"I'm Fine the Way I Am, Don't Change Me!" 5 Points for Thought

"Nature" Within the Body

Beyond its remarkable nourishment, breast milk also astonishingly protects the newborn from unforeseen dangers.

How?

Outside the womb, bacteria are everywhere, invisible and potentially lethal. A newborn's skin is under constant attack. In and outside the human body, there are bacteria ten times more numerous than body cells. The infant's immune system is not yet developed, leaving it unarmed against infections.

What fate befalls a newborn? Without a sufficiently developed immune system, the infant could die!

Miraculously, the infant's mother fights for the newborn. How? Through her milk...

Receptors in the mother's body gather vital information about the infant's physiological needs through the saliva of the nursing baby. Accordingly, the mother's body "produces" the milk composition required for the infant.

The close contact allows the mother to detect the bacteria attacking the infant, and in response, her immune system produces antibodies to those bacteria. She then passes these antibodies back to the infant through her milk.

In this way, the mother protects her infant until its immune system develops!

Friends, how is there such perfect synchronization between two distinct systems? How does a woman’s body know to produce the proper nourishment for the infant without the infant being able to articulate its needs? Isn't this fact alone enough to understand that everything was created by a single Designer?

The Lightning Rod

Who isn’t familiar with the impressive phenomenon of lightning?! A flash of light suddenly illuminating the sky with a zigzag trail? This flash can set trees ablaze and occasionally cause harm to living beings.

In 1749, Benjamin Franklin invented a special device called a "lightning rod" to prevent lightning damage to buildings, animals, humans, and the like. He identified that lightning tends to strike the highest metal point in the vicinity (as metal offers a low-resistance path, so lightning "prefers" it). From this, he deduced that placing an iron rod above a building would allow the lightning to discharge its electrical charge without causing harm.

Metal conducts electricity well and efficiently, with low resistance to electron flow. Hence, attaching a metal rod to the building's roof and grounding it with a good conductor means the building would be spared, thanks to the lightning rod.

(Photo: shutterstock)

This device is an iron rod, typically mounted on a roof and connected to the ground via grounding (meaning connected to the earth, as "ark" in Aramaic is earth, ground). Thus, it "attracts" the lightning that might strike the house and channels the charge into the ground, preventing damage to the building itself and its occupants.

Wait, wasn’t the lightning rod known before being invented about 250 years ago?

Notice now: In the Tosefta, Shabbat 7, 10, it is written: "The one covering chicks with a sieve and placing metal (iron) between the chicks, it is considered the path of the Amorite. If due to thunder or lightning, it is permitted."

The Tosefta, written about 2,600 years ago, states that on Shabbat, it is permitted to place iron to protect chicks from thunder and lightning. Even then, they knew that iron was useful in safeguarding against lightning and thunder!

Thus we see Benjamin Franklin wasn't the first to invent the lightning rod, as this is mentioned in the Talmud thousands of years before his birth. How did our Sages know this without the advanced scientific tools available today?

Blood Flow in Our Body

Everyone visiting a health clinic might have witnessed a scenario that seemed somewhat odd: a nurse wraps a sleeve around a patient's arm. This test is known as a "blood pressure test." Let me explain:

Blood in our body flows from the heart to various organs. During its circulation, the blood exerts pressure on the arterial walls, the blood vessels carrying blood from the heart to the organs. Blood pressure results from the heart's muscle contractions.

When the heart beats, it contracts and pushes blood through the arteries to other body parts. This force creates pressure on the arteries. Since the heart beats at regular intervals, the pressure is divided into two: during the beat (systolic) and during rest (diastolic). Thus, a blood pressure reading shows two numbers. Normal blood pressure is 120/80, meaning 120 during a beat and 80 during rest.

A condition where this pressure is higher than usual is called "high blood pressure" or "hypertension." Prolonged increased pressure in blood vessels can cause heart attacks, heart muscle damage, strokes, kidney damage, and eye damage.

(Photo: shutterstock)

Conversely, low blood pressure is due to reduced blood flow through arteries to body organs. When blood flow decreases, vital organs like the brain, heart, and kidneys don't receive enough oxygen, affecting their function.

