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“With the increase of good, those who consume it increase; what use is there for its owner, other than the sight of his eyes?” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
“With the increase of good, those who consume it increase” – Rabbi Ḥananya and Rabbi Yonatan asked Menaḥem the confectioner, and Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Ḥananya: Menaḥem the confectioner asked them: ‘What is that [which is stated]: “He afflicted you and starved you” (Deuteronomy 8:3)? Was the manna that the Holy One blessed be He gave to the Israelites food of starvation?’ What did he do? He brought before them…
Kohelet Rabbah 5:10:1
Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Cohen in the name of Rav. It is forbidden to dwell in a city which has neither a medical man, nor a public bath, nor a court lashing and jailing. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, also it is forbidden to dwell in a city which has no vegetable garden. Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Cohen in the name of Rav: Every person will have to justify himself for everything his eye saw and which he did not eat. Rebbi Eleazar took note of this statement and saved coins from which he ate every kind once a year.
Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 4:12:3
If you ask: if this is so necessary and essential, why did the sages not decree this like they decreed on the various fences and enactments? The answer is clear and simple for "our sages do not impose an enactment upon the people unless the majority of the public will be able to abide by it" (Bava Kama 79b). The majority of the public are not capable of being Pious so it is sufficient for them that they be Tzadikim (righteous).
Mesillat Yesharim 13:34
Rabbi Simon began: “So said the Lord: As when wine is found in a cluster and one says: Do not destroy it, as a blessing is in it” (Isaiah 65:8). There was an incident involving a certain pious man, who went out to his vineyard on Shabbat and saw a lone grape and recited a blessing over it. He said: This lone grape is worthy to recite a blessing over it! So too, “So said the Lord: As when wine is found in a cluster…”
Bereshit Rabbah 29:2
[A person] who sees an idol says [the following Beracha (blessing):] Baruch [Ata Hashem Eloheinu Melech Haolam] Erech Apayim (Blessed are You Hashem, our God, King of the world, Who is merciful). [If a person sees] a place from where an idol was uprooted, he says [the following Beracha:] Baruch [Ata Hashem Eloheinu Melech Haolam] Sheakar Avodah Zarah Meartzeinu. Yehi Ratzon Milfanecha, Hashem Eloheinu, Sheteaker Avodah Zarah Meartzeinu Umikol Mekomot Yisrael, Vetashiv Lev Ovdeihem Leavdecha (Blessed are You Hashem, our God, King of the world, who uprooted an idol from our land…
Tosefta Berakhot 6:4
Three
matters
ease one’s mind, and they are: Voice, sight, and smell,
when they are pleasant and aesthetic.
Three
matters
give a person comfort, and they are: A beautiful abode, a beautiful wife, and beautiful vessels.
Berakhot 57b:12
The Sages taught: One who sees an elephant, a monkey, or a vulture
(Rashi)
recites: Blessed…Who makes creatures different. One who saw beautiful
or otherwise outstanding
creatures
or
beautiful trees recites: Blessed…Who has such things in His world.
Berakhot 58b:10
“Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses because of lack of spirit, and because of hard labor” (Exodus 6:9).
“Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses…” It was difficult for them to forsake idol worship. So explains Ezekiel and says: “Each man, cast away the detestable objects of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt” (Ezekiel 20:7). See what is written: “Each man did not cast away his detestable objects and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt” (Ezekiel 20:8)…
Shemot Rabbah 6:5
On a related topic, the Gemara cites that
Rav Yehuda said: One who goes out during Nisan and sees trees that are blossoming recites: Blessed…who has withheld nothing from His world, and has created in it beautiful creatures and trees for human beings to enjoy. Rav Zutra bar Toviya said
that
Rav said: From where
is it derived
that one recites a blessing over scent? As it is stated: “Let every soul praise the Lord”
(Psalms 150:6). He explains the verse:
What is it from which the soul derives benefit and the body does not derive benefit from it? You must say: That is scent…
Berakhot 43b:3
(Numb. 2:2:) [“The Children of Israel shall camp,] each with his standard, under the banners for their fathers' houses….” This text is related (to Ps. 20:6), “Let us shout for joy in your salvation, and in the name of our God let us set up our standards….” “Let us shout for joy in
your
salvation,” as is stated (in Exod. 14:30), “So the Lord saved.” (Ps. 20:6, cont.:) “And in the name of our God let us set up our standards,” for God has inserted His name] among our names and has appointed us standards, as stated (in Numb. 2:2), “each with his standard, under the banners…
Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 10:1
A person might say, "Since envy, desire, [the pursuit] of honor, and the like, are a wrong path and drive a person from the world, I shall separate from them to a very great degree and move away from them to the opposite extreme." For example, he will not eat meat, nor drink wine, nor live in a pleasant home, nor wear fine clothing, but, rather, [wear] sackcloth and coarse wool and the like - just as the pagan priests do.
