Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Asceticism has not been a dominant theme within Judaism, but minor-to-significant ascetic traditions have been a part of Jewish spirituality.
Many Jewish sources describe the physical world as essentially good; the human body as a servant of the spirit, and therefore not corrupt; the human being as possessing dignity as one made in the image of God; and physical pleasures as God-given and therefore to be enjoyed with gratitude toward the divine giver. One who refuses to partake of the material world was even described as a sinner by Samuel of Nehardea in tractate Taanit ().
At the same time, other sources recommend and even require Jews to avoid intemperate and extravagant behavior, which is seen as leading to bad character traits and sometimes to outright sin. Thus Jews were recommended to moderate their eating and drinking and sexual behavior; to "sanctify" their material consumption by intending its ultimate purpose to be enabling service of God rather than selfish pleasure; and where appropriate to make extra "fences" around the law by avoiding specific activities that seem likely to lead to sin. Overall, Judaism recommends moderation rather than total abstinence, a balance perhaps best represented by Maimonides' "golden middle way" between sensual luxury and tortured self-deprivation.
In addition, many sources suggest that members of the spiritual elite would be best served by a greater level of asceticism than the masses, including practices such as fasting and sexual abstinence, in order to enable them to focus on Torah study or else mystical contemplation. While such behavior was generally the choice of pious individuals, in a few cases it became the focus of widespread communal movements, particularly the Ashkenazi Hasidim and Lurianic Kabbalah.
Biblical and classical rabbinic views
Disapproving views
"The Lord did not create the world for desolation; he formed it for human habitation" () is the principle emphasized by the rabbis.Pesachim 88b In the ideal state of things nothing should be profane (). This view is expressed in no uncertain terms by Rav: "Man in the life to come will have to account for every enjoyment offered him that was refused without sufficient cause."Yerushalmi Kiddushin 4, end
Rabbi Yitzchak said, "Is the number of things forbidden by the Law not enough that you venture to add of your own accord by your inconsiderate vow?"Yerushalmi Nedarim 9 41b
One teacher would say, "The Shekhinah rests on man only amid cheerfulness of performing a mitzvah."Shabbat 30b According to a Talmudical story, jesters who cheer up unhappy people are rewarded with a place in the World to Come.
In contrast to some religions which practice mortification of the flesh, Judaism prohibits mutilations for whatever purpose and of whatever character.467. Self-Harm: The prohibition against cutting one's self
According to the Torah commandment of onah, a man must satisfy his wife's sexual desires through regular sexual intercourse. A man, too, is expected to marry,Yevamot 61b based on the Biblical verse "it is not good for a man to be alone" (). While according to some this is a practical measure (to discourage him from fantasizing about women other than his wife),Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Ishut 15:16 the Talmud gives a more fundamental reason: "Any man who has no wife is without happiness, without blessing, and without good."Yevamot 62b
Zeira prohibited his students from engaging in voluntary pious behavior in the presence of others who would be viewed as less pious for not having followed the same stringency.Yerushalmi Brachot 2:9 (21a)
The Mishnah interprets the Biblical command to love God "with all your heart" to mean "with your two inclinations - good inclination and evil inclination".Mishna Brachot 9:5 The latter half of this interpretation has been interpreted in various ways. According to some, it indicates that physical pleasures such as eating and drinking can be a form of service to God, if one's intention is to thereby strengthen the body in order to better serve God.Tiferet Yisrael and Kehati to Mishna Brachot 9:5
Approving views
Biblical laws prohibit performing certain functions, such as Temple service, while in a state of intoxication or ritual impurity. Thus priests were prohibited to drink wine prior to their service, sexual intercourse was forbidden to the Israelites in preparation for the Sinai Revelation, and Moses was understood by the rabbis to have separated from his wife during the period of his prophecy.; ; Shabbat 87a (However, other prophets did not separate from their wives.Cf. , )
In later generations these restrictions were voluntarily taken on by broader segments of the population for the purposes of self-consecration or communion with God. These groups included the followers of the Rechabites, known as "the water-drinkers" (who did not drink wine).Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Yithro, Amalek 2 Among the Pharisees, one who chose to apply the laws of food impurity to all foods, not only consecrated foods, received the title of chaber.
Among the broader population, a certain level of self-restraint was often recommended, to avoid the harms that can be caused by excess.Cf. "Haste, Nazarite, pass quickly around the vineyard, come not too near the grape"Bava Metzia 92a became a proverbial warning. "Make a fence around the Law" was a well-known principle.Pirkei Avot 1:1; Avot of Rabbi Natan 2 The Talmud declares "Abstain from everything unseemly and from whatsoever is like unto it."Hullin 44b According to Abba Arikha, the purpose of the kashrut laws is to purify IsraelLeviticus Rabbah 13—to train the Jew in self-discipline. The law: "Be holy!" was interpreted: Exercise abstinence in order to arrive at the state of purity and holiness.Avodah Zarah 20b; Sifra, Kedoshim, beginning
In the Biblical narrative, humanity initially abstained from eating meat, () and only after the flood, in an age of decline, eating of meat was permitted () (similar traditions appear in Greek and Roman sourcesPlato, De Legibus, vi. 782; Plutarch, Symposion, viii. 83; Porphyrius, De Abstinentia, iii. 25, 26; Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 20; Spiegel, Eranische Alterthümer, i. 455).
