Chassidic Rabbi

by Rabbi Benzion Cohen

May 19, 2010

In my column from Feb. 10, 2010, I wrote about doing yoga and keeping kosher. When I was 17, I practiced yoga. One aspect of yoga is to be careful not to hurt anyone or any living creature. I became a vegetarian and stopped eating meat or fish or any other living creatures. For the first time in my life I was pretty much keeping kosher, without even trying. I didn't mix milk and meat or eat any meat at all.

One of my readers asked two difficult questions:

"What happened to this mitzvah? You stopped doing it and chose to eat things that are bad for your body?"

This is a complicated issue. Indeed, in the year and a half that I practiced yoga, my life went through some great and wonderful changes. I discovered Hashem; I discovered my soul; and I began to see the beauty of the Torah way of life. I dropped out of Hebrew University and started learning in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Kfar Habad. A few months later, I started to eat some meat and fish, mostly on Shabbos. What changed my mind? Why did I stop being vegetarian? I had discussed the issue with my teachers and friends in the Yeshiva.They explained to me why we eat kosher meat and fish.

To understand this, we first need to understand what we are doing here on this world, why Hashem created us in the first place. Look around. Hashem made a world that is huge, amazingly complex and beautiful. Of all the different things that He created, only one has free choice, man.We are always standing at a crossroads. We have to choose which way we are going. Are we going to do the right thing or the wrong thing? Are we going to make the world better and help others, or are we going to just worry about ourselves, and make the world worse? Are we going to love or hate? Are we going to be nice or nasty? Every time we make the right choice, we fulfill our purpose in life to make Hashem's world better and holier by doing good, by living a life of Torah and mitzvahs.

Now we can understand why Hashem created man, in order to make His world into a good and holy place. But what is the purpose of the cows, the goats, the chickens and the fish? By themselves they can't make the world any better, but they can assist man to do the job. We can't learn Torah or do mitzvahs unless we have strength, and we won't have any strength unless we eat. It is true that eating a lot of meat isn't healthy, but a little organic meat is good, especially chicken soup, which is famous for making people feel better. And many types of kosher fish are also healthy, especially salt lox (in moderation). Fish and meat also assist us to enjoy festive meals to celebrate and observe Shabbos and holidays, bar mitzvahs and weddings. These are important mitzvahs.

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