What Did an Anthropological Study Discover About a Tribe with Strange Laws? 5 Points to Consider

Following the Lost Tribe – "Midrach"

A history lesson: In the 13th century BCE, there rose a small tribe somewhere in the world, known as "Midrach." This tribe became the subject of research by leading anthropologists worldwide due to their unique beliefs and rituals. These researchers were amazed to discover an exotic tribe with strange and irrational customs, ruled by a king who enacted peculiar laws...

These researchers attempted to analyze the tribe's behavior and discovered a society with a very strange legal system. Here are the main points of the report:

Every man begins his day by wearing a royal robe and a crown on his head for a few minutes.

Every man wears a protective vest under his clothes daily.

In the healthcare system, daily invasive surgeries are performed without the need for months of waiting, without bleeding and without pain... In return, every person is required to write a personal letter to the king and thank him for this opportunity provided to the tribe members.

A married man who pays close attention to women other than his wife – this is a criminal offense. A man who causes his wife distress and makes her cry – criminal offense. If that weren't enough, every married man is obliged to sing a hymn to his wife in front of the whole family at least once a week! Additionally, he must buy his wife a gift at least three times a year.

Every family, even the poorest, is required to prepare a food basket for the needy tribe members at least once a year.

One week a year, all the tribe members must leave their homes and spend time with their families inside... a tent!

Three times a day, morning, noon, and evening, every man must leave all his engagements - work and family - and perform a kind of spiritual relaxation - meditation. During this time, he reads texts that speak of how much the king loves him and how special he is in the king's eyes.

Once a year, all members of the tribe – men, women, and children – take the tribe's book of laws, the unclear laws the king enacted for the tribe members – and simply dance with it, kiss it, and even thank the king for this legal system!

Are you shocked? A tribe with strange and irrational customs? This is the line to reveal the secret to you. Well, "Midrach" is not a tribe at all but a term I invented, as researchers do in certain studies in front of students, particularly in anthropology and sociology, to describe various aspects of social behavior of certain societies. In this case, I chose to depict the Haredi society, and the name "Midrach" is the reverse spelling of "Haredim".

Let's clarify: every man begins his day by wearing a royal robe – tallit, a crown on his head – tefillin, wears a protective vest daily – tzitzit; invasive surgeries, no need for waiting, no bleeding, no pain – a person going to the restroom. In return, every person must thank the king for the opportunity he provides the state's citizens – "Asher Yatzar" blessing; every married man sings to his wife at least once a week, a hymn before the whole family – "Eshet Chayil" psalm on Friday night, and buys his wife gifts at least three times a year – on the three pilgrimages – Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot; every family, even the poorest, is required to prepare a food basket at least once a year for needy families – on Purim – gifts to the needy; one week a year, all citizens must leave their homes and spend time with their families in a "tent" – Sukkot; three times a day each citizen performs a kind of spiritual relaxation – meditation – and reads a text about how much the king loves him – "Ahavat Olam Ahavtanu" – a prayer from the siddur; once a year all the state's citizens dance with the king's book of laws – Simchat Torah.

The research on the "Lost Tribe" aims to teach us a lesson for life: to consider the terrible negative power of prejudice and judgment on the Haredi society with various parameters that have nothing to do with reality and the essential truth. How awful it is to alienate someone different from you and live in a society of stereotypes..

May it be granted that we find only the good points in each member of the people of Israel, even if they are different from us and not part of "our group"...

A Tooth Mill

One day you visit the dentist. After an examination, the dentist tells you: "You probably eat a lot of sweets; you have decayed teeth that will fall soon. Therefore, you need extraction, implants, and crowns as soon as possible. It will cost you 100,000 shekels!

You are not worried, and reply to the dentist: "Don't worry doctor, my teeth will fall out and then they will grow back!".

How do you think the dentist would react? The dentist would surely think you are crazy, as teeth at your age do not regrow!

But really, if after a few days, your teeth do regrow, then everyone would be amazed and say "What a miracle!".

