"Why are Religious People so Extreme?" The Rabbi's Brilliant Answer

"I jog every Friday afternoon, and often I pass by your synagogue. I see quite a number of people attending services. To be honest, I don't understand why people go every Shabbat. I go once or twice a year, and it seems enough to me." This question was posed by Tom to Rabbi Aharon Moss, via the "Chabad House" website.

Rabbi Moss, who teaches Kabbalah and Judaism in Sydney, Australia, responded with the following: "I'm glad to hear you've started jogging. But do you really need to jog every week? Isn't once a year enough? 'Of course not,' you would reply to me. To stay fit, you need to maintain a regular and consistent exercise regimen. If you don't train enough, your body will become slow and lazy. People who don't exercise might say they feel fine, as if they don't need exercise at all. But in reality, they are just fooling themselves—they are so lazy that they can't confront the fact that they're out of shape".

However, if you exercise excessively, you might overdo it and injure yourself; then, not only will you be unable to exercise, you'll also collapse. The challenge you need to present to your body should push it to its endurance peak, but not beyond. If you strike the right balance between overdoing and underperforming, you'll gradually improve your physical fitness, and over time you'll discover that you can enhance your capability significantly and achieve your goals with much more ease.

"Mental health is akin to physical health," Rabbi Moss explains. "If we do not challenge ourselves spiritually, we could fall into complacency and get used to a monotonous and mediocre life. Our senses will become so dull that we won't even feel we're missing something. And yet, if we try to change our life too quickly and plunge into the sea of spirituality, there's a danger that we'll reach exhaustion and fall even deeper than we were before".

Everyone must realistically assess what they need to maintain their mental fitness. Where do I draw inspiration from? When was the last time I made internal changes and enjoyed personal growth? Am I pushing myself to the limits of endurance on the mental plane, or am I just drifting?

Walking to a synagogue is one form of spiritual exercise. It's time to develop your mental muscles through prayer, meditation, and study. For some, going to the synagogue once a week would be excessive. A monthly synagogue visit might be a sufficient challenge for them. For others, once a week is precisely the right balance. And finally, there are those for whom once a week is not enough—they need to be there every day to keep their spirit fit.

"Sometimes you need a personal trainer to advise you on where to start and what to do next," Rabbi Moss continues to draw parallels between physical and spiritual fitness, adding with subtle humor: "I think your rabbi can give you the answers..."

More answers from Rabbi Aharon Moss await you on the Hidabroot website.