Shimon bar Yochai lived as an ascetic for a period, hiding in a cave from Roman persecution while subsisting on a minimal diet.Shabbat 33b He refused to appreciate the markets, bathhouses, and other worldly comforts built by the Romans, and held the view that "there should be no unrestrained laughter in this world".Berachot 31a At the same time, he was one of those describing the nazirite as a sinner for abstaining from wine.Nedarim His ascetic practices were not inspired by belief in the futility of this life and its sinfulness, but rather by the desire to avoid distractions from Torah study. He envied the generation of the desert, fed on heavenly manna rather than agricultural labor, who therefore had more time for Torah study.Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Beshalach, Vayasa 2
The two great rabbinical schools of the first century, the Houses of Hillel and Shammai, debated the question whether life was worth living or not—"tov le-adam shenibra mishelo nibra",Eruvin 13b and in general the House of Shammai (who answered the question in the negative) leaned towards asceticism., and Vered Noam. "Beit Shammai and the Sectarian Halakha / ." Jewish Studies / , vol. 41, 2002, pp. 45–67. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23382806.
Upon the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70, a wave of asceticism swept over the people, and many people avoided meat and wine as sign of mourning, but this was not accepted as a permanent practice.Bava Batra 60b; Tosefta Sotah, end
Judah ha-Nasi hosted elaborate feasts and had close social relations with prominent Romans,Avodah Zarah 10a-11a yet on his deathbed he proclaimed that he had "derived no benefit" from the world,Ketubot 104a implying that the luxuries in his house were necessary for his leadership role rather than intended for personal enjoyment.
Nazirites
According to Biblical law, a Nazirite was one who chose to abstain from drinking wine and cutting hair as an expression of holiness.; ;
While the nazirite restrictions have the appearance of an ascetic practice, this understanding is not universal. According to one theory, wine and the crown of hair were sacred to the Canaanite deities, so the Nazirite laws simply indicate a rejection of Canaanite religion.
In later rabbinic sources, opinions vary regarding the desirability of nazirite abstention. The Talmud declares that becoming a nazirite is actually a kind of sin: "Why must the Nazirite bring a sin-offering at the end of his term? () Because he sinned against his own person by his vow of abstaining from wine," says Eleazar ha-Kappar.Sifra, ad loc., and Nedarim 10a In contrast, Nachmanides argued that being a nazirite is a desirable and holy state, and the "sin" for which the sin-offering is brought is actually leaving the nazirite status and returning to normal life.
Even according to those who frown upon nazirism in general, it was sometimes considered meritorious as a means of self-discipline. Simon the Just said: "I partook of a Nazirite meal only once, when I met with a handsome youth from the South who had taken the vow. When I asked him the reason, he said: 'I saw the evil inclination pursue me as I beheld my face reflected in the water, and I swore that these long curls shall be cut off and offered as a sacrifice to the Lord.' Whereupon I kissed him upon his forehead and blessed him, saying: 'May there be many Nazirites like thee in Israel!'"Nazir, 4b
Fasting
Just one fast day is commanded in the Bible - Yom Kippur. The Prophets had little patience with fasting., , etc. maintains that charity and deeper sense of justice, not fasting, are the expression of a will sanctified unto God. It is characteristic of the attitude of Judaism that this very chapter has been assigned for the Haftara for Yom Kippur, the one penitential fast-day of the synagogue.
Nevertheless, Biblical Jews resorted to fasting in times of great distress,, or to commemorate historical tragedies. In the Talmudic era, communal fasts were regularly observed in times of collective hardship such as famine, drought and war.Ta'anit 18b Four annual fast days were established in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; it was stated that one who would not share in the distress would have no part in the consolation of the people.Ta'anit 11a The one additional communal fast day which survived to modern times (the Fast of Esther) may not be an expression of asceticism or mourning: it may follow the pattern of ancient fasts which are simply preparation for eating the sacrificial or festive meal on the following evening.See Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites, p. 413 Similarly, the rabbis decreed not to eat a meal late on Friday afternoon, in order to better enjoy the Shabbat evening meal,Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Shabbat 30:4, based on a story in Gittin 38b and perhaps this also underlies the report that some pious rabbis fasted every Friday (in preparation for the Sabbath).
In addition to these required fasts, in the post-Talmudic period a number of fasts became customary in certain pious circles, either as opportunities for penance (e.g. Yom Kippur Katan and Shovavim) or to commemorate negative historical events.