For those of you not accustomed to going on exquisite cruises, let me introduce you to something! In the last decade or so, many of the major cruise companies invented a concept called, “Anytime Dining”. Quite simply the idea is that rather than the “traditional” set times for meal times, now you can literally eat round the clock! Just pick the time you want to eat and off you go to one of the several restaurants of your choice.
Internet forums are full of debate – “Traditional times versus Anytime Dining”. As one site puts it, “In order to avoid confrontation on a cruise ship, avoid discussing sensitive topics such as politics, religion and … flexible dining”. [Not to be mixed up with “flexi-dress-code” – a discussion for another week!] If you are wondering what could generate so much debate, have a peep! One of the great arguments I came across was, “The problem with flexi-dining is that you will not be hungry if they have a special late night event, like a chocolate buffet” – now wouldn’t that be catastrophic!
This important debate is not just limited to humans! Dog lovers debate the best way to feed their pets, do I let my dog “graze” as he would in natural surroundings or do I set meal times?
While I think most of us assume that the correct way for humans is not to graze, some nutrition experts are now actually endorsing “grazing”. Let’s see what the Torah has to say about this heated debate!
In this week’s Parshah as the Jews start their journey in the desert, they suddenly panic when they realize that they had no source of food to sustain them. A careful look at their complaint, will shed some light on the concept of meal times. “If only we had died by the Hand of Hashem in the Land of Egypt, as we sat by the pot of meat, when we ate bread to satiety, for you have taken us out to this Wilderness to kill this entire congregation by famine”
Why did the Jews who had just been released from the heavy slavery in Egypt, wish to have lived out their lives in Egypt. What was special about the fact that they “sat by the pot of meat” and “ate bread to satiety”?
A similar complaint, only here it was specifically against the Manna, is seen later on in the Torah. “We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers…”
The commentators grapple to explain the simple reading of this verse. How could anything they received while being a slave have been considered to be free?
RaMBaN [1194-1270] explains that the Jews were referring to the fact that while they worked they were “free” to pick from the ground whatever came their way. He further explains that this is the most cost effective way to feed ones workers – eat on the job! The Nile and the fertile land of Egypt was a perfect place for – constant bingeing while at work .
Accordingly, a more accurate translation of the verse would be, “we remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt”. Without specific meal times to govern our eating habits it really was “Anytime Dining” in Egypt.
Along these same lines the Sforno [1475-1559] explains the verse in this week’s Parshah. What the Jews missed when they remembered, “sitting by the pot of meat, when we ate bread to satiety”, was the freedom to eat without any restraints of meal times. In the words of the Talmud, “Originally the Jews were like chickens pecking around in the rubbish heap, until Moshe came and set the meal times”.
The Maharsha [1555-1631] explains that the comparison to chickens is because chickens constantly eat; a peck here and then a peck there, all day long. One internet site; grazingfood.com which advocates constant eating as a healthy option has pictures of animals walking around the screen! Most prominent is the pecking chicken!
Even amongst the “traditional” meal times you will now find, “Second Breakfast”, “Elevenses”, “Brunch”, “Afternoon tea”, “High Tea”, and just to fill you up there’s “Fourth meal”! Sorry, did I forget about the special late night events, like the chocolate buffet?!
The Talmud equates one who eats in public to a dog. Tosafos explains that this refers to a person who mooches though the market place snacking at every stall, just like a dog.
So here’s my tuppence worth to the debates – based on the teachings of the Torah! For animals, grazing is fine – they can eat freely, as we did as slaves [slaves to Pharaoh and slaves to our own inclinations]. Then we were like animals. But now? As servants of Hashem, as people who should have control over our desires – can we really justify following our desires – to peck around the clock? We have Mitzvahs and customs all about how to eat. These Mitzvahs are to make our eating more elevated then the eating of a mere animal! So, sorry but I say no to “Anytime Dining” and Yes to “Traditional Meal Times” – Enjoy your cruise.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov