HEALTH - GENERAL
Dear Family,
Hope everyone is well.
Mazal Tov to Miriam Brocha on her upcoming birthday on Shabbos. Wishing you a year with lots of new growth in all areas.
Mazal Tov to Nechama on her birthday also on Shabbos. Love you Nechama and looking forward to see you soon BEH.
We are now in the month of Iyar and it is said that the letters of Iyar in Hebrew spell out the sentence
1. *Aleph - ani* (I)
2. *Yud, yud – (*abbreviation for Hashem)
3. *Reish –* *rofechah *(your healer)
Ie I am Hashem your healer (this posuk came up in one of the haftorahs on Pesach)
I am also reading a book called Nature’s Wealth, which is about HEALTH and HEALING based on the Teachings of the Rambam, and so I thought I would share some of the points that I learned.
Most of the comments below are from the Rambam’s 10 Books on Medicine and he lived 1135 – 1204
Centuries before the invention of MRI, CT scans, xrays, aspirin and antibiotics, sphygmomanometer, and even the thermometer, this medieval Rabbi and philosopher was also a brilliant physician, who treated the patient rather than the illness and emphasised moderation and disease prevention.
All the Doctors and budding Doctors in our Family, should please feel free to add, comment or correct.
*General points relating to Health.*
1. One should make every effort to be happy.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslev taught that ‘It is a great mitzva to always be happy.’
We learn from other giants of *Chassidus ‘*that it is not a mitzva to be happy, and yet no nitzva can bring one to the level which happiness can. Similarly sadness is not a sin, but no sin can throw one to the depths that sadness can.’
One is obligated to make every effort to be happy with our lot in the short stay we have in this world.
One should be cheerful and reasonably happy without being caught up in frivolity.
There is nothing better for both body and soul than joy.
It strengthens and increases body heat, improves vision and digestion, eliminates toxins and wastes, and sharpens the mind.
A happy person’s face shines, his body is healthy and strong, and he will not age prematurely.
Our Sages taught us an important principle, ‘You shall leave with joy’ ie through joy we can truly leave all troubles behind.
1. Everything in creation has its own unique characteristics.
Laughter is unique to mankind. It has no equivalent in the animal, vegetable or mineral worlds.
When one sees or hears something funny or is tickled, we laugh.
There is no physical or medical explanation for this phenomenon, other than it is part of the nature of mankind.
1. 6 things improve one’s health and vitality: a. Controlled consumption of wine.
b. Balanced eating. c. Non strenuous physical exercise, d. Healing of such organs as the heart and arteries through medication or diet, e. Happiness, f. Elimination of waste
1. 8 things sap one’s strength: a. Fasting, b. Insomnia, c. Worry, d. Excessive excretion of body fluids such as diarrhea, heavy perspiration etc, e. Severe pain in a particular organ, f. A weak digestive system, g. An accumulation of superfluous ‘phlegm’ in the body, h. Weak organs of poor constitution.
2. When the body accumulates more flesh and fat than it needs, it grows sluggish.
Although the Rambam advocated regular and balanced meals, he worked so hard as a physician in the Sultan’s Court, that he would arrive home in his nearby town of Fostat exhausted and hungry.
Here he would find many Jews and Gentiles waiting to be treated……..’and I would go to heal them and write prescriptions for their illnesses until night………..
Maybe next week we could look at specific details of diet, exercise, sleep etc
Gut Shabbos to all