28 June 2020

"I Can't Breathe"

6 Tammuz 5780


Those protesting aggressive police restraints that have resulted in the unjustified deaths of many black men in America are carrying signs on which are written the final words these men were able to voice - "I can't breathe."  Their pleas for relief were ignored.

At the same time, you've got nations worldwide requiring, under force of law, the wearing of surgical masks in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.  The mask, especially in the summertime heat, makes it very difficult for many people to breathe.  

Not to mention the fact that the coronavirus attacks the lungs and that those who contract it suffer breathing difficulties as a result with many being put on oxygen and even ventilators.



Now,  there's another reason for Americans to have trouble breathing...
Saharan dust cloud cloaks U.S. Gulf Coast in choking haze

What's been called the most significant dust cloud in 50 years has now shrouded the U.S. Gulf Coast in a thick, dusty haze. The dust layer, which originated in the Sahara desert and drifted across the Atlantic, is forecast to continue moving north and east through the weekend, impacting areas from Texas and Florida all the way up to as far north as the Canadian border.

For most people, the dust will merely be a nuisance, but for many who have breathing issues the extra particulates in the atmosphere can cause complications. The timing couldn't be much worse, considering that a recent Harvard study shows that long-term exposure to fine particles of pollution in the air, much like dust, may be linked to higher rates of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19.

Currently the dust is thickest from Texas to Florida. [Reportedly the two states currently showing the greatest increase in COVID-19 infections.]
HOUSTON SKYLINE (MY HOMETOWN)
Clearly, the Master of the Universe is trying to tell us something. Of course, no one can survive if they can't breathe.  But did you ever think about why this is so?  Why did the Creator make it this way?  What does He want us to understand from this?  Here are some clues that I found which may help us reach a conclusion.
The Spiritual Side of Respiratory Problems

The Hebrew word for lung, “re’ah” is an anagram for “r’iyah,” (to see), ”aryeh,” (lion), and especially “yir’ah,” (awe) of God. The two levels of the lungs are yir’ah (awe), and simcha (joy). The spiritual rectification for respiratory problems is in the verses, ” Serve God with awe,” combined with “serve God with joy.” Fear of anything other than God is the opposite of proper respiratory function. A person suffering from respiratory problems should strengthen his faith in God, his pleasure in Torah and mitzvot, and his will to fulfill the mitzvot immediately, thus bringing pleasure to God, himself and the entire world.
Also...
...In addition to his material self,...man possesses a soul which is unique among all of God's creations. In describing the creation of Adam, the Torah says, "God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils a soul-breath of life (Nishmat Chaim). Man [thus] became a living creature (Nefesh Chaya)" (Genesis 2:7).

The Torah is teaching us that the human soul came directly from God's innermost Essence in the same way that a breath issues forth from a person's lungs and chest cavity. The rest of creation, on the other hand, was created with speech, which is a lower level, for just as sound waves are generated by a person but do not contain any air from the lungs, so the rest of creation emanates from God's Power but not from His Essence.

Three Parts

The soul consists of three parts which are called by the Hebrew names, nefesh, ruach and neshama. The word neshama is a cognate of nesheema, which means literally "breath." Ruach means "wind." Nefesh comes from the root nafash, meaning "rest," as in the verse, "On the seventh day, [God] ceased work and rested (nafash)." (Exodus 31:17).

God's exhaling a soul can be compared to a glassblower forming a vessel. The breath (neshama) first leaves his lips, travels as a wind (ruach) and finally comes to rest (nefesh) in the vessel. Of these three levels of the soul, neshama is therefore the highest and closes to God, while nefesh is that aspect of the soul residing in the body. Ruach stands between the two, binding man to his spiritual Source. It is for this reason that Divine Inspiration is called Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew.

The neshama is affected only by thought, the ruach by speech, and the nefesh by action. (Source)
From all this we can understand that mankind is losing its connection to the Creator and thereby bringing about its own demise. And we can see further the connection between the difficulty breathing and the sin of lashon hara.- that it is literally a matter of life and death.

We are in the final hour.  There is not much time left to make corrections.  The world is dying for each breathe even as I write this.  Strengthen your connection to your Creator through obedience to His Will and you will be able to take nice, deep, cleansing breaths and fill your lungs to their capacity.  And don't forget to thank Him for it!!

