The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then Bnei Yisrael wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat! (Bamidbar 11:4)

Today we live in a “health-conscious” society. 70 years ago, people would still smoke, drink, and eat what they enjoyed – they had what we would call “The Good Life.” Yes, it is true that the life expectancy was shorter, but people felt that they were actually maximizing the Olam Hazeh in which they lived. Today we live in a world of “red warning stickers” issued by the government to ensure that we never forget that we are making a choice between “The Good Life” and “The Good Life”. This is indeed a question which needs to be explored.

I once heard a man being chastised for smoking, “You know if you continue smoking as you do, you may only live to 50 or 60, but if you quit now, you may live to 90.” To that he dryly replied, “What is the value of living to 90 if I can’t have a cigarette!?”

In the olden times, white bread was more expensive and desired. Today white bread has all the bran and other healthy parts removed and is much cheaper than whole grain bread. What used to be the poor man’s bread is today’s rich man’s bread. I think it is obvious that the word “good” is relative.

If one is in a society of “health consciousness”, the whole wheat bread is by far superior. Yet, if someone is looking for a “refined taste”, the white bread is more desired. Similar changes in attitude are true even in regard to people’s physiques. In the times of the Romans, people coveted becoming plump, for it showed that they didn’t have to move around much and were served by others. Nowadays, those same rich people drive plush cars, and purchase memberships in expensive sports clubs to get the exercise that the less wealthy, without all the perks of life, get from their necessary physical exertions.

People look at others and are jealous. They think that what the other person has is really good and wish they had it, too. I saw a commentator who explains, based on Rashi, that אספסוף was the eiruv rav; that when klal Yisrael saw the eiruv rav partaking of food they became jealous, which is what caused them to sin.

There was a person who had an associate who was a “health nut” yet was still sick all the time. He once asked, “What does it help you to be so healthy, if you are sick all the time?” His associate explained that a fine-tuned machine can become inoperable with even a little piece of dust. The person retorted, “Maybe it is better to have a poorly adjusted machine that works, rather than a fine-tuned piece of machinery that is always in the shop?”

Now let’s examine if this is really true. If a person is working with coarse material, then it is definitely true that a fine machine will not be functional at all. And if one is working with fine material, then a coarse machine will lack the precision that is necessary. The same is also true with diets. It used to be that we would measure how many calories a person needed with an unsophisticated index. But nowadays, with our greater understanding of health, it is done using the BMI.

The Chofetz Chaim teaches us that just like on a map, where big cities are shown as big dots and small cities as small dots, in Heaven the maps also have big and small cities. However, they don’t represent the population numbers. A “big” city is one filled with Torah and mitzvahs, and a “small” city is one deplete of them. In short, what is desired in one reality, is not what is desired in another one. We have to know that what advances us materialistically will not advance us spiritually, because the ultimate goal of our existence is the closeness we will attain in the world to come. The eirev rav were on a lower level, therefore they needed to eat coarse regular food. However, for Klal Yisrael, who were close to an angelic level, this food was “unhealthy”. Yet, they made the mistake of being jealous of something that at their station in life was detrimental.

I think we should reassess our own needs and desires by having a BMI: a Body Mitzvah Index. If we choose properly by thinking what we need to eat and what we need to do, and not look at what is good for others, we can attain a spiritual level of a perfect 100.