The Painful Connection Between Stress and Cancer, and How Can We Stay Calm Despite the Difficulties?

One of the mental issues known in this era, the period of "Ikveta deMeshicha" (the footsteps of the Messiah), which is not unlikely to have also existed in previous generations to some degree or another, is the overwhelming pressure on the mind resulting from the constant accumulation of various concerns, be it regarding health, livelihood, child education, or other matters.

Stress is the source of many diseases, including the dreadful illness. This matter is already mentioned in the words of Rabbi Meir Aldobi of blessed memory, the grandson of the Rosh, who explains how cancer is a result of melancholy. His words in his book 'Paths of Faith' (the fourth path, the third path) are as follows: "Cancer is called so because the animal known as a crab has many legs and this emergence has around it tendons full of mixtures that give birth to it, and they are the remnants of melancholy. If it spreads excessively, it cannot be cured, and therefore it is fitting to hasten its treatment when it begins, so that it can be retained and not spread. And if a grouping is formed, it is very bad and may begin as small as a pea or an elephant and grow until it becomes the size of a water melon and sometimes even larger. At times it spreads to the throat and affects the place of breathing and swallowing, often leading to suffocation".

The Chatam Sofer also explains on the verse: "And I will remove illness from among you," that "there are 83 diseases dependent on bile, which is the root and source of anger and strictness." The Chatam Sofer explains that therefore it is written at the beginning of the verse "And bless your bread and your water" - the intention is that a person will be blessed "with peace of mind and patience, humility, and submissiveness which are likened to water that descends to a low place gently, and through this – "And I will remove illness from among you" - these 83 remaining maladies that are dependent on the bile from where the root of anger and wrath comes".

Even smaller physical issues are directly related to stress. There is research proving that as a result of stress, a muscle can become tense in the body, and worse – a herniated disc. The disease of diabetes is also directly linked to mental stress and worsens with stress.

Stress is humanity's number one enemy. There is hardly a more severe factor for mortality than mental stress, which causes an unimaginable number of heart attacks, cardiac arrests, and strokes among young people (under age 40), and as mentioned enlarges the circle of those joining the array of diseases, with cancer being the most serious among them.

It is known to both professionals in the field and those suffering from stress that there are other problems related to stress, including breathing and digestion issues, constipation (mainly occurs to people who lack the ability to express themselves and their feelings and thus release stress), migraines (characterized by the feeling of physical pressure in one part of the head, caused as mentioned by prolonged mental stress), problems of obesity and irrational eating (caused by the body's need to compensate for its mental deficiencies, resulting incorrectly in an intense need for excessive eating and drinking), and many other strange and various problems.

It should also be known that when a person is stressed, they may sometimes resent divine conduct, and this harm surpasses all; for when a person resents Hashem, it causes a distance between them and Hashem, thereby halting all divine influence. When you seek to receive a gift from the king, you must draw near to him and not distance yourself. Since nearness to Hashem is not physical but spiritual, there is no greater disconnection from divine influence than resentment against Hashem.

Therefore, it is understood that one of the important ways to mental health in general and specifically divine mental health, is tranquility of the mind, which depends on a series of preliminary mental actions known in popular language as "relaxation".

In the upcoming series of articles, we will focus on genuine positive relaxation according to the teachings of Kabbalah and the Baal Shem Tov, relaxation whose aim and final intent is the spreading of Torah light throughout all the powers of the soul, and perfect service to Hashem without the barriers of the evil inclination that conceal the good and perfection in the proximity to Hashem for it is good.

Rabbi Yehuda Weingarten is the chairman of the Foundation of Hasidism and the "Fundamentals of Education" organization. Subscribe to articles on various topics Y3268992@gmail.com