How did pleasure become a religious goal in Judaism?
Classical Judaism differs from contemporaneous
Graeco-Roman and Christian theologies in its emphasis
on the physical as a complement to the spirit. This
appreciation of the religious significance of physicality is
its hallmark and helps explain its approach to physical
pleasure, the physical world, the physical body, and the
physical resurrection. Indeed, it explains more about the
distinctive theological positions of classical Judaism than
any other factor, for it invested in the body the
significance that others invested in the soul.