The Secret: Preventive Medicine

In the Jewish perspective, maintaining health is not just important and good for a pleasant and good quality of life, but it is a halachic obligation, like observing other laws of the Torah.

How is this done? Rambam set clear guidelines that can help us, even today, in maintaining our health. The genius of Rambam's idea is its simplicity: instead of waiting until we become ill and then going to a doctor for medicine or finding ourselves in situations that are hard to handle - we should learn in advance the rules that keep us healthy and prevent us from becoming ill.

What rules are we talking about? Rambam mentions in his writings rules pertaining to our bodies: proper nutrition, physical activity, sufficient sleep, and so on. Moreover, Rambam emphasizes the impact of our mental state on our physical health. In this section, we will address the different aspects that define a person's health.

A concrete example can be seen in the following story. An elderly Jewish man, 79 years old, healthy and strong, came to my clinic. A person who follows all dietary rules, engages in physical activity, and is happy in his soul. As part of his body care, he came for a diagnosis to know what things his body is sensitive to and how to take even better care of it.

He underwent an iris diagnosis (iridology) and I noticed he had sensitive kidneys, which could potentially develop stones, G-d forbid. The man took this to heart, received appropriate guidance, and, with Hashem's blessing, continued to be healthy. The situation continued until that sad day when he was on a hike with a group in the hills of Benjamin and suddenly fell from a height of 4 meters. Thankfully, because of his strong and healthy body, he remained uninjured, but his lungs were damaged by the fall from a great height. He was in intensive care and then underwent long rehabilitation, and since he was not at home, he was unable to eat the healthy diet suitable for him and, of course, stopped his sports activities. Half a year after the injury, he began feeling severe back pain, was rushed to the emergency room, and there they discovered he had kidney stones... The matter required hospital treatment.

This case illustrates how crucial and fundamental preventive medicine is in maintaining our health, even though it is not always convenient to give up foods we enjoy. In this section, we will try, with G-d's help, to learn about the topic and gain practical tools to implement a healthy lifestyle.

Eliyahu Shechter - Iridologist and Natural Medicine Practitioner