DEUT68 In maximizing spiritual welfare, Jewish ethical teachings do not seek to minimize bodily health. On the contrary, to neglect an enfeebled body is sinful. Take the rest ordained on the Shabbat. It has been commanded not to serve as an imposition and an additional restriction to the liberty of man, but as an opportunity for physical rest and the re-creation of the soul after six days of work. The object of Judaism is to guide us in the enjoyment of the gifts with which God has endowed us. To reject such legitimate gifts is to be guilty of an ingratitude for which man will have to give account on Judgment Day (Yer. Kidd. iv. 66d). The Jew must not hate his body; he is in duty bound to preserve his health, not to jeopardize his life (Ber. 32b explaining [this verse]). Foods that are injurious to health are to be avoided even more than those ritually forbidden (Hull. 10a with its teaching that [danger is more severe[ly prohibited] than prohibition]; B. Kama 91b; Shabb. 82a). This may well be another reason for our Dietary Laws. The body must be kept pure and fresh, as the temple of the soul (See the story told in Leviticus R. xxxiv. 3 of Hillel who regarded the purification of his body as a sacred act). Our garments must be spotlessly clean (Shabb. 113b; Ned. 81a). He who castigates and tortures his flesh with fasting is a sinner (Taan. 22b; Ned. 19a). Judaism places itself in complete variance with Hindu asceticism which encourages the flagellation and emancipation of the body as the seed of sin. Hillel is the voice of Jewish ethics. When he explained the meticulous care he paid to his physical welfare, he quoted this simile: "See what care is bestowed upon the statues of the Emperor to keep them clean and bright. Ought we not, likewise, to keep His image, our body, containing the divine soul He breathed into us at birth, also pure, free from every blemish? Does not Scripture tell us that 'The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel, troubleth his own flesh'" (Prov. xi. 17)(Leviticus R. xxxiv.3)