(Photo: shutterstock)

And I ask: why is teeth regrowth in adulthood a miracle, and yet when it happens at age 6, no one calls it a miracle?! But because we are used to it... We take things for granted! But the truth is our teeth are a grand wonder! Notice: teeth come out one after another with precise order: tooth beside tooth and not one on top of the other! Each tooth has its shape and purpose, and together they form a strong and unified structure that serves us daily: cutting teeth, which are (always) at the front of the mouth. Canines, whose job is to slice the food and tear it into smaller pieces. The canines are (always) on both sides of the cutting teeth. Molars – very flat and wide, their role is to grind the food into the smallest pieces so we can easily swallow it.

All teeth are the same color – white, and grow all to the same height. They are all covered in enamel – a thin outer layer that covers the tooth and protects it from decay.

Who drafted and engineered each tooth? Who arranged them in our mouths so flawlessly? Who coated each tooth with a substance that preserves it from decay? How does each tooth "know" its position and its role? Who is the CEO of this perfect milling factory?

A Ride on the Carousel

Each of us has experienced spinning on the carousel at the neighborhood playground in childhood: spinning fast and not stopping.

Although as children we actually loved spinning, today, as adults, every spin makes us feel nauseous. One quick spin can make us dizzy. Several spins definitely disrupt balance and equilibrium.

(Photo: shutterstock)

And what if I told you we are all on a kind of giant carousel spinning at 1,675 kilometers per hour?

What is it? The Earth!

The Earth spins at a speed of nearly 1700 km/h! And I ask: does anyone fly off? Does anyone feel dizzy? Headaches? How don't things fly from place to place? How do we feel stable and secure on the ground?

The answer is: just as a person on a vehicle moving at a constant pace and without jolts (like a train) gets used to it and doesn't feel he is in motion, we don't feel the Earth's movement because the Earth spins at a constant speed.

From a physical standpoint: when the Earth spins, different forces act upon us. The force throwing us outward during the Earth's rotation is called "centrifugal force." But unlike a carousel where we feel this force a lot, due to the intensity and speed of the carousel spins, on Earth it is felt much less, and we feel more the Earth's gravitational force.

In other words, the Earth's gravity, or gravitational force, is much stronger than its centrifugal force, and therefore we don't feel the Earth's rotation beneath our feet.

It's impossible not to admire the supreme wisdom that created all these conditions!

Hashem Loves Me!

We all receive signs, signals, and hints to awaken in response throughout our lives. The question is who among us chooses to ignore and who takes it to heart and wakes up... Remember :"For whom Hashem loves, He reproves, even as a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:12). The meaning of the verse: precisely those closer to the Creator are provided by Him with opportunities to create a constant connection with Him, by withholding something from them – what they need.

To what can this be compared? To a person seeing a group of children playing in the mud, and he says in his heart, how poorly raised these children are, and suddenly he discovers his son among them. He immediately approaches him and rebukes him and even strikes him once. And the son wonders and asks his father: aren't there many children here, so why do you strike only me? The father replies: precisely because you are my son, and I love you more than all, I'm striking you for your benefit and for your educational future, that you will do well all your days. I do not worry about the other children, but only about you.

All the suffering that befalls a person comes from the heavens, and they are not for nothing. Their purpose is to signal, to awaken the person so that he changes his bad ways, so that he returns in repentance from his bad actions, or to atone for his sins and cleanse him through small sufferings.

Our task is to be attentive to the signals sent to us from the heavens. Blessed is the person who earns to be one of the faithful and close servants of Hashem and knows that Hashem only seeks his good and that his lack is intended to be a reason for connection between him and his Creator.

How Environmental Conditions Lead to Physiological Change?

Supporters of the theory of evolution claim that environmental conditions required change. For instance: terrestrial creatures that leaped from tree to tree required the ability to glide. Due to the need to glide from tree to tree, the limbs developed and became wings with feathers.

So how did one flight feather form, and what caused it to start forming suddenly in the body of the terrestrial creature? Can "the need to fly" suddenly produce changes in the simplest skin cells and develop them randomly into a complex array of feathers to later serve as part of a mechanism for takoff, flight, and landing?

The theory of evolution does not know how to explain how it all started, and how suddenly one flight feather was created. There is no meaning to a theory that lacks a logical basis and has no explanation of how it all began...

The merit of these 5 points for thought is dedicated to the healing of Yael Bat Shalom Salem among all the needy of Israel.