What do YOUR Actions

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TASTE & MITZVOS

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU LOSE YOUR SENSE OF TASTE?

By Susan Spencer Cramer

We've all wished that we could easily refuse a heaping plate of pasta without being tempted to indulge. But when one woman's sense of taste suddenly vanishes, she finds that food is more than a matter of calories.

Lemon chicken with broccoli, arugula salad and a peanut butter cookie. That was my own Last Supper—or, at least, the last meal I ate before I lost my sense of taste. After that, everything I put in my mouth reminded me of Elmer's Glue or had absolutely no taste at all.

At first, I blamed it on a nasty winter cold. But when my bug disappeared in a week and my taste buds still hadn't revived, I saw my doctor. His diagnosis was hypogeusia, the blanket term for partial taste loss, though he couldn't tell me why it had happened or when it would clear up. He gave me a prescription and told me to wait and see if the meds would prod my nerve endings back into action.

Sadly, my buds didn't budge. Worse, a lingering, acrid taste in my mouth turned every bite into sour sludge. Mealtimes were an exercise in frustration: I'd inhale the delicious aromas rising from my plate, take a wary but hopeful nibble, then drop my fork in disappointment and disgust. So I returned to my doctor, who handed me a referral to a taste-disorder specialist. Afterward, as I stood on the street, clutching the slip of paper, I felt empty inside, and not because I'd eaten so little over the past few weeks. In a bit more than two months' time, I was set to fly to France and Italy with my family to celebrate my husband's birthday. The thought of being in Paris without tasting a buttery croissant or in Rome without savoring silky strands of pasta made me feel that the trip wouldn't be worth taking at all.

The specialist didn't ease my panic, but he did pinpoint the probable cause: an oral antifungal medication I'd taken for a minor nail infection. He explained that taste disturbances could be a rare side effect. As I sat there, stunned that my nail prescription might have been toxic enough to steal one of my senses, I half-heard him say that even though he was optimistic, he couldn't be positive I'd ever fully recover my sense of taste.

When I graduated from college and moved to New York City, food quickly became the center of my own social gatherings. My friends and I colonized a zinc-topped Belgian bar in the Village, where we talked about sex, men and work over mussels, slender french fries and white wine. After I married, I re-created the recipe of those childhood gatherings: Take a group of friends, sprinkle in

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good food and wine (short ribs, a big Cabernet), season with interesting conversation and laughter, and always provide a little chocolate as the finishing touch.

But now, hosting a dinner party was out of the question. Why bother? I couldn't taste the fruits of my labors. Instead, I threw myself a pity party. Food had been my anchor; now I felt

adrift. After a stressful day at work or one of my older daughter's sullen preteen moments, nothing had felt as comforting as treating myself to a few Girl Scout Thin Mints. But I couldn't even rely on wine to melt away my stress because it tasted like rubbing alcohol. I reminded myself that losing my sense of taste was less dire than many calamities. But as much as I tried to make the best of the situation, the only thing I could savor was my own bitterness.

My social life ground to a halt as I canceled dinners with friends. I missed the camaraderie, but why torture myself with the smells coming out of a restaurant kitchen? One night, friends came to me, perhaps intending to lure my taste buds out of hibernation with a thin-crust truffle-and-sausage pie from my favorite pizzeria. As I inhaled the earthiness of the truffles, my hopes surged. Maybe the flavor would be strong enough to make an impact. I took a bite. Nothing but stomach-curdling sourness. I forced myself to swallow, then turned away, trying to hide my disappointment. Life without pizza. What was the point?

WHY IS TASTE SO IMPORTANT?

HOW IS TASTE DIFFERENT TO ALL THE OTHER SENSES?

WHY DO YOU THINK LOSING HER SENSE OF TASTE WAS

SO HARD FOR THIS WOMAN?

TASTE IS LIKE A REASON

Maimonides – Me'ilah 8:8 ח פרק מעילה הלכות ם’’רמב "It is appropriate that one meditate, according to his intellectual capacity, regarding the laws of the Torah to understand their deeper meaning. Those laws for which he finds no reason and knows no purpose should nevertheless not be treated lightly."

ולידע הקדושה התורה במשפטי להתבונן לאדם וירא ידע ולא טעם לו ימצא שלא ודבר ,כחו כפי ענינם סוף פן 'ה אל לעלות יהרוס ולא בעיניו קל יהי אל עילה לו

דברי בשאר כמחשבתו מחשבתובו תהא ולא ,בו יפרוץ החול

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WHY IS UNDERSTANDING THE REASONS FOR THE

MITZVOS IMPORTANT?

WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN THE RAMABM’S WARNING

AT THE END AND TASTE AND FOOD?

