The questions that have searched people for 3,000 years.
- questions
- 641
- books they come from
- 68
- themes
- 16
Word for word, with each translator named. Texts from Sefaria.
הִנֵּה תַּעֲנוּג הַמַּאֲכָל הוּא הַיּוֹתֵר מוּחָשׁ וּמֻרְגָּשׁ, הֲיֵשׁ דָּבָר אָבֵד וְנִפְסָד יוֹתֵר מִמֶּנּוּ? שֶׁהֲרֵי אֵין שִׁעוּרוֹ אֶלָּא כְּשִׁעוּר בֵּית הַבְּלִיעָה, כֵּיוָן שֶׁיָּצָא מִמֶּנָּה וְיָרַד בִּבְנֵי הַמֵּעַיִם אָבַד זִכְרוֹ וְנִשְׁכַּח כְּאִלּוּ לֹא הָיָה, וְכָךְ יִהְיֶה שָׂבֵעַ אִם אָכַל בַּרְבּוּרִים אֲבוּסִים כְּמוֹ אִם אָכַל לֶחֶם קִבָּר אִם אָכַל מִמֶּנּוּ כְּדֵי שְׂבִיעָה, כָּל שֶׁכֵּן אִם יָשִׂים אֶל לִבּוֹ הֶחֳלָאִים הָרַבִּים שֶׁיְּכוֹלִים לָבוֹא עָלָיו מֵחֲמַת אֲכִילָתוֹ, וּלְפָחוֹת הַכֹּבֶד שֶׁמַּגִּיעֵהוּ אַחַר הָאֲכִילָה וְהָעֲשָׁנִים הַמַּהְבִּילִים אֶת שִׂכְלוֹ. הִנֵּה עַל כָּל אֵלֶּה וַדַּאי שֶׁלֹּא יַחְפֹּץ אָדָם בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה, כֵּיוָן שֶׁטּוֹבָתוֹ אֵינָהּ טוֹבָה וְרָעָתוֹ רָעָה.
The pleasure in [eating] food is the most tangible and most felt. Yet, is there anything more swiftly gone and passing than this? For its duration is as the measure of passing a person's throat. After the food passes this point and descends to the intestines, all remembrance of it disappears and is forgotten as if it had never existed. Thus he will be just as satiated if he ate fattened swans than if he had eatened coarse bread in sufficient quantity. All the more so, if he considers the many illnesses brought on through eating, and at least, the heaviness which one feels after a meal and the vapors which darken his intellect. When reflecting on all these things, certainly a person will not desire in this pleasure, since its good is not truly good while its evil is truly evil.
Mesillat Yesharim 15:4 · Path of the Just. Trans. Rabbi Yosef Sebag