Lazer Beams

A candid interview with Doctor S

Doctor S is a summa cum laude graduate of one of the world's best medical schools. He is a general practitioner who spends half his time in his private clinic, and the other half as a public-medicine physician in Israel's Kupat Cholim system. He is an individual of rare integrity and a veteran of three wars. At age 63, he's still a renegade, and a medical version of a Frank Serpico. Therefore, we have to cloud his identity for obvious reasons, as you'll soon see:

LB: Dr. S, would you describe yourself as a religious person?

Dr. S: Not in your sense of the word. But, I have a strong faith in The Creator and tremendous respect for our Jewish heritage.

LB: From your standpoint, does emuna play a role in medicine?

Dr. S: It sure does, not only from the patient's angle, but from the doctor's angle. My atheistic colleagues are blind to their own deficiencies. It's literally impossible to cure without the Creator's help.

LB: Are you saying that for my benefit?

Dr. S: You know me better than that. A physician that doesn't recognize that he or she is a mere messenger of The Creator is probably arrogant and ineffective. Even worse, he or she is dangerous.

LB: Does that explain the recent scandal in an Israeli hospital where 12 doctors were arrested for experimenting on patients?

Dr. S: That and more. A physician with no emuna believes he has the right to give and take life, especially for the advancement of his own career and/or bank account.

LB: What type of experiments do they perform?

Dr. S: A surgeon may try a totally experimental procedure on a patient with no firm family backing or round-the-clock supervision, such as a neglected old person. If he succeeds, he gets fame, money, and a write-up in a medical journal. If he flops, they bury the patient and nobody cares. That's why you people are problematic.

LB: What do you mean?

Dr. S: Haredi patients are usually surrounded by a bevy of caring children and grandchildren, with representatives of the Haredi community that keep an eye on doctors. Most doctors won't toy around with a patient that benefits from strong family and community support.

LB: So the lonelier a patient is, the more vulnerable he or she is to experiments?

Dr. S: Correct.

LB: What happened 7 weeks ago when 4 Israelis died of flu vaccination?

Dr.S: The Health Department is working day and night to cover their bases, so I don't categorically know. Behind closed doors, I've heard that a bad batch of vaccine snuck its way into Israel.

LB: How can that happen?

Dr. S: Public medicine, especially here in Israel, is looking to save money. Frequently, procurement managers buy cheap batches of outdated drugs from the USA, and use them widespread here.

LB: Are you serious? How so?

Dr. S: Suppose that a certain antibiotic has long been outshined on the USA drug market, and the manufacturer is stuck with a big inventory; the same antibiotic is then offered to Kupat Cholim for a song. Now, all the doctors in public clinics here will be instructed to give this antibiotic to anybody that walks in the door.

LB: What do you have to say about antibiotics?

Dr. S: Use only as a last resort. We don't give the body a chance to repair itself. Many drugs destroy the body's ability to fight disease on its own. Nevertheless, I want to stress that when somebody has a strep throat with 104 F. fever, then you zap them with antibiotics - there's no other choice. But, I don't give antibiotics for the flu (unlike many of my colleagues that give antibiotics for anything), because they do nothing against viruses.

LB: Do you recommend flu shots?

Dr. S: No! Sometimes, the flu vaccine embeds viruses within the body that we don't know how to dislodge.

LB: What about alternate medicine?

Dr. S: Depends; it's wildcat, especially here in Israel, and you could fall into the hands of a quack. I do believe in herb medicine, grandma remedies, natural foods and diet, and good old exercise.

LB: What's your opinion on Ritalin for kids?

Dr. S: Do you ride horses, rabbi?

LB: Whenever I have the chance...

Dr. S: Then you know that a spirited horse is sometimes hard to break in, but once you do, you have a good mount. Giving a hyperactive child Ritalin is like drugging a horse instead of training it. No, I believe that caring and dedicated teachers don't need Ritalin solutions.

LB: Do you recommend regular checkups?

Dr. S: As long as you feel good, stay away from doctors.

LB: Amen! Thanks and G-d bless, Dr. S.

Sonogram: Proceed with Caution

Dear Rabbi Brody,

Reading your article about ultrasounds stuck a nerve so I felt the need to share my story with you. About a year after we made Aliyah (1996) when our youngest daughter was about 6 months old, I became pregnant with what would have been our 4th child.  Into my 11th week, I was feeling weak and wanted some vitamins but didn’t want to spend too much, so I called my obstetrician for a prescription.  She wouldn’t give one without an appointment first (unlike Canada where the doctor will not see the patient until 3 months had passed). When I saw her, she said I must go for an ultrasound.  I questioned it, since there was no reason for it and had never had one with my previous, thank G-d normal pregnancies. She said I must have the ultrasound or I would not get the prescription, so I obeyed.

While having the ultrasound, I saw a baby in the screen but was told there was no heartbeat. I couldn’t believe it but the technician said there was no doubt and called in another technician to verify it. When I was leaving, she advised me to have a D & C so I wouldn’t hemorrhage and have problems later. In shock, I took the results to my doctor (a religious woman I might add) who told me to follow the advice. I was in a daze but followed the instructions, made arrangements for my family and checked into Shaare Tzedek Hospital .  During the intake process, I requested a second opinion and a second ultrasound but was refused.

As I waited for my turn in surgery for a good part of the day, I spoke with everyone about my doubts. I almost walked out, but the words ‘you could hemorrhage’ kept ringing in my ears. Two other doctors confirmed there could be no mistake but they also refused to give me a second ultrasound.  My husband would not call a Rabbi at my request to get proper advice. (I am sure this led to many of our martial problems which followed, since at the time, I blamed him for my traumatic experience). The frum woman in the bed beside me offered her husband’s assistance to ask his Rabbi, but I felt uncomfortable to involve him. She did insist that he look after the fetus when it is aborted since, from her experience, she knew that he/she needed to be buried properly. I gratefully accepted this kindness.

For all the years that followed, I was haunted by the possibility that I aborted a live fetus, a baby. Never in my lifetime would I do such a thing! Even though it was beyond my control, and I had no proof that I was right, I was full of guilt.

After all these years, as difficult as it is, I finally came to terms with it by your teachings, through the words of Rav Nachman of Breslov, of Blessed Memory, and by reading the Garden of Emuna. Regardless of whether I did the unthinkable or not, it was not in my hands but the Will of G-d.  As you have stated, nothing happens in the world without, so it must have been His will that this tender little soul was not born into this world at that time. There is really nothing more I can do but to be thankful for the experience and for all the blessings that I do have and appreciate immensely.

Thank you for being there for all of us! Tzippi from Israel

Tzippi's experience leads us to the following conclusions:

1. If you're pregnant and your doctor says you need a sonogram (ultrasound), ask him why then consult a knowledgable rabbi before you do it.

2. If the doctor says something's wrong with the fetus and wants you to abort, first consult with a knowledgable rabbi  with experience in this field.

3. As a rule of thumb, if you are feeling good, don't initiate checkups and sonograms.

4. Hashem can correct all kinds of problems in a pregnancy; the Melitzer Rebbe says that it's much better not to pry into His act of creation.

We pray that all the expectant mothers have continued healthy pregnancies and easy deliveries, amen!

Obstetric sonography - friend or foe?

Four months ago, I received a frantic phone call from the ML family in Ashdod. Mrs. ML., beside herself, was sobbing so hard that she was barely comprehensible. She had waited 8 long years to be blessed with a pregnancy, which now was in the 6th month. All her girlfriends had long since become mothers several times over, and Mrs. ML yearned to have a baby of her own. A tremendous gray cloud hovered over her dream...

Speaking to me on her cell phone from the local kupat cholim, the government-subsidized medical center, she wailed, "Rabbi, I just had a sonogram (in Israel, we call it an ultrasound); the doctor says that the baby doesn't have a heatbeat! He wants me to abort right away! What do I do?"

It was the day after Tu B'Av, what secular Israel calls "Love Day." "The doctor's probably got a hangover," I told Mrs. ML; "Besides, when's the last time you felt the baby kicking?" I probed. She answered that she felt tiny feet tickling her abdominal wall a few minutes before the doctor's examination. "Yishtabach Shmo," I answered in Hebrew, praising Hashem's name, "the baby couldn't be moving and yet lacking pulse. Don't worry, with The Almighty's help, you're going to be a mother." I spent the next ten minutes calming her down, and assuring her that with The Almighty's infinite lovingkindness, everything would be OK.

A week ago, Mrs. ML gave birth to a rosy cheeked 7lb.-10 oz. baby girl. Had Mrs. ML listened to the doctor, little Chaviva, named after her great-grandmother who perished in the Nazi Holocaust, would never have been born. More bluntly, little Chaviva would have been negligently slaughtered.

