Kabbalah and Medicine
Fatigue, Perseverance and Sensitivity The concept of fatigue, a common symptom of Lupus, can also be seen as an affliction of hod. Hod, under good conditions, can have the connotation of perseverance, as with a person who is continuously walking (toward a goal) without becoming tired. This aspect of hod refers to a person's ability to go through life and see things through to the end. On a spiritual level, the decision to continue and persevere to the end--never to give up in the middle--is the essence of a person's process of return--teshuvah--to God. The spiritual service of teshuvah begins at the level of binah, "understanding," and concludes with the healing of hod, as the prophet says: "And his heart shall understand [binah] and he shall return and be healed [hod]." The fatigue that comes with Lupus appears on a physical level in pregnancy. A pregnant woman (a symbol of binah--mother-to-be--in Kabbalah) with Lupus has a higher risk of miscarriage--an inability to see a pregnancy through to the end. Once more we see the relation of Lupus and its symptoms to the female. Another regulatory factor in the immune system is the stability to ensure that too many antibodies are not produced. In a case when too many antibodies are produced, instead of warding off illness, they start fighting against themselves. Psychologically, this can be likened to a person who is over-concerned and over-worried about disease; his hyper-sensitivity makes him more likely to feel--and often to actually become--sick. The rectified hod, in Kabbalah and Chassidut, is characterized by "walking simply with God." To "walk simply with God" implies one's natural focus of all of his efforts and thoughts on accomplishing his mission in life (as prescribed by the Torah) with simple faith and trust in God to care for the well being of his body and soul (in order that he be able to perform his mission). Such a person does not worry about disease, always conscious of God as the "healer of all flesh and doer of wonders." A new chapter is both uploaded to the web and sent out every week via the Inner Dimension (free) weekly Torah message email list. Click here to subscribe now!
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The Healing of Body and Soul 
