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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement

Do not throw a stone into the well from which you drank (Bava Kama 92b).

The Talmud states that this folk saying is related to the Torah commandment, "Do not reject an Egyptian, because you were a dweller in his land" (Deuteronomy 23:8). Since Egypt hosted the Israelites, we, their descendants, must acknowledge our gratitude.

The brief period of tranquility that our ancestors enjoyed in Egypt was followed by decades of ruthless enslavement and brutal oppression. Thousands of newborn Israelite children were murdered. This unspeakable horror more than obscured any favorable treatment they had received earlier, and our natural inclination is to despise the Egyptians with a passion.

The Torah tells us to take a different path. Although we celebrate, every Passover, our liberation from this tyrannical enslavement and commemorate the triumph over our oppressors, we have no right to deny that we did receive some benefit from them. Even though a denial of gratitude might appear well justified in this particular case, it might impact upon us in such a manner that we might also deny gratitude when it is fully deserved.

If people cast stones into the well from which they drank, the well will not be hurt in the least, because it is an inanimate and insensitive object. The act, however, might impact negatively upon those who do it: they might subsequently behave with a lack of gratitude to people as well.

Today I shall ...
... try to remember to be considerate of anyone who has any time been of help to me, even though his later actions might have been hostile.

Love Yehuda Lave

Electrical pulses in neck could be early warning sign of dementia

Could a simple neck ultrasound be the key to an early dementia diagnosis?

That's what researchers at the University College London (UCL) in England are trying to find out. And they may be on to something.

Scientists there recently completed an almost two-decade-long study in order to measure how intense the pulse is when it travels to the brain and what, if any, correlation there is between pulse intensity and cognitive decline. The goal was to see if there's a way to diagnose dementia before people start to display symptoms.

"Dementia is the end result of decades of damage, so by the time people get dementia it's too late to do anything," Dr. Scott Chiesa, a researcher from UCL, told the BBC. "What we're trying to say is you need to get in as early as possible, identify a way to see who's actually progressing towards possibly getting dementia and target them."

Using ultrasound machines, researchers scanned the necks of 3,191 participants in 2002 and then monitored their memory and problem-solving abilities for the next 15 years.

What they discovered is a bit, well, intense. Participants who had the greatest extent of powerful, strong pulses were found to have greater mental decline over the years than those with less intense pulses. Intense pulses have been found to cause structural damage to the brain and even minor bleeds known as "mini-strokes," researchers said.

In fact, the study found that the top quarter of participants with the highest pulses showed 50 percent more cognitive decline (equal to about one-and-a-half years) over the next decade than the rest of the participants.

"What we do know is that the blood supply in the brain is incredibly important and that maintaining a healthy heart and blood pressure is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia," Dr. Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, told the BBC.

Although the study's results could be a new piece to the dementia-diagnosis puzzle, the research did not contain data on which of the study's participants went on to develop dementia. Routledge says it is not clear if the scan could improve the diagnosis of dementia.

And even though the study was 15 years long, researchers aren't quite done yet.

Scientists plan to use the MRI scans to see if structural and functional changes in the brain can help explain their cognitive decline and to see if the scan improves predictive risk scores for dementia.

Yosef's Brothers and the Blood Libel by Rabbi Sprecher

We Jews have been accused of various heinous crimes throughout our long and tragic history. Perhaps, the most devastating accusation we have faced is the Blood Libel - murdering Christian children and then using their blood for baking Matzoh on Pesach. Of course, this vile accusation is absolutely ludicrous and false.

The Torah warns us numerous times never to taste any blood. We are halachically obligated to soak and salt chicken and meat to ensure that all the blood is drawn out before we take a morsel into our mouths. We even check eggs for bloodspots to make sure that we don't ingest even a drop of blood.

Nevertheless, our enemies continue to make this false, slanderous and vile accusation against us.

These charges have not ended since the time of medieval Europe. The Arab world has now adopted this canard from the Christians. There have been many books and dozens of newspaper articles published in the Arab press and media accusing Jews of murdering Arab children to use their blood.

A few years ago, a series of articles appeared in a Saudi Arabian newspaper with a new twist – Jews don't just use blood of Arab children on Pesach for Matzos, but also use Arab blood on Purim for our hamantaschen!

How did we become the subjects of such an absurd and horrible accusation that runs so contrary to our basic beliefs as Jews?

Rav Elchanan Wasserman HY"D explains this bizarre accusation with the concept of "MAASEI AVOT SIMAN L'BANIM" (The deeds of the Forefathers are a sign to the children). The traits and deeds, instilled into Am Yisrael by our forefathers, work both in the positive and negative sense. The Torah in Bereshit 37 tells us about the internal strife and hatred of Yosef and his brothers.

The Zohar explains that the Sinat Chinam that has plagued our nation since its inception, causing the Second Beis Hamikdosh to be destroyed, had its root in the hatred of the brother's behavior toward Yosef.

This is a frightening phenomenon. Once the seeds of hatred and strife were planted into the history of our nation by Yosef's slander of his brothers and their bitter revenge, it continues to affect us throughout the centuries. Thus, internal hatred is a problem that Jews will have to deal with until Moshiach comes.

Rav Elchanan Wasserman HY"D takes this concept one step further. After the brothers sold Yosef, how did the brothers explain Yosef's disappearance to Yaakov? "They took Yosef's coat, slaughtered a goat and dipped the coat in the blood." (Bereshit 37:31) Then they showed Yosef's bloody coat to Yaakov, who then assumed that Yosef had been torn apart by a wild animal.

By using blood to cover up their crime, says Rav Wasserman, the brothers sealed the fate of Am Yisrael. Yosef's brothers use of blood to deceive their father has caused us to suffer from deceitful blood libels until this very day - Midah K'Neged Midah (measure for measure).