Q&A: Bread with Salt You Shall Eat
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Bread with Salt You Shall Eat
Question
“Such is the way of Torah: bread with salt you shall eat, and in Torah you shall labor; happy are you, and it is good for you.”
If someone can eat bread with chocolate, is it preferable that he study while eating bread with salt? Why?
Answer
Simply speaking, the intention is that he should be satisfied with bread and salt, not that one is obligated to eat bread and salt. That is, he should not invest time and effort in obtaining things that are more expensive and tastier. But if he has them—let him eat, enjoy, and be well.
The question is which Torah the Mishnah meant when it wrote, “and in Torah you shall labor.”
Unfortunately for Rabbi Michael Abraham, the Mishnah meant the Torah of Moses, which according to Rabbi Michael Abraham is not something one should labor in, since, according to him, nothing can be learned from it.