About health and general well-being

Hey Miki
In one of your previous letters you asked about my health – I did not answer, because according to the expectations that the doctors had instilled in me – my physical fitness should have been much higher, but since today – it is not my fitness that is foremost in my mind, but my desire to realize my ideas, both technological and social, so I also have more time at my disposal – if it were not for my reduced fitness I would wander more in nature, and just as sexual matters do not take up my time today, so too the great need I had until a few years ago to walk the mountain trails has become a dim memory and I am content with blooming in the gardens of the kibbutz.
[Well – I hope this week I will have time to see the Gilboa iris near Melchishua].
Regarding technology – due to the lack of funding, I thought more and more and found a way to significantly reduce the cost of producing a prototype using 3D printing, which will probably be possible for me to do at the “Idan” Technological Educational Center in our valley, and there is a chance of backing from the Department of Education.
Only what – you need a lot of patience. It turns out that it’s not for nothing that the Gentiles said: time is money!
From the height of my age, I learned to find a new pastime: to remember Einstein’s immortal statement about the universe, human stupidity, and infinity, while observing people – some of whom are my friends, including very educated people.
By the word stupidity I also include ethically incorrect conduct. For example: I wrote an article for “On the Left” titled “Is Islam inherently violent” and compared the violence of Islam to Judaism and Christianity. The editor Naftali Raz refused to print it because my words were unfounded.
Therefore, I consulted by phone with Dr. [Colonel (retd.)] Ini Abadi, who is a well-known orientalist born in Syria. And he claimed that Islam is indeed fundamentally violent. As proof, he claimed that the Jews say “God will avenge his blood,” while Muslims themselves are obligated to kill in the name of God.
Then I remembered the story about Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach who executed 80 witches in one day. And I remembered the Sicarii who murdered many Jews in the name of God, and even the laws from a later period that forbade helping a Gentile who had fallen into a pit. I ended my speech by saying that although today many more acts of violence are committed in the name of Islam – but how many Jews are there and how many Muslims?
Editor Naftali Raz did publish my article – but got a little carried away and wrote “In percentage terms, Jews are more violent than Muslims” – a statement that even left-wing commentators were outraged by, but the editor went too far and compared Islamic violence to the Irgun, Lehi, and the Hilltop Youth.
I tried to refute his words but in vain… but I [I’m sure you do too!] know people who behave this way even on issues unrelated to ideology.
Now I wanted to raise a completely different topic. The suffering and torment in our world are very disturbing to me, and as you know me, my approach to these questions is not from a philosophical perspective, because I understand that these are natural phenomena of the course of the world, and the question is on a practical level – how can this suffering be reduced?
And this morning it occurred to me that, to the best of my knowledge, there is no prohibition in the various religions against causing sorrow and suffering to others. But then I remembered the old man’s praise:
What is hated for you, do not do to your friend!
Is this just a case of being told to your friend and not to your significant other ?! So I decided to look for information about it on Google, and here’s what happened:
I googled: religions + sorrow + torment. And I only got an answer in English, even though I slightly changed the wording of the question!
This probably stems from the understanding of all religious leaders that without the threat of some kind of whip, it is not possible to maintain governmental authority.
So what is left for us in our hope for a better world? Education for empathy? But perhaps there is no substitute for parental love in the early stages of life so that the child grows up to be a person who is attentive to others?
But maybe this is nothing more than false hopes, did the Nazi leaders all suffer from oppressed childhoods, did the senior members of the first Soviet Politburo, most of whom were Jewish, spend their infancy in orphanages and grow up to be alienated people who seek out those who oppose them to be executed?!
Or maybe all those sufferings are natural, like earthquakes and the like, and therefore there is no consolation except in religion?!
I’ve drilled your brains enough…
All the best