Halakhah su Proverbi 13:25

The good and right path to follow is to accustom yourself to walk the middle course. You should desire only those things which are required for your physical well being, and without which it is impossible to live, as it is written, "The righteous person eats to satisfy his soul."²Proverbs 13:25. “To satisfy his soul” means “to keep his soul alive”, in other words he eats no more than is needed to sustain life, certainly no gourmet foods. (Malbim) You should be absorbed in your business affairs only to the extent that it enables you to acquire things that you need for your daily life, as it is written, "Better is the little of the righteous."³Psalms 37:16. Do not be overly tight-fisted, nor spend your money too freely, but rather give charity according to your ability and lend money wisely to whom ever needs it. Do not be too jubilant and jolly, nor too sad and gloomy. But be happy at all times, be contented and show a friendly face. And so too with most other character traits, anyone who follows the middle course is called a wise man.

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] because most sins of people are done as a result of much eating and drinking, as it is written (Deuteronomy 32:15), "And Yeshurun grew fat and kicked." And so [too,] "you became fat, you became thick, you became covered; and he abandoned the God that made him, etc." And so [too,] did they, may their memory be blessed, say [about a man's cow] (Berakhot 32a), "Who caused you to kick (rebel against) me? The vetch which I fed you." And more generally they said, "Filling his stomach is a type of sin" - meaning to say after filling the stomach, a person come to do bad sins. And the matter is that foodstuffs are the dough for the physical, whereas contemplation of the intellect and of the fear of God and His precious commandments is the dough of the soul. And the soul and the physical are complete opposites, as I have written at the beginning of the book. And so with the strengthening of the dough of the physical, the dough of the soul is weakened a little. And from this root there were some of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, that would only benefit from foodstuffs just what they required, only to keep their souls alive; and as it is written (Proverbs 13:28), "A righteous person eats to the satiation of his soul." And therefore, for our good, did our perfect Torah prevent us form indulging in eating and drinking more than is necessary - lest the physical overcome the soul greatly, until it makes it ill and destroys it completely. And so in order to distance this matter fully, it warned us about this with a strong punishment - and that is the death penalty. And this is what appears [correct] to me about the topic. And a man is warned about this at the start of the power of the passion of his youth and at the beginning of his obligation to guard his soul (to observe the commandments) - and these are the first three months from when he begins to grow two [pubic] hairs until [the hair] surrounds the whole member. And from that time, he is to take ethical teaching for all of his days. As in that foods are a constant matter with man - it is impossible for him without it - the Torah did not command about it at every instance, but rather it 'teaches him early' at one time, to benefit him for all of the times.