Excerpting: “Land of Health” by Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman. Menucha Publishers. 2024. 185 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8888394649.

(Courtesy of Koren Publishers) After the dreadful attacks of October 7, 2023, Israel and the Jewish people went to war on three fronts. While the army fights the war of bodies, and government officials and journalists wage the war of minds, every Jew on earth is a soldier in our war for wellness. We’re all combating fear, distraction and stress. We’re all looking for meaning inside the madness.

More than ever before, Israel needs healthy Jewish people who value and love their land.

Even after the guns go quiet — hopefully soon — the war for wellness will continue as our emotional and spiritual wounds slowly heal. Although our bodies will again be safe and secure, our disturbed souls will yearn for peace and balance. We’ll wonder why we must suffer to live in this little corner of the Middle East. We might even ask if it’s worth all the trouble.

Land of Health teaches how to win your personal war for wellness: Part One shows how the Land of Israel is the healthy body of the Nation of Israel, and appreciating it holds the solution to our crisis. Part Two shares practical strategies for healthy living in challenging times. We’ll cover all areas of life: eating, exercise, emotional health, and, of course, spirituality and faith. The book also features dozens of full-color pictures, many taken over the past year, that portray the beauty and spirit of the Land of Israel even during the most trying times.

David and Goliath Today

David and Goliath aren’t only storied figures from almost three thousand years ago. They both live on: Goliath threatens our lives and health today, and our only hope is finding a new David.

As recent events have clarified, much of the world wants Jews dead. With all our airplanes and tanks, it only takes a few political realignments for Israel to find itself in a new Elah Valley with a flimsy slingshot facing the combined might of its enemies.

In our personal lives, too, countless temptations and distractions threaten our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Living healthy and Jewish is often an uphill battle — we’re fighting against our personal Goliath in the Elah Valley of our minds and hearts. As the Talmud teaches, our inborn destructive self-centeredness is stronger than we are, and every day seeks our death.

Where can we find David today?

At the same place we found him almost three thousand years ago: in his words to Goliath from the Elah Valley, just over the hill from where I sit writing these words:

“You come to me with a sword and a spear; I come to you with the name of the Almighty God, the Master of Israel’s camp, which you cursed. Today … The whole land will know that there is a God in Israel, and this whole congregation will know that God doesn’t save with sword and spear [which I don’t have], but the war is won from God” (I Samuel 17:45–47).

David wasn’t a fool; he knew that Goliath and his sword and spear were stronger than David and his slingshot. We too can admit that our enemies, internal and external, are stronger than us.

And yet, just as Goliath had more power than David, God has more power than Goliath.

Hey, why not? It’s simple arithmetic: if Power 2 is stronger than Power 1, then Power 3 is stronger than Power 2.

Finding Our David

Whenever we feel afraid or overwhelmed, we can peer in the direction of the Elah Valley, looking for the David within us. (Even if you don’t live in the area, the Elah Valley is an important part of our nation’s body, the Land of Israel.)

Finding David isn’t a fantastic leap of faith. It’s not even an act of strength in the regular sense.

Instead, we’re admitting our weaknesses and the power our problems have over us, and then, quite fairly, continuing the line of power parity until we reach the Power Who wants the best for us. Then we humbly ask Him for help.

In David’s words: “They surrounded me with words of hate and fought me for nothing. In return for my love, they loathed me — and I am prayer” (Psalms 109:2–3).

Do Your Part

Oh, one more thing…

David didn’t just stand there and pray Goliath to death. He pulled a stone from the Elah Stream and flung it with his shepherd’s slingshot — the only act of war he knew how to do.

We too, after we’ve surrendered our struggles to God, must pull stones from the Elah Stream that’s flowing in our hearts and courageously fling them at our Goliaths. We put our faith in God, and we show up and do our part faithfully.

Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman is a foraging guide and certified health counselor. He serves as mashgiach ruchani in Yeshivat Lev HaTorah of Ramat Beit Shemesh, where he teaches a daily Healthy Jew class. He recently published a book, Land of Health: Israel’s War for Wellness, and writes a weekly newsletter, Healthy Jew. Learn more at healthyjew.org, and reach out to him at contact@healthyjew.org.