Conventional wisdom is that Judaism doesn’t believe in Asceticism (the practice of self-denial), and that’s true…to an extent.
There’s a huge span between self-denial and self-indulgence, and eschewing one pole doesn’t necessarily put us at the other. So, no, we’re not into self-denial (for its own sake); but we’re not into self-indulgence either. Judaism is about living a life of Purpose, a life of Connectedness (to our Divine raison d’etre), and a life of Holiness.
And self-indulgence can get in the way.
Purpose, Connectedness and Holiness all share an inner rhythm. They’re all about living our days for something greater than our personal impulses and immediate needs.
And self-indulgence runs in the opposite direction.
It’s a simple equation: The more I live my life to serve my impulses, the less I live my life to serve a Higher Purpose. It’s not evil. It’s just not Purposeful.
The fifth Chabad Rebbe (Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch) was once approached by a disciple who asked for help in controlling his own devious nature. The Rebbe told him to fast on a regular basis. The disciple was very surprised, since this kind of self-denial isn’t a common Chabad practice. The Rebbe told him: “Simply refraining from eating all day is self-emaciation. ‘Fasting’ is a course of self-betterment.”
The Rebbe then instructed him to dedicate some time every day to introspective self-analysis, since controlling his physical appetite would facilitate his self-betterment efforts.
Practically speaking. when we all sit down to dinner tonight, we can eat to simply feed our appetites and household pets do pretty much the same.
Or we can choose to eat what makes sense for our individual health, recognizing our collective responsibility to use food-generated strength and nutrition to brighten the world in which we live.
It’s not about self-denial. It’s about Purposeful Living.
We are created with some strong human impulses. Yet we are asked to harness those impulses so that we are not overrun by them.
We are asked to engage the world, without being TOO engaged by it.
That’s our challenge.
That’s the challenge of Torah; the challenge of Sinai; the challenge of a meaningful life.