Food and Spirituality 2

Title

Food and Spirituality 2

Creator

Innovations in Jewish Life Collections

Date

2023

Contributor

Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Kalisman, Samira Mehta, Maggie Rosenau

Rights

Rights
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Format

Portable Document Format

Language

English

Text

In the first copy of Holy Beggars’ Gazette, a newsletter created by Rabbi Carlebach and his community, he wrote about the links between food and wine on the Jewish holiday of Purim. On this festive holiday, traditional Jews eat, drink, and make merry in remembrance of the deliverance of Jews from a potential genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Biblical Book of Esther. Carlebach wrote:

“The hardest time to be aware of God is when you eat. Usually when people eat they are so aware of themselves because they are feeding their bodies…The more you eat, the less you are aware of God…On Purim we reach the high level that we eat all day long, we drink all day, and the way we understand God on that day is like never, never before. On Purim I understand that there is One God like I don’t understand it all year, and not by studying, not even by talking. By eating, by drinking, and by giving each other gifts.”

Source: Shlomo Carlebach, Holy Beggars’ Gazette, Vol. 1, no. 1, Purim 5732, from 1971 recording

Files

Citation

Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, “Food and Spirituality 2,” IJL Digital Exhibits, accessed April 30, 2024, https://embodiedjudaism.omeka.net/items/show/129.