In today’s world of health, there seems to be a consensus that walking is very good for a person. Maimonides had many good ideas on health issues. What did he, or any of the other great scholars, have to say about walking to be healthy?
Maimonides, in his legal magnum opus Mishna Torah (Hilchos Deos 4:14) , writes that physical exertion is important to one’s health. This includes walking and all exercise. Indeed many great people throughout the generations walked as a means of getting proper exercise. Certainly, one who walks in order to stay healthy in the service of G-d has fulfilled the mitzvah of guarding one’s body; as it says in Deuteronomy 4:15: “v’nishmartem meod l’nafshosaichem” – “And guard your lives very much.”
Rabbi Meir Goldberg