The Decade of the Mouth
תש"פ Why are we being socially isolated?
And why are we eating around the clock?
-by Leah Aharoni
Around Rosh Hashana Chaya Lester observed that this decade is תש"פ - the new Hebrew letter פ in the numerical value designates it as the decade of the mouth. (the previous decade was the decade of the ע the eye and we saw how everything centered on visuals). But not anymore.
The mouth is responsible for two systems - the speech and the eating.
The Torah has a very clear set of prohibitions against improper or damaging speech - the laws of shmirat halashon. The biblical punishment for violating these laws is... Social isolation. בדד ישב מחוץ למחנה. Sounds a lot like the בידוד the quarantine everyone is in.
In the past few years we have witnessed complete disintegration of social discourse and now as a society we need to practice social isolation to rectify the damage.
And food? Just about the only reason we are allowed to go out is to get food. The very first commandment God gave humanity (and the first sin) had to do with food. Eating is the most basic human need and has the deepest potential for a personal connection with God. If we take our primal need for food and turn it into a vehicle for God awareness, through mindful eating, we can bring holiness into our lives with every single bite.
Yael Dworkin quoted a Breslov saying,
simple people eat to be able to learn Torah. Great people learn Torah to know how to eat properly.
With nothing to do, with no distractions, people are eating nonstop. This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about mindful eating and to rectify this instinct.
Rabbi Nachman writes that the bounty we receive is connected to the vehicles of speech. And the time before Pesach (pe-sach literally the mouth is talking) is the time to do it.
By becoming more mindful in our speech and eating, we can make this year of פ of the mouth, more meaningful, more God connected.
We can turn this crisis into a time of healing.
For ourselves. For our communities. For the world.