Write To Life     by Elana Horwitz

Kosher Exercise

Elana Horwitz

originally published in Kollel Kaleidoscope


Living a healthy lifestyle is a serious ideal on the basis that Hashem commands us to safeguard our lives. According to the Torah, hoping and praying that harm not befall us should be accompanied by human effort Our Sages and Rabbis recognize the medical benefits of exercise and encourage it because physical fitness is part of our larger responsibility to take care of ourselves.

Physical fitness has been proven to lower the risks of many major diseases. A new study, the results of which were made public only in May 2000, has even linked exercise with a significant reduction in an individual’s risk factors for breast cancer.

Strength, endurance and flexibility, we are told, are the byproducts of a well-maintained exercise schedule. As Jewish women, can we get by without these assets?  In addition to the Torah responsibility we have to care for our bodies, rating a poor grade in any of these areas greatly complicates our keeping of other mitzvot. Just look at some of the activities we aim to do: carry, bathe, dress and play with our small children, prepare weekday and Shabbat meals, keep up a respectable looking home, run essential errands, make Pesach and much more! How well can we manage all of this if we function on a substandard level of health?

Maintaining the health of our bodies goes hand in hand with maintaining the health of our souls. Logic follows with the recognition that a person’s tzniut must not be compromised in the pursuit of an exercise goal. With some thought and planning, an ideal structure can be created for this important function. One way to do this is to join a kosher exercise opportunity.


L’chaim! To life and to our health.