*****

Since 2005, I've had the privilege of saving over two dozen babies from the gloomy fate of misread, mistaken, and misinterpreted sonograms. During my twelve years with Rabbi Shalom Arush, I've seen my esteemed and beloved teacher and spiritual guide save hundreds of babies from a similar fate.

Wikipedia writes, "Depending on the skill of the sonographer, ultrasound may suffer from a high rate of false negatives and false positives, that means care has to be taken in interpreting the accuracy of the scan."

If a plumber misjudges the exact location of a leak in your pipe, the worst-case scenario is a bigger hole in your wall and a bigger patching job thereafter. In the case of a misjudged or misinterpreted sonogram that leads to a terminated pregnancy, there is no patch job - the damage is irreversible.

Ultrasound Magazine, a strong proponent of obstetric ultrasonogarphy, published an article entitled, "The role of ultrasound imaging in diagnosing and investigating early pregnancy failure" in their April, 2005 online issue. They conclude, "No single ultrasound measurement of the different anatomical features in the first trimester has been shown to have a high predictive value for determining early pregnancy outcome. Similarly, Doppler studies have failed to demonstrate abnormal blood flow indices in the first-trimester uteroplacental circulation of pregnancies that subsequently end in miscarriage. Ultrasound parameters combined with maternal serum hormone levels, maternal age, smoking habits, obstetric history and the occurrence of vaginal bleeding have all been combined in multivariate analyses, with mixed results." In other words, the doctors are guessing. In practical terms, if an expectant mother is in her mid thirties or older, and the doctor doesn't think that the sonogram looks perfect, he's likely to advise her to abort.

*****

Dr. "Pesach" is assistant head of obstetric medicine at one Israel's leading hospitals. Dr. Pesach gave me an inside picture on what goes on in Obstetric Ultrasonography over here: "In Israel, the abortion laws are the most liberal anywhere. The government and the kupot cholim (medical insurance companies) prefer the relatively minor cost of an ultrasound and pregnancy termination to the tremendous expenses of treating and raising a child with a birth defect. So, any time a doctor has the slightest doubt as to the health of the fetus, he recommends termination. The non-religious comply almost always. The religious ask their rabbis - you guys know what you answer."

According to Dr. Pesach, approximately half of the 20,000-plus abortions in Israel annually are a result of what doctors consider imperfect sonograms. That means that doctors give the thumbs-down sign to more than 10,000 babies in Israel every year.

Do you know what the annual death of 10,000 babies means? Let me put things in proportion: Israeli Government statistics show that in the four-and-a-half year Entifada period between September 29, 2000 and April 1, 2005, Magen David Adom (the Israeli Red Cross) treated a treated a total of 7,253 casualties as follows: 953 killed, 596 severely injured, 881 moderately and 4,823 lightly injured, among them 11 MDA staff members. In other words, there are more victims of unfavorable and/or mistaken obstetric sonograms in Israel in one year, than all the terrorist victims and casualties of five years of active Arab terror! It turns out that the doctors are a lot more dangerous than the Fatah and the Hamas combined! Who would believe it?!?

Medical institutions have praised the sonogram as a harmless device. Studies show otherwise: After discovering that ultrasounds cause bleeding and cell mutation in laboratory animals, New Scientist magazine was quoted by Mercola in saying, "It would certainly seem prudent to avoid all routine absolutely unnecessary ultrasound scans for fetal observation. There appears to be more than enough evidence to warrant this recommendation. Pregnancy complications are another issue and one would have to weigh all the factors individually when attempting to determine the benefit/risk ratio."

Having investigated the concrete relationship between a series of dangers in ultrasound sonogramming, Dr. Joseph Mercola, renowned author of the Total Health Program writes, "It sure seems that the time for routine ultrasound examinations has come and gone." The Melitzer Rebbe agrees wholeheartedly.

Oftentimes, the mother's stress and anxiety that results from a doctor's misread sonogram damages the fetus. Stress and anxiety wreak havoc on the unborn.

This sonogram shows little Nissim S. from Jerusalem, who today is 18 months old. The doctors told Nissim's mom that she must abort, because Nissim only has half a left leg. Mrs. S. was beside herself with grief, and called Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef shlit"a. Rabbi Ovadiah gave her a promise that the baby would be born healthy, with G-d's help. And so he was! In the sonogram, you see little 13-week-old Nissim giving his mother a kick with his extended right foot. The doctor drew the hasty conclusion that the left leg was deficient and deformed.

