Parashat Eikev: You Never Eat Alone (with Deborah Jacobi)

July 26, 2026•2 min read

Custom HTML/CSS/JavaScript

You have never once eaten a meal in private. Here is what changes when you know it.
Deborah Jacobi's new podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@JewishPoliticalWatch770

In this Parashat Ekev deep dive, Shlomo sits with author Deborah Jacobi to open a single verse: you will eat, and be satisfied, and bless. Deborah brings the Rambam on hunger, moderation, bitter foods and daily exercise, alongside the Chassidic teaching that the body is no less holy than the soul. It is a conversation about the most ordinary thing any of us does, and how much of a life gets quietly decided at the table.

Some of what comes up:
Why the Arizal and Rebbe Nachman both place the evil inclination at the table above anywhere else
Why the Rambam would rather you ate junk food than overate healthy food
The bitter foods he prescribed 800 years ago that science has only recently caught up with
What 32 teeth have to do with 32 pathways of wisdom
Why produce grown in the land of Israel may not be the same food at all

ONE TAP FOR DEBORAH

Deborah recorded this from London, where she is looking after her mother. She has also just started a new podcast, Jewish Political Watch, and a new show lives or dies on its first few hundred subscribers.

If this hour was worth something to you, this is the easiest way to say so. It takes one tap and it costs nothing.

YouTube Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@JewishPoliticalWatch770

Let's show her what this audience is like.

MORE FROM DEBORAH
Website: https://deborahjacobi.com
Email: [email protected]
The Intimate Act of Eating: https://www.amazon.com/Intimate-Act-Eating/dp/1568717008
The Moral Act of Eating: https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Act-Eating/dp/1568717016

THE OASIS IS 50% OFF FOR A FEW MORE DAYS
The Oasis is our membership community: live learning, the full lesson library, and people studying alongside you. The half-price window closes in a couple of days.
https://alshechacademy.org/oasis

This episode is dedicated to a refuah shleimah for Pesya bat Chana and for Malka Ester bat Sarah Leah.

Alshech Academy is a nonprofit Torah and Kabbalah academy in Tsfat. Depth without the jargon, and no background required.

Become Unshakable.

Custom HTML/CSS/JavaScript

Shlomo Godsi

On the Alshech's Yortzeit, I Received a Message... After morning prayers in the Alshech Shul, I would learn the Alshech’s Torah, just me and him. It was an intimate process that began my close connection with this great sage. Then, on Erev Pesach 2023, at 2 AM, I received a clear message: open a center of learning here, at the Alshech Shul, for the English-speaking communities around the world. I later realized that very night was the Alshech’s Yortzeit. That realization still gives me the chills! This Academy is not just a project; it is a response to a divine call. I humbly ask you to join me in answering it.