Reason is the spice of life

While learning the halachos of a meat and milk mixture ( forbidden !! ) I came across an inspirational idea. The sefer I was learning from introduced an explanation of the reasoning for a particular ruling by the Rashba ( Rabbi Shlomo Ben Aderet - a fourteenth century scholar ) - with the words "Taam haRashba" ( Lit. the Rashba's reasoning ). Since we were dealing with the absorbed flavors of the milk into the meat and vice versa - we thought the pun was wonderful !

Then another idea became apparent - the reason that "reason" and "flavor" are the same word (Taam) is because they really do fulfill the same function. If you want your food to be more interesting ( not more nutritious ) you flavor it - and if you want your religion to mean more to you - look for the reason behind the practices you keep.

Happy Spicing !!

'till next time,
R' Druyan