Look at some of the mitzvos below- Can you suggest some reasons or “tastes” for them?

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU ARE ASKED, IT’S WHO ASKED IT: MITZVOS WITHOUT REASONS

There are some mitzvos known as CHUKIM- these are mitzvos without any reasons at all.

Ohr Hachaim אור החיים במדבר פרשת חוקת פרק יט

חוק היותה הגם זו מצוה יקיימו שאם התורה חקת קיימו כאלו הכתוב עליהם מעלה טעם בלא ה

בלא המצוה קיום לאמר כי 'ה צוה אשר התורה אמונה הצדקתה יגיד טעם ,

מצות כל לקיים הנפש והסכמת

When a person fulfils this type mitzvah (chok) which is a mitzvah with no reason the Torah considers him as if he kept the whole torah because it shows that we are willing to follow God's will unconditionally.

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WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT A CHOK MITZVAH?

AN ACQUIRED TASTE: NO ONE LIKES OLIVES THE FIRST TIME THEY TASTE THEM

Sefer Hachinuch ספר החינוך מצוה טז רק לבו מחשבות יצר וכל בלבבו גמור רשע ואפילו

השתדלותו וישים רוחו יערה אם ,היום כל רע ואפילו , ובמצוות בתורה בהתמדה ועסקו

הטוב אל ינטה מיד ,שמים לשם שלא אחרי כי ,הרע היצר ימית מעשיו ובכח ,

הלבבות נמשכים הפעולות

And even a completely evil person in his heart and all his desires are only to do bad all the time, if he forces himself in his actions to involve himself in torah and mitzvos- even if they are not for the sake of heaven. Immediately he will turn toward good. The strength of his actions will kill his evil inclination because after the actions the heart is turned.

Do you smile because you're happy, or does smiling make you happy?

Netziv העמק דבר על שמות פרק כ פסוק יב

ובזה הדרך המה כל טעמי המצות אינם אלא

אבל חלילה לחשוב שזה . כ"לקרב אל השכל ג .'עיקר דעת נותן התורה ית

are only to make “...all the reasons for mitzvos

them appealing to the intellect... but Heaven forbid to think that they are actually the main intent of the Giver of the Torah…”

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In psychology, there is a theory called the "facial feedback hypothesis" which states, according to researchers D.A. Bernstein and his colleagues, that involuntary facial movements provide sufficient peripheral information to drive emotional experiences. Psychologists S. F. Davis and J.J. Palladindo explain that feedback from facial expression affects emotional expression and behavior. In simple terms, if you smile, you can actually improve your emotional mood.

R.B. Zajonc and his colleagues, reporting their research findings in the Psychological Review, found compelling evidence that smiling causes people to feel happy, regardless of how they felt at first. The researchers report that smiling leads to physiological changes in the brain that cool the blood, which in turn makes people feel happy. Researchers at the University of Munich studied subjects that had received botox treatments to their face. They found those subjects who had received botox treatments, when asked to either make an unhappy, neutral or relaxed face, reported more facial pain than subjects without botox treatments. These findings parallel the brain science research on mirror neurons, which show how mimicking the emotions, such as empathy toward another person can cause you to feel empathy. Studies by Robert Sutton at Stanford University have also shown that a smiling happy disposition by managers has a beneficial impact on employees and their work performance.

The research seems to give a partial answer to the chicken and egg question: do you smile because you're happy, or does smiling make you happy or happier? The research seems to point to increasing evidence of the mind-body connection. Michael Lewis, one of the authors of a research study on the subject at the University of Cardiff, concluded that our emotions are not just restricted to our brains, and there are parts of our bodies, such as our face, which has a large number of muscles, that help and reinforce the feelings we're having.

So the next time you want to feel happier, smile. Your brain and your face know what they're doing.

HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED AN ACTION AFFECTING

YOUR MOOD?

HOW MIGHT DOING MITZVOS AFFECT YOU?

Talmud Pesachim 50b ב:פסחים נ

בת אדם יעסוק לעולם :רב אמר יהודה רב דאמרשלא שמתוך ,לשמה שלא פי על אף ובמצות ורה

.לשמה בא - לשמה

Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rav: A person who involves himself in Torah and Mitzvos - even if it is not for its own sake- it will become for its own sake.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

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It is good to try and understand the reasons for mitzvos- just like food is easier to eat when it has a good taste- it is easier to do the mitzvos when we understand the reasons.

If a food has no taste, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t eat. Likewise, if we cannot find a reason for a mitzvah- doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

Some mitzvos don’t have reasons, keeping these is especially meritorious.

Actions can create positive feelings- what you do without proper intention in the beginning will eventually evolve into an action with perfect intention.