Mizrahi Hanukkah Message & Testimony:
Our Circumstances Should Not Define Our Lives: From Limping to Leaping!!
By Dr. Rabbi Cohen Shalomim Y. HaLahawi
I was born with Sickle Beta Thalassemia because of my Jewish-Arabic roots on both sides of my family(Sephardi, Ethiopian,, and Mizrahi). I’ve suffered a lot in the past….Like Yaakob my hips were struck where I was made to limp for a decade…. My spine was struck & damaged by metal poisoning which increased my frequency of Thalassemia crisis that started to mimic the deadly Sickle Cell Disease……..I was almost completely crippled and unable to walk for the rest of my life……..
See those are just the facts…..That is realism…..And I’m a realist….
BUT!!!
The Truth is, while I had an excuse to be disabled, to become dependent on others to take care of me and accept handouts, which no one would blame me for, I refused to be defined by THE FACTS…. I refused to be a victim of my circumstances that was handed down to me genetically!!!!
See some of you have been medically and socially brainwashed with the old outdated “Family medical history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure”, and you have allowed the “If your family has a history of it, then that is just going to be your reality at some point in your life”, and that there is not much you can do about it. So you go about and walk in the footsteps of your grandparents, your mother and father or uncle and aunt. You eat like them, you smoke like them, you drink like them, and then one day you end up like them with diabetes, drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, lupus, etc…… And your excuse is, it runs in the family!!!
What you have done with your life is become DEFINED by circumstances. You allowed your independent decision-making to become dependent on your family history and what has been normalized within you and those around you, lifestyle-wise…. The fact of the matter is, you didn’t have to eat the same chitterlings, pork, beef, chicken, fried foods, processed foods or drink alcohol or use the drugs that destroyed your parents, grandparents and other family members…. You didn’t have to allow your life to not only become defined by your circumstances but has now made you a victim of your circumstances.
For me, I didn’t have to take Hydroxyurea, or become a Ginneau pig for ineffective medicines and carrot chasing that has been imposed on the #sicklecell community. I didn’t have to take the medications that are doing more to destroy them than the sickle cell they have, and I didn’t have to eat the foods that cause inflammation and serve as triggers that keep sickle cell warriors as sickle cell patients……….. And because I didn’t have to follow in those footsteps, I DIDN’T FOLLOW IN THOSE FOOTSTEPS…..
Since 16yrs old, I refused to become a victim of my circumstances. Even when metal poisoning tore my life and family apart over a decade ago, causing my health to spiral out of control, despite being a young holistic Doctor, I refused to allow the status quo to overcome me….. And it wasn’t just about me not wanting to be a victim of my circumstances, it was about me being a “global Mizrahi Jewish faith leader” of unique history and quality, that served to be a symbol of triumph, hope, success and overcoming, that I wanted to preserve and ensure the world that looked to me would always see was “Real” and not some religious fluke as seen amongst soo many other falsified over-exaggerated so-called faith communities, and all of the holistic Doctors that made millions off of profit-motivated herbal sales, and yet end up being defeated by the very diseases they claimed to be able to heal and eradicate…..
I refused to be another Dr. Sebi. I refused to be another Laila Afrika, I refused to become another Hulda Clark, Malaki Z York, or Yahweh Ben Yahweh….I refused and continue to refuse to be a medical, spiritual, and cultural fluke!!!. And my refusal to become defined by my circumstances, and to ensure the faith that Yahwah Elah gave me via the Torah, would be proven to be as real as life itself!!!
That refusal to be greater than my circumstances and to show forth my faith in Yahwah and his Torah as I am led by the Ruwah HaQodesh, is why when no one was supporting me, no one was visiting me in the hospital, while I was in bed daily crying in tears, sometimes unable to even move without screaming in agony, when no one wanted to support our ministry and leadership vision, when my wife just got up and walked out on me, and when it seemed like I’d never succeed and was nothing more than an irrelevant personality that no one wanted to listen to, I was researching, testing when I could, formulating, throwing away the formulations, reformulating, researching, testing, throwing away, throwing away, getting upset, researching, formulating and perfecting the knowledge Yahwah Elah gave me, as a Doctor of Integrative Medicine, to create what would become a whole line of Natural Medicine Rx that are now manufactured in multi-million dollar FDA, cGMP and NSF Pharmacies and Facilities…..
I went from 8-12 times hospitalized a year for over a decade to not even entering an emergency room since 2019!!!! I went from losing my muscle tone, having reduced lung capacity, and a broken spine to being able to run, lift, walk, and live a normal life!!!! The same medicines that I created for the world, are the same ones I consumed that regenerated my spine, saved my kidneys and liver, and helped restore my sexy muscular “Dad-body”…..
