The Rambam, one of the greatest sages of all time, goes as far as incorporating an entire section on healthy living in his halakhic code, The Mishneh Torah.