אליגוריות החוקים, ספר א ל״אAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book I 31
א׳
1[97] The charge which he gives is this: “From every tree that is in the garden thou shalt eat feedingly thereon” (Gen. 2:16). He moves the soul of the man to get benefit, not from a single tree or from a single virtue but from all the virtues: for eating is a figure of soul-nourishment: and the soul is nourished by the acquisition of things noble, and the practice of things rightful.
ב׳
2[98] And He says not merely “shalt eat,” but also “feedingly,” that is, chewing and masticating the nourishment, not like an ordinary person, but like an athlete, that you may gain strength and power: for, as we know, the trainers charge the athletes not to bolt their food, but to masticate it slowly, in order that they may grow stronger. For the athlete and I take nourishment with different objects; I, just to sustain life, the athlete, for the further purpose of growing brawny and strong; and so mastication of food is a special point in training. Such is the meaning of “thou shalt eat feedingly thereon.”
ג׳
3[99] Let us try to form a yet more precise conception of it. To honour our parents is something eatable and nutritious: but good and bad sons honour them differently, the latter in compliance with custom, and these do not “eat feedingly,” but simply eat. When, then, eat they feedingly too? When, after exploring the precept and searching for the grounds on which it rests, they freely determine that such conduct is noble. The grounds for it are such as these: they gave us birth, nurtured us, educated us, have been authors of all good things to us. Honour again shown to the Existent One is something eatable; it is shown “feedingly,” when the honour we show is coupled with close search into the precept, and with a due appreciation of its motives.