Some of you may be familiar with The Lazar Beam blog, courtesy of Ashdod's Harley-riding Rabbi Lazar Brody. A little while ago, he got this letter:

"Dear Rabbi Lazer,
I don't know if there's a 17 yr. old more miserable than me. I'm 5'4", but I weigh 264 lbs. At school, nobody knows my real name. Boys walk by me and "moo", and the girls call me chubzie or big bertha. Life is a humiliation. I've tried every diet there is, but lack will power. You should see my diary - it's written poetically, and every page is tear-stained.
"Each pound of my fleshy frame
Suffers immeasurably in untold shame".
I should mention that I'm an honors student, but straight A's don't give me the will to live. Can you help me, Rabbi Lazer? I'd be eternally grateful. Signed with an aching heart, Cathy from the USA"

The Rabbi wrote back:

"Dear Cathy, Your soul is unbelievably delicate and pure. Your inner beauty shines bright from two short paragraphs. Your future is so promising - you'd make a superb writer or journalist. Don't tell me that you lack willpower - straight A's don't come without hard work. By the way, your social suffering has given you a maturity and an outlook on life way beyond your tender years. I think you're a magnificent person. With the good Lord's help, in a few short weeks, you'll be as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside..."

So far, nothing unexpected. But Rabbi Brody followed that opener with nothing less than a simple spiritual weight loss program. Now, 11 weeks later, Cathy's parents have sent their report. Did the Rabbi's program of steady weight loss and spiritual gain work? Holy Moly, did it ever!

South Beach diet? Atkins? Nothin wrong with them, but they only fix your body. Looks like Rabbi Brody just fixed a lot more than that.

Ala'uddin al-Bukhari al-Attar would have understood.

UPDATE: Rabbi Brody answers some questions about the program and its underlying philosophy.