8 comments:

  1. BTW About those “black” deaths, the numbers prove a disproportionate death rate among WHITES by the police. The whole ‘death of blacks by police’ is a farce and cover for other nefarious evil deeds.

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  2. Neshama, black vs. white deaths at the hands of police is a different matter for discussion. My statement is factually correct. But, thanks for pointing that out.

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  3. The protest by the blacks started by those blacks who are sincere because they usually are being profiled moreso because they are black and usually fight against the policeman which is a big no-no with the police as the American public understands that, but it is a fact that most blacks are murdered (on almost a daily scale) by other blacks!
    Here is the truth; this is really being funded,infiltrated and instigated by ptb's, the globalists to foment chaos; it is a rebellion against the constitution and trying to force socialism (i.e,fascism, isms) upon the U.S. There is great support by the young radicals, all who were and are being indoctrinated in the school system and especially by the professors in the universities (many times the 60's hippies) to hate conservatism, religion, morals, etc. and promoting progressivism (really regressivism), i.e., socialism which, in turn, always turns to fascism and worse. The end of the story is, as our Sages foretold, this is the chaos at keitz hayamim and the fall of Edom; but the U.S. does have & had much chesed also, so it will give an opportunity to those in the non-Jewish world who understand to do teshuvah and eventually become bnai Noach. In the meantime, every Yehudi who can, as fast as possible, to make aliyah!

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    Replies
    1. The USA is not such a big medina shel chesed. This colossus instigates wars and revolution across the globe. How many dead and maimed result from uncle samkiels foreign policies?
      Re Jews, the usa is a graveyard of assimilation. Literally millions of jews were lost to assimilation in the usa.

      How is this chesed?

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  4. To Anon @8:25 pm: True what you say, but when you compare throughout the millenia, all that the Jews have suffered by the governments of all the countries we were thrown to, the US has been quite generous to the Jews. Because of the freedoms given by the U.S., the Jews fell prey to assimilation and that is also the fault of the Jew himself, who threw away the yoke of Torah and clung instead to the materialism, etc. of the galut. But there is definitely a great measure of kindness from the US population to the Jew, but, of course, within government itself throughout U.S. history, there were good apples and bad ones, but one must admit you cannot compare the treatment as a whole given to the Jews by the USA to even other western countries (remember the Shoa). It is the Jew himself who has disconnected from H'. The bottom line is the blame is on ourselves. There are many, B'H, wonderful Jews who have not disconnected and are Torah observant. The trouble is with human nature, the materialism and easy life has had a detrimental effect on our people, even the good ones. Now there is a great wakeup call for Jews to really, really think about coming home to EY; it is a shame that hard times are what makes many of our people remember their 'home', their G-D, their Torah!

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  5. Anon @ 7:52 pm: Of course, the assimilation was always the greatest danger posed by the U.S, but the ungodly reform movement was started in Europe, not the U.S. They just brought it here. We are talking of a non-Jewish nation that for about 240 years has not persecuted the Jewish people, as a people, where practically every other western country on earth has done. So for a nonJewish country, that's considered chesed!
    Now with the world in turmoil, who knows what's coming and that is why we must see this a wakeup call.

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  6. anon @ 2/7/20 3:00 AM

    You realize that even into the 50s and 60s, there were actual quotas on Jews in academia, social clubs, neighborhoods, civic organizations and more?
    For most of the history of the United States, Jews have been despised in public and polite society (and not so polite society). In the late 60's, Jews had to run for their lives as they were run out of the inner cities by the riots that took place. In earlier times, that would be called an expulsion. And that's what it was: expulsion. More recently, where was Dinkins during the crown heights riots? There are so many more examples.

    Meanwhile millions of our brothers and sisters were destroyed spiritually in America to become good "americans".

    This is a tragedy of Shoah proportions. Those millions of people for the most part are gone forever.

    And guess what? behind closed doors, the goy still hates us. Oh and how the hatred is building towards us. Most are asleep at the wheel. It won't continue, we need to wake up. Most won't I fear.

    We don't need this "medina shel chesed" of the goy that kills us spiritually. We don't need to justify this society that is destroying us because they don't kill us overtly.

    Perhaps we can say that when we remove the pursuit of seeking justification for our existence from the goy, we remove a part of the internal golus and experience a level of personal geulah.

    A Jew is like an angel on earth when he follows the mitzvot and exists in and of himself without any justification from the nations.

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