What's Inside the Book?
A short overview of Land of Health.
In an earlier post, I shared with you about new book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness.
The following post is contains a short, focused overview of what you’ll learn about inside Land of Health. I’ll also include a sample of some of the book’s best full-color pictures.
Part One - Discover the Land of Health
The dynamic (and often troubled) relationship between the Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel is the central theme of the Torah. Why does a spiritual religion need a land with borders of dirt and water? Because the Jewish people are one human form: the Nation is our soul, and the Land is our body.
To understand this, we’ll learn from the Vilna Gaon how Israel contains the same 3 life-supporting cavities as every human body. But Israel isn’t just any human body: the Kuzari teaches that it’s the healthy body of the Jewish nation because it holds in balance all the world’s extremes – and health means balance.
Israel’s state of health is determined by rainfall – the flow of life from Heaven – which presents a model for living that’s relevant even in our age of age of desalination.
Israel is a physical land; everything that lives here dies. Therefore, it’s the perfect place for imperfect people, the land where Jews thrive in God’s world by wanting to become better people – and by wanting to live in God’s land. But because Moses’s spies didn’t want Israel, the Nation never fully united with the Land, which is the source of all our exiles and persecutions.
Our complete redemption will come when we sincerely yearn for the Land – cherishing and caring for it because here we know God on earth. In the meantime, tiny lights shine back on us from the future – the lights of Chanukah that celebrate our victory over the Greeks inside Israel.
The Land of Israel is divided into 12 portions for the Nation of Israel’s 12 tribes, because this number presents a specific area in which different ideas and personalities can work together. We aren’t all the same – but we’re on the same team.
The details of Israel’s annual plants’ lifecycle, together with the pottery sherds that rise from the ground in the winter rains, teach in spectacular detail how life sprouts from death – and salvation from sorrow.
Whenever we’re in trouble – whether as individuals or a community – we can turn to the Elah Valley and listen to the eternally relevant solution that David taught there almost 3,000 years ago.
Part Two - Win the War for Wellness
During these challenging times, Israel needs healthy Jews - people who invest time and effort in living well with strategies that bring the best returns when the market of wellness is crashing.
Healthy Jewish living in troubled times begins with learning how to practice the cry-prayer – a special type of prayer that’s very different than the regular prayer services in its purpose, length, and content.
We digest fear, stress, and anxiety – and food – by fasting from all food for 12 hours every night, balancing out our eating during 12 hours of the day. Our enemies want to kill us, so we respond by living well, on purpose.
The secret of Jewish wellness is living the journey “from here to there,” that is becoming a briskly walking person in every area of life. Particularly helpful is what we’ll call the “to” – vigorous exercise that fully immerses us in the process.
Some fears are paralyzing, others are galvanizing. All fears must be faced and accepted, not covered over with faith, anger, or fantasies of power. We’ll learn a practical method for working through fear.
Fear often gives birth to stress. But not all stress is harmful – in fact, healthy stress is crucial for wellness. We’ll learn the different types of stress, and explore strategies for letting go of stress that hurts us.
The news can connect us – or distract and desensitize us. We’ll learn a 4-step plan for working out how much news works for you. (The plan also works for anything in life!)
Finally, even if we’re doing everything right, living well during crises includes the tenacity of trudging along the path toward wholeness and joy, even when we’re feeling tense, irritated, and afraid. We give ourselves credit for trudging forward, one slow step at a time.
Appendix – Borders and Boundaries
Israel’s borders are like our personal boundaries – the places where we end and the rest of the world begins. Boundaries are critical for healthy living: we know who we are to whatever degree we know who we aren’t.
After learning how to determine our own boundaries, we’ll take a close look at the Land of Israel’s southern border and its intriguing message for the Jewish people’s relationship with all of humankind.
About Healthy Jew
Finally, the book concludes with a brief description of healthy Jewish living, and then a special picture-filled explanation about the foraging walks I offer in Israel’s natural world.
Land of Health is now available on Amazon and in Jewish bookstores all over the world. Order your copy today!
Also check out this post for readers’ reactions - in the press and from all over the world.
