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By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
Air.
Oh wonderful air.
Cheaper than water.
Available, in plentiful quantities.
Accessible to all.
Essential for life.
Air quality?
That is a different question and an ever growing concern.
In Bangkok the air pollution became an acute problem this week. Causing the local authorities to close the schools.
I will not comment on the actual problem, that is for experts. At best I could become a self-taught ‘google’ expert. But so can you.
It is about the schools being closed that I want to comment.
When it comes to teaching children Torah we are taught that even building THE (capitals intended) Holy Temple in Jerusalem is not a reason to cancel the Torah study of young children.
True, building the Bet Hamikdash is crucial to our nations identity and their connection to G-d. Actually, the Bet Hamikdash is a source of blessing to the ENTIRE world! Nonetheless, children’s Torah study is even more important. Classes are not cancelled to facilitate building the Temple.
I would argue that this concept should be taken to heart in our general outlook on education. Educating children is something that is of extreme importance for the betterment and advancement of society. Schools provide knowledge and for the most part they try to impart moral values (or so they should).
This raises the question in my mind, as to why the students and their studies were the only sacrifice made to lower the pollution. Shouldn’t educating the next generation be the last thing we tamper with.
Couldn’t some other measures (like closing down some construction sites) have come first?
Some will say that the government specified that it is for the safety of the children to close the schools. My eyebrows are raised when I hear that. For couldn’t the children stay indoors in the schools. Where are they going to be if they stay at home? Perhaps there is something I am missing, and there is importance in children not going to school during these pollution spikes. But on the face of it, I wonder if the kid’s health has really been helped. The streets seem filled with children accompanying their parents on errands outside.
The other reason I found mentioned in the press about school closures, was the reduction in traffic through closing schools.
It is a no-brainer that on school days the traffic is a snarling maze throughout the city.
But is this the only way to reduce the emissions that are causing the damage? There are various other steps that could have been taken. Steps that may actually address the true culprits that have led to this urgent predicament.
I am concerned that this closure of schools and the fact that this was the only major measure taken, shows where the importance of education rates on the totem pole of society. We need to do whatever we can to highlight the importance of wholesome education.
Truly, I don’t want to get caught up in a discussion about air quality indexes. As I said, I am not an expert and will be happy to hear back from you if you have information to share.
It is the ‘air’ that our ‘hearts and minds’ ingest that I want to focus on.
Each and every one of us lives in a particular peer-based ‘environment’. We are enveloped in a societal embrace that pervades our consciousness.
The value system of the society around us affects us deeply. Peers, coworkers, relatives and just about everybody we come into contact with, leave their imprint on our conscious and subconscious.
Living in a wholesome, happy, mindful and G-d-based-morality environment, leads to a healthy, wholesome and happy spiritual as well as material life.
It’s as simple as that!
Life in a morally-untethered, self-centered and cynical society, causes near irreparable damage to the innocence and positivity of the human experience.
Because we are all initially created in the image of G-d, humans can only be truly healthy, well balanced and psychologically sound if G-d’s ‘handbook for life’ is adhered to.
Breathing in the kind of polluted values and ethos that so many segments of contemporary society propagates, can be downright injurious and detrimental. It causes short term as well as long term damage.
For the citizens of the world it is the seven universal laws given at Sinai to all the ‘children of Noah’ that create a purified and healthy atmosphere.
As Jews, it is the Torah and Mitzvahs that purify the ‘air’ around us. The only truly healthy way to raise Jewish children, is by exposing them to the pure ‘air’ of Torah. The morals, ethics and wisdom of the Torah, filter out all the ‘toxins’ and long term ‘havoc-wreakers’ on the moral fibers of our own selves, our families and our wider communities.
Some people tell me that they don’t want to teach their kids about Judaism and its values at a young age. They would prefer that they get older and make their own choice.
Here is the reality. You can’t say ‘my child, please don’t breathe for the next two days, as the air-quality-index says it is dangerous. Wait till the weekend when we will be out of town’.
Sounds ludicrous. Right?
It’s just as mindless to think that you can delay the moral development and decision making of your child till they are old enough to make their own choices.
Nope. They are absorbing, like we all are, from the atmosphere around us.
When society is not sure that saving a human life, even if he may be a total stranger, comes before saving a beloved animal-pet, we have veered way off the correct moral path. There a host of other issues that I could point to which society now tolerates, nay, in 2019 even encourages, which are totally warped from the perspective of G-dly based morality. .
Friends, I know that some don’t understand why in the traditional way of raising Jewish children we limit the information reaching them from the ‘outside’ world. Thank G-d and kudos to my parents, I was raised that way. Please G-d, I hope to raise my kids in that very same way. It is the healthiest way in my opinion.
I know it sounds outdated. A lot of sensible things sound so antiquated these days. Like traditional marriages. Kids respecting elders. Families getting along with each other in a loving way. Selflessness. Self-control. Stuff that the Torah constantly reminds us about.
It is actually very simple.
If the pollution outside is dangerous, keep the kids indoors.
When they do go out, equip them with masks.
It’s the same with the environment you choose for living in. It is critical to find the proper society to surround yourself with. Values and morals slide so easily when the society around you is decadent or even vulgar.
Time to get out the masks.
Except that masks, the effective ones that is, are not so easy to find in Bangkok right now.
Air filtration systems are more in demand than ever. The laws of supply and demand push up their prices.
Not so when it comes to spiritual air filtration systems. For spiritual refinement tools, we live in unprecedented times. Torah is more accessible in any language and any delivery medium than ever before.
If you are in Bangkok and staying indoors, wanna know what you can do while you are cooped up indoors escaping the pollution? Or if you are sitting at the seaside lapping up eons of fresh air and have time on your hands, think about helping the world get purer. Contribute to the betterment of humanity by spiritually purifying the ‘air’ of our society as well.
Here is how you can do that.
Study Torah. Better yet, commit some concepts of Torah to your brain cells by memorizing them. By doing this, you will clean your own ‘air’ and you will be contributing to bettering the ‘air’ and environment for all of those around you.
Especially when it comes to our kids, give them the purest material possible to ingest and absorb.
As you will see in the above site. No one said you can’t have fun while doing the right thing!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
PS on the topic of Torah study. If you are in Bangkok, have a pretty good head on your shoulders, and interested in seeing how Torah speaks to the burning issues of our time please consider joining our next JLI course. Labeled ‘Crime and Consequence’ it is compelling and thought provoking. (For lawyers in the USA it even provides CLE credits). It is a serious class and attendance is by registration only. Takes place on six Sundays starting in mid-February. Let me know if you are a candidate and drop me a note so that I can try to convince you to come and streamline the process for you.