So, how does the body "know" how to maintain normal blood pressure?

The body has sensors within blood vessels that can decipher blood pressure and send nerve signals to the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels to adjust and regulate blood pressure: causing the heart to release more or less blood, the arteries to expand or contract, and kidneys to produce more or less urine, drawing fluids from the blood. The combination of these mechanisms and other body processes help maintain a stable and normal blood pressure level.

The body has mechanisms designed to maintain normal blood pressure even during rapid posture changes. For example, when standing, blood naturally pulls downward with gravity and pools in the legs. Compensation mechanisms constrict blood vessels when a person moves from lying or sitting to standing to prevent a drop in blood pressure. Under normal circumstances, blood flow to the brain and other organs remains adequate, even while standing.

Undoubtedly, humans were created with wisdom and understanding, with amazing coordinated and integrated systems, every organ in its right place. Every substance in precise doses, every action at the right timing...

A Human Production Line

Observing the animal world, one discovers that the appearance or physical structure (not the size or color) of animals appears identical – the same "production line" – lions are identical, snakes are identical, cats are identical – not only in appearance but also in behavior: each animal behaves according to its species' characteristics. All birds fly, all cats cover their waste, and so on.

Thus, animals of the same species have the same face, character, and behavior. Therefore, based on this rationale, one might expect that human appearances would be identical, just as there is a "production line" observed in animals.

But no, there are around 7 billion humans in the world, and not a single person has an identical face to another. None! Though we've become accustomed, it's an incredible wonder. Think about it: despite a limited combination of features (nose length, eye shape and distance, eyebrow shape and thickness, etc.), we all appear different!

Moreover, one might expect that a pair of parents with identical genetic makeup would have children who look alike, just like animals, right? Yet even identical twins differ in character and fingerprints, and their mother always knows how to distinguish between them.

(Photo: shutterstock)

Each person is unique: in their appearance, opinions, character... It's astonishing to see that despite the general human similarity, nevertheless, every individual is so different and unique, truly a world of their own. Those who truly observe are filled with tremendous wonder: billions of people – and each is so different!

It's an incredible wonder! There is an architect, painter, and sculptor whose power and wisdom are beyond our understanding! Who is it that can create so astonishingly, accurately, and distinctively different faces for every one of billions of humans?

"I'm Good as I Am. Don't Change Me"

I once spoke with a secular friend about the meaning of observing Shabbat and its importance, and he said to me firmly:

"I'm good as I am. Don't try to change me."

Imagine a child who wants to play all day, has no desire to go to school, doesn’t want to learn to read and write, and enjoys eating chips and chocolate instead of a proper lunch. What would his parents do about it?

Any sensible parent would not agree and would place the child within rules and boundaries for his own good, so he grows up to be educated, acquire good traits, and succeed in his path. All of this – despite the child's crying and pleas, and despite the child's perception that he is fine as he is and that his parents are being cruel to him!

We, too, are children, children of the Creator. We don't fully understand the importance of Torah's commandments and sometimes think they aren't good for us and that we'd rather behave differently. But the Torah teaches us that all the commandments are for our benefit, allowing us to attain true life.

We're currently still "children," so we do not understand this, but as we grow, with Hashem's help, we'll be able to see how it was all for our own good. A person might think traveling on Shabbat is fun for them, but it's like a child playing with matches and lighting a fire indoors. Even if it seems this way to us, it’s because we are accustomed to the matter, not because it’s genuinely good. A person who uses drugs might believe it brings them to the top of the world, but in reality, they fall to the lowest of lows. Similarly, anything contrary to the Torah leads us to the bottom, while the Torah’s commandments lead us to our true purpose.

Only the Creator who created the world and established all its laws knows which path we ought to walk to reach the purpose. Our world is one of concealment, deception, and misleading desires. True reality and truth are only reachable by following the path paved for us by the Creator. Therefore, even if it seems that the Torah imposes limitations in conflict with our desires, we can be confident it's surely for the best. The Torah wants us to live a true and meaningful life, fulfilling our potential, which is why it writes “and you shall live by them” (Leviticus 18:5).