If your doctor wants you to have a sonogram, first ask him why, and then call a competent rabbi. If the rabbi gives you the OK, then go ahead. If not, tell the doctor to have a nice day, but forego the sonogram. If a mother is healthy and happy, then she doesn't need needless probing. Sonograms add nothing to the health of your unborn child.

In all fairness, sonograms do have an important function. They help save abortions. Indeed, when women who are considering abortion see a sonogram, and the indisputable scientific evidence of live action within the womb, Shari Richard, a pioneer in helping Pregnancy Centers with sonograms says, "Sixty percent of her patients choose not to have an abortion." (Focus On The Family, January 2003, A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words).

In short, if a woman wants her baby, keep her away from sonograms. If she doesn't want her baby, send her to someone like Shari Richard for a songram.

Do babies enjoy sonograms? New Scientist magazine writes, "Ultrasound examinations during pregnancy expose the fetus to a sound as loud as that made by a subway train coming into a station." Don't expect your unborn to thank you for the "pleasure" of an ultrasound. For him or her, it's like appearing on the selection line in front of Dr. Mengele. Let's put a stop to the indiscriminate and erroneous slaughter of the innocent unborn.

Painless Self-Healing: Part 2, Refa'enu

Our daily liturgy contains a special prayer for health and healing that we say three times a day in the Shmona Esrei prayer. This particular blessing is named after its initial word Refa'enu, which means "heal us". The following is a translation of the blessing:

Heal us, Hashem, and we shall be healed, save us and we shall be saved, for You are our glory, and send a complete cure for all of our ills, [here you can insert all your private health requests, both for yourself and for others] for You are our Lord King faithful and merciful physician. Blessed are you, Hashem, physician of His people Israel's afflicted.

Rav Eliezer Burland shlit'a laughs cynically when he sees people racing through their prayers to go stand in line in some clinic or outpatient center waiting to see a doctor who is neither faithful, merciful, nor capable of curing. Rav Burland says, "If you spend two minutes saying 'Refa'enu' with intent and composure, then you'll save hours standing in line in Kupat Holim (public clinics - LB) and in doctor's offices."

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches that a person's main efforts in overcoming an affliction should focus on prayer. Refa'enu is not only a blessing for the sick; it's a blessing for the healthy that want to stay that way. The next time you pray, say Refa'enu slowly, word by word, with composure and concerted intent.

The keys of life and death are in Hashem's hands only. Since Hashem is the physician of all flesh and Hashem cures sicknesses, one is much better advised to turn to Hashem rather than turning to pitifully futile human beings, especially those who so lackadaisically fill your body with ultimately detrimental substances. Just a few weeks ago here in Israel, twelve doctors from a major Israeli hospital were nabbed for experimenting on elderly patients. Four Israelis died last week from flu shots. Doctors and medicine are dangerous.

Prayer achieves anything. Refa'enu in itself is enough to keep us healthy. If we really had emuna, we'd turn to Hashem and to Hashem only in earnest prayer, saying each word deliberately and with deep intent. Isn't your health worth an extra 2 minutes of prayer three times a day?

Some people ask why we close the above blessing with, "Blessed are you, Hashem, physician of His people Israel's afflicted." Is Hashem only the physician of Israel's afflicted? What about the other nations? Rav Shalom Arush shlit'a answered this probing question and explained that since Israel relies on prayer and emuna, then Hashem personally cures them in a supernatural manner, for if Israel relies on the supernatural (prayer and emuna), Hashem gives them back measure for measure and cures them miraculously beyond the limits of nature. But, as the other nations (and many Jews, unfortunately) rely on natural means with little or no belief in the supernatural powers of prayer and emuna, Hashem lets them fall into the hands of the doctors and "natural" cures.

By virtue of prayer and emuna, Hashem becomes one's personal physician. Isn't that worth reinforcing our emuna and our praying? You bet it is!

Sharon from LA asks: Granted that Hashem is the physician of all flesh, but why does he make people sick?

Great question! You'll find the answer in Chapter Three of "The Garden of Emuna".

