It occurred to me during a Purim dinner. How much time transpires between the minute you put a piece of food in your mouth, until it turns into mush as it makes its way down the gullet into the digestive process?

I estimate it is only about five seconds.

How much time and energy do we spend to satisfy these five fleeting seconds? How many trillions of dollars are spent by the food industry to enhance these few seconds?

Judaism, too, makes a fuss about food. Hamantashen and kreplach on Purim. Latkes on Chanukah. Cheese blintzes on Shavuot. Honey and apples on Rosh Hashana. Even Yom Kippur is about food– we are fixated on not eating food. And the day before Yom Kippur it’s actually a Mitzva to eat! Then there’s the whole week of Passover with its unique menu.

Why this gastronomical obsession? What is spiritual about a sumptuous meal? What is significant about cuisine, food that lasts only five seconds before it disappears into the system?

Purim is highlighted by the ‘Seudah’ Purim dinner. We send friends gifts of food, mishloach manot, and we say ‘l’chaim’ on wine.

The commentaries explain that Purim celebrates the body while Chanukah celebrates the soul. Thus we commemorate Chanukah by kindling lights –representing spirit, to mark our spiritual victory over the Greeks who wanted to sought to obliterate our soul. Purim marks the fall of Haman who tried to kill us physically, so we celebrate by feeding our body.

Here’s an analogy by the Baal Shem Tov to explain this Jewish thing with food and drink.

A king was preparing his child to grow up, mature and deserve to eventually inherit his throne. Isolated in the palace, his son was spoiled by wealth and all the attendants catering to his every need. This stunted his growth and didn’t allow him to demonstrate what he was really made of. The king felt he had to send his son away from the palace, to live for a time among the common folk. The challenges would allow him to become a more compassionate leader.

Bidding farewell to his son, the king promised him that he will stay in touch with him when he was far from home.

Sent off to a distant land where no one recognized him, the son had to make his way on his own, with no special protection shielding him. But as time passed, the son slowly forgot his past and the purpose of his journey.

To counter this amnesia, the king occasionally sent his son letters reminding him:

“I am your father. You were sent away to improve and become a better person. Never forget it.”

The son rejoices when he receives the letter, and wants to celebrate. He remembers the beauty of his palatial home, and the purpose of his mission.

He feels like announcing to his neighbors the true reason for his coming to town. But he realizes that the townspeople will not appreciate where he is coming from. They wouldn’t believe him, thinking him insane. They might even be resentful.

But his desire to celebrate is strong. He thinks of an idea. After receiving the letter, he offers his neighbors a free meal.

The townspeople are delighted to enjoy the dinner and cocktails. As they celebrate their meal, the king’s son celebrates the message he received from his father.

G-d is our king and each of us is his child. We all originate from the heavenly palace, a spiritual environment where our souls are comfortable and protected. But in order to develop our abilities, G-d sends us away from our comfort into a foreign, material world, a world that can be harsh and cruel.

But becoming acclimated to our material existence, we forget our original source and our destination – the purpose of our journey to Earth.

But G-d sends us a ‘letter’ several times a year –the holidays remind us that we come from a special place, and we are here to transform the material world into a Divine abode. When we receive these letters, we want to celebrate.

However, there is a problem. Our physical bodies and the material world are not ready to celebrate with us on a spiritual level; they don’t understand or appreciate the heavenly message we received. They are so consumed with the selfish world, that they don’t allow us to celebrate our spiritual awareness.

So G-d tells us: “Feed your body well with good food and drink on the holiday. Allow your body to celebrate on its terms, while you celebrate my ‘letter’ on this grand holiday.”

That’s the secret of food, the nourishment and gratification it gives our body. The soul of the food is the Divine message which each holiday offers us.

You can eat and you can eat. You can indulge in your meals and drink, which last as long as the taste is in your mouth, until …the next meal. Or you can bless and sanctify the food, elevating and transforming your table in to a sacred altar, and then eternalize the spiritual message into a timeless experience.

Five seconds can go either way: Down our throat into the belly. Or way up into eternity. It’s up to us.