GEN1274 Wherever we habitually run up against difficulty and repeatedly cause suffering in our lives – to ourselves and those around us – lack of moderation is often the culprit.  Many things are healthy in moderation but potentially damaging in either excess or abstention.  Much research says that a moderate intake of alcohol can be good for your health, though we all know the sorts of diseases and problems born of alcoholism.   The same is true for dieting, which can maintain a healthy weight and can also devolve in to anorexia.   At the other end of the scale, obesity is now a major public health issue.  Self –esteem is a necessary spiritual strength, while self-debasement or arrogance veer away from the balanced middle range.  So it is with many other things we do in our lives.   Except for what is harmful in any measure, which out to be totally avoided, inmost other cases the ideal route is the middle one, neither abstaining in the absolute nor indulging to the hilt.   … The Torah role model for the middle way is Jacob, who made a vow asking [this verse]. By pointing out the seemingly obvious—that bread is to eat and clothing to wear—Jacob is telling us that the proper measure for food is enough to satiate hunger but not the level of sumptuous feasting. Similarly, we should clothe ourselves, but only in simple, functional attire.   There is no more virtue in starving our bodies (whether in fasting or in anorexia or bulimia) than there is in gorging endlessly on delicacies. Both extremes miss the mark.   Similarly, not taking care to have proper clothing is as spiritually inappropriate as is flaunting costly and fashionable garments. MORINIS 174