Painless Self-Healing: Part 1, Asher Yatzar

A few weeks ago, I delivered a pep-talk to a group of police officers. When I arrived at the headquarters building, my host - an extremely cordial veteran detective with literally no religious background - greeted me and asked me if I needed anything before I begin my talk. I asked him to show me where the bathroom was.

After the bathroom, I washed my hands three times consecutively with a cup and said slowly with intent the "Asher Yatzar" blessing that one says after visiting the toilet. My host looked at me wide-eyed, as if I'd suddenly sprouted peacock feathers. "Rabbi," he gasped, "you guys even make a blessing after relieving yourselves?"

I smiled and nodded in the affirmative, and asked the detective if he'd ever had constipation or diarrhea. He grimaced and said yes, telling me a story of how his whole platoon in the army once contracted salmonella food poisoning during a training maneuver rendering him utterly out of capacity for a week with his intestines totally askew.

"What would you have given to have normal bowel movements back then, instead of the Intifada in your guts?" I asked.

"A million bucks!" the detective answered.

"You're right," I responded. "I don't have a million bucks, so I bless Hashem and thank Him every time my personal plumbing does its job!"

*******

Our sages teach us that by saying Asher Yatzar blessing after visiting the toilet, one is assured of good health. Earlier today, Rav Shalom Arush shlit'a explained to me why: We praise Hashem at the end of the blessing and call Him, "The physician of all flesh who acts wondrously." Everytime we relieve ourselves, Hashem does a myriad of miracles in maintaining the body's health, casting away dangerous bacteria, microorganisms, and dead body cells in the bodily waste. Even more wondrous is that this heavy maintenance is done in a way that's extremely gratifying to the body.

Taking a few moments to say Asher Yatzar after visiting the toilet is liable to save you hours in down-time, sick-time, doctor visits, and even hospital visits. You'll also save a mint on medical expenses. Better than anything, you'll obtain what no health insurance plan can offer - a guarantee of good health.

As a service to Beams readers that don't yet say the Asher Yatzar blessing on a regular basis, here is the text in English translation and in English transliteration. There's no time to start like the present.

Asher Yatzar

Blessed are You, HaShem, Our God, King of the universe, Who created the human with wisdom and created within him many openings and many cavities, exposed and known before Your Throne of Glory, that if one of them were to be ruptured or one one of them were to be blocked it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You for even one hour. Blessed are You, HaShem, The physician of all flesh who acts wondrously.

Baruch atah Adonoi, Elohainu, melech ha'olam, Asher yatzar et ha'adam b'chochmah, u'vara vo n'kavim n'kavim, chalulim chalulim, galui v'yadua lifnai chisei chvodecha, she'im yipatei'ach echad maihem o yisataim echad maihem, ee efshar l'hitkayeim v'la'amod l'fanecha afilu sha'ah achat. Baruch atah Adonoi, rofeh chol basar u'mafli la'asot.

May Hashem grant you and yours wonderful health always, amen.

The LazerBeams Program for beating arthritis

Arthritis sufferers - with Hashem's everloving grace, here's great news: You can beat the rap of arthritis without doctors, without pills, and with virtually no added expense.

Here's the scoop: Since a healthy soul needs a healthy body, I always incorporate recommendations for proper diet and exercise in my spiritual and emotional counseling. During the past six months, I've been in contact with three different people (24 year-old male, 58 yr. old female, 62 yr. old male), who had been suffering from severe depression on one hand, and arthritis on the other. All three have made remarkable progress. Milton (62, from Melbourne) writes:

I would never have believed it! At first (please excuse me), I thought you were crazy, rabbi. But, when you second-guessed everything I was eating, I thought "my, this man knows something." Fortunately, I no longer need steroids, and my situation is not autoimmune like the doctors said. It's a crime if you don't share your painless plan with the whole world. I'm grateful to your Outreach Program, to you, and to Hashem. May you be blessed in every single way. With sincere thanks, Milton M.

With Hashem's help, you're going to be smiling too. Here's my plan - please follow the entire scheme, for it incorporates the mutual effort of body and soul:

1. From this moment on, no diet beverages or artificial sweeteners of any kind - they are direct causes of joint pain and degeneration.

2. Drastically lower your intake of salt and white sugar - they bleed the body of calcium.

3. Increase your calcium intake. Alfalfa sprouts, sardines, organic tehina, and almonds are especially high in calcium.

4. Raise your body's pH by eating less acidic foods. Alcohol and fried foods should be eliminated from your diet. Eat more vegetables. Junk food is totally taboo.

