JustBetweenUs By Reuven Spolter

Is Orthodoxy Unhealthy? bout a decade ago, a short time we head home and do what? Eat an- via e-mail, a number of photos of a A after I arrived in Oak Park, other meal—and a large one at that. frum wedding. The people in the pho- Michigan, I visited a doctor for a Again with wine, , maybe some tos were total strangers. Yet, looking at checkup. I already knew the drill. He’d chicken, , cold cuts, and them, I was struck by the fact that they come in, examine me, draw blood and dessert. After Minchah—seudah shel- were all overweight—significantly so. adjust my medications based on the re- ishit. At most shuls this is a simple af- I remember when the frum com- sults. The examination began, and fair, but it’s still a meal—maybe a roll, munity of Oak Park waged a battle to everything was going well—until the some tuna fish or egg salad and a piece open the kosher Dunkin’ Donuts in the doctor started talking. of now-stale cake leftover from the area (for reasons I cannot fathom, the “If you don’t lose weight,” he . Often we were not even hun- parent company was giving the fran- told me, “in ten years you’ll have type gry for seudah shelishit, but it’s a social chise a hard time about going kosher). 2 diabetes.” thing; everyone’s eating, and hey, it’s a Then the doctor, a secular Jew, ! And whether we call it a After the battle had been won and the added, “You Orthodox eat too much.” melaveh malkah or not, what’s Satur- store opened, I got a call from a local “Why’s he picking on us?” I thought. day night without a slice of pizza (or columnist. When he asked me how I But upon further reflection, I realized two or three), a movie, some popcorn felt about the victory, I said, “I’m not that he was right. Consider a typical too, perhaps? sure that we’ve struck a blow for the . Friday night begins with a big Orthodoxy, of course, does not waistlines of Orthodox Jews, but it’s a meal: wine, challah, appetizer, soup, demand overeating and unhealthy great win for our community. I only main course and dessert. Then we living. Yet, especially in America, hope we can bring the same energy to might attend a Shalom Zachar: some the Orthodox lifestyle has led many more important issues down the road.” beer and a couple pieces of cake. We into a dangerous cycle of overeating I call upon Jewish organizations wake up on Shabbat morning, and grab and indulgence. to undertake a study of the collective a cup of coffee and some cookies be- A rabbi I know once lost a great health of Orthodox people. I worry fore davening. (For now, I’ll ignore the deal of weight. When I asked him how about the long-term health of Ortho- halachic issues of eating before daven- he did it, he said simply, “I decided dox Jews, especially in America. I ing.) After davening, we head for the that at simchas I was only going to eat fear an epidemic of heart disease, dia- kiddush, a mainstay at shuls looking to one meal, either at the shmorg or at betes, and of course, unnecessary attract and retain members. At best, the sit-down dinner.” Think about it: deaths resulting from the complica- we sample a few pieces of cake and How many functions do we attend at tions of obesity. some chips. At worst, we’ve loaded up which we eat more than one meal? Our community rightly protects the on cholent, , maybe some her- How many Bar , school din- ring—without a doubt a full meal on ners, weddings? value of life. We’ll fight for the right to any other day of the week. And then I started thinking about our un- cling to every last second of life, de- healthy lifestyle after reading a recent voted to the notion that every moment Rabbi Reuven Spolter is the director of stu- is precious and holy. And yet, at the dent recruitment and teaches Jewish studies issue of Jewish Action that featured an very same time, under the banner of at the Orot College of Education in Elkana, article about the challenges of eating Israel and coordinates programming for kol- healthfully at a kiddush (Shira Isen- frumkeit, we’ve adopted a lifestyle lel fellows at Yeshiva University’s RIETS Is- berg, “A Kiddush Conundrum,” [winter, that’s literally going to cut years and rael Kollel in Jerusalem. 2010]). Soon after reading it, I received, perhaps decades from our lives. 

70 I JEWISH ACTION Spring 5771/2011