tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post8924068275894664215..comments2024-03-05T21:22:43.426-05:00Comments on parshablog: Sleeping on the left or right side -- a scientific and halachic perspectivejoshwaxmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03516171362038454070noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-2296478936631346612023-03-29T04:51:56.419-04:002023-03-29T04:51:56.419-04:00For the more intellectual based, i recommend a boo...For the more intellectual based, i recommend a book called From Infinity to Man. It explains the integrations behind kabbalah, quantum physics, and information theory. It much more a reality than you think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-19345289911567193952023-03-29T04:49:06.525-04:002023-03-29T04:49:06.525-04:00Please, there is no reason to shy away from the ka...Please, there is no reason to shy away from the kabbalistic insight of it all. I speak from experience, one can obtain (with enough work) a degree of "spiritual lenses," but ultimately if Hashem wills it of course. However, I firmly believe that if one has genuine קרב, and takes the time to meditate, and dig deep into the middot, Hashem will bless us. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-83018567783057546702011-02-24T10:36:04.104-05:002011-02-24T10:36:04.104-05:00Achuzat haklippot is only a real concern in the fi...Achuzat haklippot is only a real concern in the first half of the night. Also, of course it's rather clear that this is not what the Rambam had in mind. However, 16th century kabbalah was also an all-encompassing worldview that aimed to explain the spiritual/sefirotic/divine roots of all reality, including medecine and even geology, so it makes sense that it would give a spiritual reason for a medical "fact". <br />Of course, when science evolved, this relationship between kabbalah and reality transformed from an explanatory model to a determinative one. <br />By the way, you have the same shift in Islamic esotericist thought, starting with Avicenna. What was Aristotelian natural science became a supranatural model of the divine spheres, which became gradually detached from science in Ismaili and other Batini schools of speculation.Chanokhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-59383133838190947962011-02-24T09:59:28.991-05:002011-02-24T09:59:28.991-05:00interesting. also, slightly funny that this kabbal...interesting. also, slightly funny that this kabbalistic reason exists for specifically the first half of the night; i doubt Rambam was thinking of any kabbalistic reasons, any more than Avicenna was...joshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-22763169784718206312011-02-24T09:11:41.082-05:002011-02-24T09:11:41.082-05:00I remember a bachur yeshiva once asked me about th...I remember a bachur yeshiva once asked me about this. I told him that indeed there are kabbalistic reasons to sleep on the left side (though before chatzot layla only), but the most important thing was for him to find a position he would be comfortable with because having a good sleep is much more essential, especially in yeshiva.Chanokhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-54234791457509743992011-02-24T06:02:12.384-05:002011-02-24T06:02:12.384-05:00yet this new research suggests that it might be ba...yet this new research suggests that it might be bad not only for digestion but for the heart as well.<br /><br />but even if we say that the left side entirely is the optimal. should we then overturn the Rambam, who suggests also sleeping on the right side? my sense in general is that we <b>don't</b> pasken like the medical advice in hilchos Deos, even though all these modern halachic compendiums are putting it forth as obligatory...<br /><br />kol tuv,<br />joshjoshwaxmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149022516101476797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-47990629146382079172011-02-24T04:17:02.507-05:002011-02-24T04:17:02.507-05:00Sleeping on the left side might be bad for digesti...Sleeping on the left side might be bad for digestion, but it's better for blood circulation, since it puts less pressure on the venae cavae (which are on the right side of the heart). It is being advised to pregnant women to sleep on the left side in order to give better blood flow to the placenta.Chanokhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-21243900357066598962011-02-24T03:53:51.703-05:002011-02-24T03:53:51.703-05:00All i know is that 'a pregnant woman shouldn&#...All i know is that 'a pregnant woman shouldn't sleep on her back':<br />http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=76;t=001577;p=0<br />From personal experience i'd say this is correct though it may sound like superstition - it's more like 'grandmother's knowledge' so to speak.<br /><br />- a mother (=my pseudonym)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com