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Numerous times weekly, I am contacted by individuals wanting to work with me for weight loss, but who suspect that they first need to treat an underlying digestive issue prior to starting another unsuccessful weight loss attempt. They are convinced, and I believe rightfully so, that their inability to lose weight despite tremendous efforts is stemming from unresolved gut issues. It is quite validating to them when I agree that their hypothesis has validity, as I often see that my weight loss clients with concurrent unresolved digestive issues often do not lose weight until we spend 3 to 4 months fixing up the gut. To quote Dr. Kenneth Brown:

Everyone wants to know the secret to wisdom. I can’t share it with you, because then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore. (To be fair, that statement isn’t necessarily true. Everyone wants to know the secret to wealth. Only some people want to know the secret to wisdom.)

Yael* was a 32-year-old woman who started experiencing “stomach issues” after the birth of the second of her four children. Although she had always had somewhat of a sensitive stomach as a teen (“I would pay the price if I would eat pizza, fries, and ice cream at once like my friends all seemed to be able to do”), her symptoms did not interfere with her life too much until that point. After the birth of her second baby, her symptoms of diarrhea with occasional constipation, post-meal bloating and burping, and frequent heartburn and stomach pain exacerbated to the point of severely interfering with her quality of life.

Question: May a person deduct necessary household expenditures, such as food and clothing, before giving maaser k’safim?

Short Answer: Some poskim allow a deduction for necessary personal and household expenses. However, the consensus of the contemporary poskim is to the contrary, that no such deduction is allowed.

A young avreich from Jerusalem fell ill and had to undergo a complex brain operation at a medical center located in the former Yugoslavia. In order to translate from English what the medical team was saying, the father of the avreich asked his friend R’ Yosef Rafoul, shlita, to accompany them on their journey. Upon arrival, they immediately made an appointment to see a top surgeon at the prestigious Institute for Neurosurgery in Belgrade, Serbia, who specialized in brain operations of the type required by the avreich. After days of exhaustive tests, the surgeon fixed a date for the operation.

Dirshu Siyum on Masechta Chulin Antidote Against Anti-Religious Mayor 

“The city of Teveriah has never seen such a powerful, overt demonstration of the importance of Torah. The crowd was massive, and it was clear that residents of Teveriah who care about Yiddishkeit were deeply moved. To see two octogenarian, leading Gedolim, the Ashkenazi Gaon, HaRav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Yisrael, and the Sefardi Gaon, HaRav Shimon Baadani, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah V’Chaim coupled with the Chassidishe Gedolim, the sons of the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe and the Stolin-Karliner Rebbe who all troubled themselves to travel to Teveriah and give messages of chizuk to the city’s inhabitants was the greatest demonstration of achdus and kevod haTorah that the city has seen in a long time!”