5. Get as much Omega3 as possible; fish and flaxseed (ground fresh, 2 teaspoons a day, added to yogurt or branflakes) are perfect for this.

6. Move over from white sugar and flour to whole wheat grains/breads and natural cane sugar.

7. Up your natural vitamin E intake - lettuce and wheat germ (2 teaspoons a day, added to yogurt or branflakes)will do the job. Unroasted sunflower seeds are also a terrific source of Vitamin E.

8. Do 5-10 minutes of light stretching and flexing exercises when you wake up and before you go to bed.

9. Walk for at least 30 9Preferably 60) minutes a day, while asking Hashem to cure you and to help you correct your soul.

10. Wash your hands 3 times consecutively as soon as you wake up in the morning.

11. Be careful to make a proper blessing before and after eating.

12. Give a coin to charity every day, then say Psalm 91. For those who seek a faster recovery, say Psalms 16, 32, 41, 42, 59, 77, 90, 105, 137, 150 (the "Tikkun Klali").

If you follow the above advice to the letter, you'll also trim out and feel younger. Go for it, it works!

The Expanding Succoth Waistline

My good buddy Yankel'e "Dry Bones" Kirschen, the creator of Emuna Outreach's mascot little Natty Emuna , really hits home. The perenniel post-holiday problem of many Jewish people is the added calories, pounds, flab, and cholesterol of a week of eating and rejoicing in the Succa. As the Beams is committed to the health of body, mind, and soul, we've composed a few guidelines to combat the expanding Succoth waistline.

Beware of the cakes: Many people want to make a blessing on the Succa every time they enter it. But, one really shouldn't make a blessing unless he eats something. For that reason, many folks eat cake ("mezonos", at a minimum amount of a little over and ounce) so they can say the "Leshev B'Succa" blessing, the blessing to sit in the Succa. If a person eats 2 ounces of cake 3 times a day, that adds another 840 calories to his daily intake. The Melitzer Rebbe shlit'a says that one should make a "Leshev B'Succa" blessing only when eating a proper meal that includes washing your hands and breaking bread. So, don't eat cake for the purpose of making a blessing to sit in the Succa. If a person eats 3 average-sized portions of cake a day for the 9 (outside of Israel, 8 in Israel) days of the Succoth/Simchat Torah holiday, he'll gain more than two pounds. We suggest eating sliced fresh carrots or sliced green apples instead of the cake.

Beware of the liquor: Many people make a "Lechayim" every time they visit the Succa of a friend and relative. In Israel, quite a few people that barely touch alcoholic beverages all year long keep them on hand to serve guests, and end up toasting glass-per-glass with the guest. A one-ounce shot of vodka or 86-proof Whiskey is 70 calories, while an ounce of a 72-proof liqueur such as Kahlua or Banana Liqueur is a hefty 117 calories. 3 "Lechayims" a day is enough to pick up another half pound during the week of the holiday. Adding that to the cakes (see above), you've already gained 2.5 pounds during Succoth. Putting the weight on is so much easier than taking it off.

Beware of sweet beverages: Succoth is a time when parents allow the Pepsi and the Coke to flow frely all week long. Now hear this - an 8-ounce glass of Coke Classic is a whopping 97 calories, just as caloric as the equivalent amount of beer or of a slice and a half of bread. A person that drinks 6 glasses of cola a day will gain almost a pound on Succoth, please wreck his teeth in the process. We suggest that you reach for the mineral water, sparkling water, or herb tea instead, for they have zero caloric value.

Beware of snacks: People like to munch in the Succa. We all know that you can't eat one Frito or potato chip - therefore, those plastic bags empty fast. One ounce of fritos, potato chips, or our Bamba and Bisli add another 160 calories to your calorie-aglore score. If a person drinks two glasses of cola and consumes two ounces of snack foods a day, he'll gain over a pound during Succoth. Again, fresh carrot and cucumber sticks are a virtually non-cloric and healthy replacement for the junky snack foods.

So, with the cakes, the l'chayims, the cokes and the snacks alone - without the heavy meals that include kugel and fat meats, you've already gained close to 5 pounds. And, if you drink diet beverages and use artificial sweeteners, you might not gain the weight but you'll be likely to suffer from headaches and anxiety.

