When Going to the Gym Meant Saving Your Soul
The Greek root of "asceticism" is áskēsis — the training an athlete does before a race. So how did self-denial become a spiritual path across so many traditions, and why does Judaism largely reject it? This episode traces the word from the wrestling floor to the desert pillar, then digs into the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6: a person the Torah calls holy who nonetheless has to bring a sin offering when his term ends. The rabbis fought over that contradiction for centuries and never settled it. We look at Maimonides' golden mean, Rav's warning that we'll answer for every permitted pleasure we…
The skinny
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