This, too, is a bad path and it is forbidden to walk upon it. Whoever follows this path is called a sinner [as implied by Numbers 6:11's] statement concerning a nazarite:…
Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 3:1
Rabbi Yosei says: An individual is not permitted to afflict himself by fasting, lest
he become too weak to work and
be beholden to other beings, and
those
beings will not have mercy on him. Rav Yehuda said
that
Rav said: What is the reason of Rabbi Yosei?
It is
as it is written: “And man became a living soul”
(Genesis 2:7). Rabbi Yosei interprets this verse as a command:
The soul I placed within you,
preserve and
sustain it.
Taanit 22b:11
וירא מנוחה כי טוב
, "He observed that repose is good, etc."
The reference is to the repose experienced in the Hereafter. The words
כי טוב
, refer to what happens after a person considers that all the pleasures available for the body in this world, such as eating fine food and drinking good wine, are all sensations which are devoid of an inherent value. They are meaningful only because the body, an empty vessel, needs to be filled up with food and drink as the Creator has decreed that it is incapable of existing without input of food…
Or HaChaim on Genesis 49:14:2
You find that the festivals were granted to the Israelites for their pleasure. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Delight yourself therein so that you may repeat them in the year to come,” as it is said:
And thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year
(Exod. 13:10). That is to say, you should repeat them yearly. Therefore, one may say: Just as an individual blesses the Holy One, blessed be He, so does the Holy One bless him.
Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 4:2
Another matter: “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai” – that is what the verse said: “Your navel is a moon-shaped goblet” (Song of Songs 7:3); it is speaking of the Sanhedrin that was situated in the Chamber of Hewn Stone and is analogized to the navel. Why is it analogized to the navel? It is, that just as this navel is situated in the middle of the body, so, the Sanhedrin is situated in the middle of the Temple. “May it not lack blended wine [
al yeḥsar hamazeg
]”
(Song of Songs 7:3) – what is “
al yeḥsar hamazeg
”? That there were never less than one-third of…
Bamidbar Rabbah 1:4
Why then should we now adopt new decrees which they did not see fit to enact? Furthermore, there is no end to this matter. Thus, a man would soon be desolate and afflicted, deriving no enjoyment whatsoever from this world, while our sages, of blessed memory, said: "a person will in the future be held accountable before G-d on all that his eyes beheld and he did not want to eat from it" (Yerushalmi Kidushin 4:12). This is even though it was permitted to him and he had the ability to do so. They brought support for this from scripture: "all that my eyes desired I did not deprive them" (Kohelet…
Mesillat Yesharim 13:10-18
“His brothers went to herd their father’s flock in Shekhem” (Genesis 37:12).
“His brothers went to herd [
lirot et
]” – there are dots over the word
et
, indicating that they went only to herd themselves.
“Israel said to Joseph: Are your brothers not herding in Shekhem? Go, and I will send you to them. He said to him: Here I am” (Genesis 37:13).
“Israel said to Joseph: Are your brothers not herding in Shekhem?” Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Berekhya: He treated him with deference in accordance with the reverence due a father from the son…
Bereshit Rabbah 84:13
BECAUSE HE HATH GIVEN OF HIS SEED UNTO MOLECH, TO DEFILE MY SANCTUARY — “The congregation of Israel which is sanctified unto Me.” This is Rashi’s language. I have already hinted at this, how on account of one man’s sin the congregation of Israel which is sanctified to His Great Name can become defiled. And the Sages have [also] already hinted at this in their homiletic interpretations when saying: “He who enjoys anything of this world without saying a benediction, is considered as if he had robbed the Holy One, blessed be He, and the congregation of Israel, as it is said…
Ramban on Leviticus 20:3:1
Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: “It will be evening” is not written here, but rather, “it was evening” – from here we learn that there had been an order to time even beforehand.
Rabbi Abahu said: This teaches that He continuously created worlds and destroyed them, until He created the current one, and said: ‘This one pleases Me, those did not please Me.’ Rabbi Pinḥas said: The source for Rabbi Abahu is: “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31) – this pleases Me, those did not please Me.
Bereshit Rabbah 3:7
“All the shrubs [
siaḥ
] of the field” – all the trees converse [
mesiḥin
] with one another, as it were. All the trees converse with people, as it were. All the trees were created for the benefit of people. There was an incident involving an individual who harvested his vineyard, spent the night in it, and the wind came and harmed him. All of people’s conversation [
siaḥ
] is about the land. [They say:] ‘Did the land produce? Did it not produce?’ All of people’s prayers are about the land: ‘Lord, may the land produce; Lord, may the land flourish…
Bereshit Rabbah 13:2
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