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On the tenth day of the same seventh month you shall observe a sacred occasion when you shall practice self-denial. You shall do no work.

(Numbers 29:7)

Our rabbis taught: You shall practice self-denial. You might assume that you must sit in heat or cold in order to afflict yourself, therefore the text reads: "You shall do no work;" just as [the prohibition of] labor [means] sit and do nothing, so does affliction [signify] sit and do nothing. (That is, deny yourself certain things, but do not seek out activities that cause affliction.). (Talmud Yoma 74b)

Dr. Kaplan reminds us that the prohibitions should not be construed as mortification of the flesh. "Thus, while abstinence from food and drink and the other forms of bodily gratification on the Day of Atonement is commanded, self-torture for the purpose of mortifying the flesh is discountenanced. When we refrain from indulging our physical appetites for a limited period, in order to devote ourselves for a time more exclusively to demands that rank higher in our hierarchy of values, we are not denying the physical appetites their just place in life; we are simply recognizing the need of putting them in their place." (Rabbi Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, p. 211)

Our Torah, about which King David stated, "The Torah of the Lord is perfect... Making wise the simple," advocates no mortification. Its intention was that man should follow nature, taking the middle road. He should eat his fill in moderation, drink in moderation. He should dwell amid society in uprightness and faith and not in the deserts and mountains. He should not afflict his body. On the contrary, the Torah explicitly warned us regarding the taking on the stringent regemin of the Nazirite. (Rambam, Eight Chapters (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon) 1135-1209, Spain and Egypt)

Rabbi Isaac said: Are not the things prohibited in the Torah enough for you that you want to prohibit yourself other things? A vow of abstinence is like an iron collar, such as is worn by prisoners, around a man's neck. Someone who imposes on himself such a vow is like a man who meets a detachment of soldiers with such a collar and puts his own head into it. Or he is like a man who drives a sword through his body. (Talmud Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:1)

The Torah does not define "practice self-denial" (literally: afflict your souls/yourselves). The rabbis rule that it means fasting rather than any more extreme mortification of the flesh. Unlike some other religious traditions, Judaism by and large does not promote asceticism (although some of this can be found in the sources). Why do you think this is the case? What does it say about the nature of the world? About our physical appetites? Why do we fast on Yom Kippur?

Adapted from Torah Sparks, Parashat Pinchas, July 3, 2010 - 21 Tammuz 5770.