One year ago, The Healthy Jew was born as an email newsletter with 3 subscribers: me, my wife, and my other email.
Thank you to the thousands of Healthy Jews who have since joined the journey to purposeful wellness by subscribing to The Healthy Jew, joining a Foraging Walk in Natural Israel, participating in a Healthy Jew course, or meeting for Healthy Jew Personal coaching.
I’m particularly grateful to the many special Healthy Jews who
forwarded and posted Healthy Jew content
shared much-needed solicited advice about publishing, business, and marketing
supported my work with paid subscriptions
invited me to teach Healthy Jew at Yeshivas Lev Hatorah
offered encouragement and hope when it all seemed to be going nowhere (that is the first ~7 months).
You know who you are, and please keep it coming!
In Year Two, I’m giving you a structured program to becoming a Healthy Jew.
The twice-weekly newsletters will continue to begin our conversation, and we’ll continue with monthly online workshops, Q&A posts, and Healthy Jew Personal coaching, all integrated in one Healthy Jew experience.
Today I’ll share with you what to expect. Next week we’ll dive deeper into how the Healthy Jew community can change your life. The week after (on January 16) we’ll meet for our first workshop, which will be free for all subscribers. (see flyer below).
The Problem:
Lots of great people
are often tired, stressed, or out sick.
suffer from common chronic conditions.
were warned that their lab work will earn them a heart attack.
want to eat healthy and exercise regularly, but can’t manage to stick with it.
Why? Because living life can stop us from living well.
“I’m too busy to go for a run, certainly to sit there cutting salad.”
“My family needs me: how can I stop to relax while the kids wait to be fed, bathed, and clothed?”
“The little free time I have must go to Torah study, prayer, and helping others.”
But when we’re worn out, we have much less to offer God and others.
There is a Solution:
Become a Healthy Jew.
Choose wellness - not only to make a good life possible, but because caring for yourself is where good choices begin.
You’ll become a whole person: as the Rambam (Maimonides) taught, we enter humankind when our minds guide our actions toward physical and emotional health.
You’ll become a better Jew: caring for your health, the Rambam taught, is "from the ways of God" that the Torah instructs to emulate – not merely to understand intellectually.
You’ll enjoy the process, because healthy Jewish living means balance and - not perfection, asceticism, or amazing athletic feats.
You’ll come to cherish Natural Israel, the healthy body of the Jewish people.
Whatever your current state of health, you can become a Healthy Jew by putting yourself first. God thinks you’re worth it.
Here’s How it Works
1. The Healthy Jew Newsletters
I send two weekly email newsletters to almost a thousand subscribers all over the world.
Healthy Jewish shows you how and why to:
Eat Well: what, when, and how much to eat and drink. Life coming in.
Move Well: walking, hiking, running, and stretching. Life going out.
Be Well: embrace life’s stresses and challenges. Let go, with purpose.
live Healthy Jewish, because life’s spiritual quests begin with wellness.
Natural Israel invites you to:
Forage Israel: eat the plants whose ancestors were eaten by your ancestors - right here in this field or ancient site.
Walk Israel: stories, insights, pictures, and videos that you won’t find anywhere else.
Appreciate Healthy Israel, the body of the Jewish nation. Care for your nation’s body as you do for your own.
Both newsletters enter your inbox at 7:00 AM (Israel time): Natural Israel on Sunday, Healthy Jewish on Wednesday. (Interested only in one newsletter? Manage your subscription here.)
Also check out the archive! The website has over 80 easily navigatible posts.
2. Healthy Jew Community
Newsletters are great, but it’s hard to become a Healthy Jew from words and pictures alone.
Join our community to
participate in monthly Healthy Jew Workshops (held on Tuesday nights on Zoom), with the video recording and PDF presentation delivered in the next morning’s Healthy Jew newsletter.
Here are some of the topics you’ll learn about:
Israel Needs Healthy Jews: Finding Wellness During Wartime (January 16, 2024)
What is Real Food and Where You Can Find It
The Key to Wellness: Moving From Here to There
Is Meditation Jewish?
How Natural Israel Can Help You Find Health
ask me anything about Healthy Jewish living in monthly Healthy Jew Q&A posts. [Q&A beginning in February 2024]
support my work helping you and others to live healthy and Jewish. Proactively advocate for wellness: don't wait for illness!
How much does it cost? There’s a special sale on now for $48 for the first year (or $7 a month). But no Healthy Jew will be left behind: if you need a discount, contact me at scnaiman@healthyjew.org and we’ll work it out.
3. Healthy Jew Personal
Every Healthy Jew has their own story, personality, challenges, health conditions, and bloodwork. I’m a certified health coach, which means I can:
guide you how to best invest in eating well, moving well, and being well.
answer many of your questions about health, wellness, and Judaism.
advise you how healthy choices can help live with - and sometimes even heal - many chronic conditions.
suggest herbs and supplements (when appropriate, not just for fun!).
How much does it cost? $250 a year. After we meet, you’ll receive a full personalized healthy lifestyle plan, including appropriate herbs and supplements. Learn here more about health coaching.
Subscribers are saying:
Shmuel offers a unique perspective to health-conscious people looking for more than the latest wellness influencers' fads, with plenty of nutrition and no politics. — Karen Armstrong, The Rotten Apple
Because our body is the kli kadosh [holy container] for the awesome task of living to serve Hashem [God], it’s easy to recognize that caring for our health is an important part of serving Hashem, as the Rambam writes. I’m grateful to Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman for teaching both the wisdom and practice of healthy living. — Rabbi Binyamin Jacobson, Rosh Kollel Ohr Lagolah, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel
Shmuel Chaim's posts on physical/mental wellness come from the Jewish point of view, and the naturalist's, and the forager's, and the certified wellness coach's... very rich content. —Miriam Kresh, Fantastical Fiction
Great publication! The palpable love for Eretz Yisrael [Israel] is inspiring, and the discussion of health in the context of Torah is superb. We need more of this! — Rabbi Shnayor Burton, Senior Editor at Artscroll Mesorah Publications (and author of Unapologetics)
Become Healthy Jewish