True, tradition is important; that is, as long as it doesn't ruin your health. Here at the Brody homestead, whole-grained rice, buckwheat groats and quinoa have replaced fried farfel and oil-dripping kugel. We don't fry, but boil and bake. We eat loads of veggies and fresh fruit, and drink a great brand of Golan-Heights mineral water. Fish and lean poultry have replaced the beef and veal. Dessert is homemade applesauce, fresh cantelope cubes, or an almond-stuffed fresh date. Our bread is home-baked and whole-grain. We want to control what enters our bodies; the manufacturers care about making money, not about our health. That's why we don't buy their products. Our bodies weren't designed to digest the myriad of chemical additives and preservatives that they force-feed us.

The Rambam gives an important reminder - don't eat until you're full. The stomach resembles a washing machine - if you overload it, it can't do the laundry. By the same token, an overloaded stomach can't digest, resulting in indigestion, another common Succoth ailment.

A great way to combat the the expanding Succoth waistline is to walk for an hour a day. Better yet, while you're walking, talk to Hashem in personal prayer. That way, your body gets its exercise and your soul gets its nourishment, that is none other than connecting with Hashem. What could be better? Emuna Outreach and the Beams wish you a happy and healthy Succoth with no indigestion and no expanding waistline, amen.

Swine Flu mentioned in the Gemara

Swine Flu is clearly mentioned in the Gemara, tractate Taanit 21a: Rav Yehuda was told about a plague among swine. He decreed a fast, something that is done in times of danger, even though the Jews didn't seem affected, certainly not by financial loss and not by a threat to their health. The Gemara asks if Rav Yehuda's rationale is that a plague on one type of livestock can spread to other types of livestock. The Gemara concludes that Rav Yehuda's fear was that the digestive tract of a pig resembles the digestive tract of a human, indicating that a health threat to the former is a health threat to the latter. The Tosefot commentary is somewhat different, explaining that Rav Yehuda was worried that the plague would spread from the swine to non-Jews, and then from the non-Jews to the Jew.

Clearly, one who neither eats swine nor acts like swine need worry about Swine Flu.

A Beam Blessing to Avi Y. for contributing to this post

Preventive measures for Swine Fever

Our good friend Janice A. in Colorado is doing a wonderful public service by reminding people the best preventive measure to take for Swine Fever:

"If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." Exodus 15:26

Mitzvot and Body Health

Hello Rabbi,

Does the performance or violation of the mitzvot affect the body? More specifically, I have a pain in my right leg that no doctor has been able to cure? Is there something spiritual I may have done wrong or a correction to make? Thank you! Wim B., Amsterdam

Dear Wim,

A 16th century CE scholar from Tzfat, Rabbi Elazar Azikari (who composed "Yedid Nefesh" and was a colleague of the famed father of Kabbala Rabbi Yitzchak Luria) wrote a monumental book called "Sefer Hacharedim", or The Book of the (G-d) Fearing. In this book, he takes each part of the body and lists the corresponding mitzva. There are 613 mitzvas that correspond to the 613 parts of the body. The fulfillment of a mitzva adds to the spiritual vitality of the corresponding body part, and the spiritual vitality strongly influences the physical health of that particular body part.

For example, tefillin affects the left arm and the front part of the head. Belief in G-d affects the heart. Eye problems can often be traced to stinginess (refusal to give charity) or to looking at forbidden things. It's quite noteworthy that cervical cancer is almost unheard of among woman who practice family purity. The list is long and elaborate.

The famed Shatzer Rov of London o.b.m, the grandfather of the Melitzer Rebbe of Ashdod, would go to the doctor when he was sick and simply request a diagnosis. Then, he would go home and improve his practice of the mitzva that corresponds to his sick part of the body in order to cure himself.

I often use the Sefer Charedim in helping others. I've seen it do things that the doctors can't do. All a person needs is faith. Physical sicknesses are rooted in spiritual causes, since the spirit is the life force. Therefore, many physical ailments can be cured by Teshuva, that is, correcting a mitzva that in turn healthfully influences a certain part of the body. That's it while standing on one foot.

As far as the pain in your right leg, ask Hashem in your daily hitbodedut sessions to enlighten you as to what has brought on the pain and to help you to make teshuva for the root cause. I'd also suggest that you check if you haven't insulted your father or fail to honor him in any way.

Stay healthy, Wim. Warm regards to all our friends in Holland. Blessings always, Lazer