It wasn’t just that; my “Edenic diet” based on vegetarianism and limited Aquatarianism(as we called it) that supported Sickle cell Thalassemia, along with proper nutrition, brought me from the brink of total demise to becoming a trailblazer who has done and continues to do great things!!!!
So while I acknowledge the realism in my life, I live by the faith and faithfulness aka Idealism which is the Truth of my life!!!!
Yahwah took me from Limping to Leaping, and it was all because I was DEDICATED to his Torah, Dedicated to being a husband and father, Dedicated to nutrition and proper diet, and dedicated to finding a solution for everyone who has sickle cell and thalassemia disease!!!!
I don’t just think about myself when I am seeking to overcome a challenge, I think about all the others who are subjected to similar circumstances. When Yahwah gives me an answer to bring me out of the lion’s den, I’m going to reach down and pull everyone else out of that Den, all who want to get out!!!!
I am a man, a Rabbi-Cohen of the People. Not just for Israel, not just Judaism, but for all of Yahwah’s human creation!!! And so as a Suffering Servant, an Anointed Levitical Priest, guided by my Emah Chockimah & my Bet Emah Binah, my bruises, my struggles, my pain, and my sorrow have become the motivation for bringing about the redemption of all who suffer, struggle, and are in despair!!!!!
My life is a symbol of sacrifice, a symbol of struggle towards victory, a symbol of strength during battle and wars, and faith that can be rattled but remains indestructible!!! My life is a story of resurrection from the pits of death!!
My life has never been perfect. I’ve dropped the ball numerous times, even as a Priest, but it has been perfectly imperfect because no matter what my short-comings, I remained Dedicated(Hanuk) and faithful to Yahwah, his Torah, and the Ruwah HaQodesh!!!!
I am now 48 years old, still being questioned about my age because I look 20 years younger…. Still getting the look when they say the Senior Doctor will be here shortly for the meeting and I walk in and everyone asking “who are you looking for young man”. Still being mistaken by the younger generation as being one of them, until I have to check them and remind theme I’m old enough to be their father and in some cases grandfather…I still have to show ID when buying Mogen David!!!
All of this is an honor to me and lets me know, that I did something right and am doing something right!!!! That is the fruit of Dedication!!!!
During #Hanukkah people who don’t understand or are not connected to Judaism/Judeanism and our history and culture, do not understand why we have 9 Candle-Lights rather than the Torah standard 7 Candle-lights during Hanukkah…. and the answer is simple. 7 is the Hebrew symbol for perfection… With Covenant relationships/marriage, when you are faithful and dedicated(Hanuk) and you follow the Torah and are guided by the Ruwah HaQodesh, you complete and perfect your marriage at 7yrs. In Judaic culture, it takes 7 years to build and complete a marriage. Yaakob perfected 7years for Leah and Rachel to become his wives… During those seven years, he was building a relationship with Rachel, and they were establishing their Covenant. 7 is also the symbol of the Ruwah HaQodesh aka Chockimah, who is defined as the spotless and unblemished image of Yahwah….She Is perfect…
So what does 9 mean? Nine is the Hebrew symbol for birthing, after 8 which is the symbol for family and new beginnings. In proper order, 7 is the building & perfecting of the relationship, 8 is the foundations to family and new beginnings, and once you build your relationship and begin the process of family building, that is when you birth new life which is 9. It takes 9 months to birth a child!!! And to make it through those 9 months, you have to be dedicated(dedicated) to nurturing that baby, taking care of your health, surviving and overcoming the sickness and complications, and be strong enough to overcome the birth pangs and suffering so that you can push out that seed/vision so that it becomes realized and experience a successful birthing!!!!
That is why the Menorah is called a Hanukkah. It is the symbol of Triumph, overcoming, and birthing NEW LIFE!!!!!
This is what being Dedicated means!!! And only those who are dedicated to Yahwah, the Torah, and the aim of the Torah, will be the ones who experience the greatness of Life!!!!
No matter what you are struggling with, what your doctor’s report says, or what your family circumstances are, Light the Light of faith and take on the Spirit of Maccaby, push through, keep fighting, and trust that no matter how hard the battle is, no matter how much it seems the army and assaults against you are bigger than what you can handle, that you will come out on the other side as the Winner of the WAR!!!!
You are not your circumstances!!!! You are whom Yahwah Elah says you are…..All you have to do is remain faithful because it is written and it sums up the whole true meaning of Hanukkah:
Habakkuk 2:2-4
And the Yahwah answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
“He who’s being is not upright within him is puffed up; but the righteous shall live by his faithfulness”
Happy Hanukkah from the Rabbi-Cohen,
Dr. Rabbi Cohen Shalomim Y. HaLahawi!!!!