This Tuesday I was busy. Very busy.
I sat in a small room in Tel Aviv for 7 hours. Almost without getting up. I can't remember the last time I did something similar.
Maybe in the big yeshiva, or the small yeshiva. When a burst of study and perseverance seized me.
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perhaps.
But the reason I sat in one room for 7 hours yesterday lies in a commercial company whose name I won't mention due to advertising issues and the like.
This commercial company offers an 'easy way' to quit smoking.
And this is exactly the way I was looking for to quit smoking.
The truth is, I've already reached a point where I wanted to quit smoking, even if the road won't be easy - and I came to this decision after quite a while.
As the instructor said at the workshop: There are 1,000 reasons to quit smoking. And maybe three reasons to keep going.
A nice lawyer who was with me in the group claimed that he did a quick calculation, and in nominal terms he has spent over 350,000 NIS on cigarettes to date. A pack costs 30 NIS per day. Multiply that by 15 years.
Three hundred and fifty thousand NIS.
This is one of the thousand known reasons to quit smoking...
And that's interesting. Because the guide proved to us that the three known reasons why smokers continue to smoke are also wrong reasons.
In short, after 7 hours and a few guided imagery exercises, I have some insights.
There is no easy way to quit smoking.
There is no reason in the world to continue smoking.
And it was the (secular) instructor who made an argument and even defended it fiercely. "Do you know what smokers are missing?" he asked.
""Health", "money", "good smell", "sense of taste" - the answers were thrown into the air by the participants.
""Yes," replied the guide. "But you missed the point...""
""The power of choice," he ruled. Smokers lack the power of choice.
Smokers are addicted to cigarettes. They automatically reach for a pack and light the next cigarette in line.
And the truth? As someone who has been on a panel of lecturers on the subject of repentance once or twice, the matter hit me with the force of a tornado.
The guide was right.
As a believing Jew, I have encountered the "ultimate" question of secularists quite a few times: Dosis have no right to choose. You do everything according to what is written in the Torah, without the ability to choose at all...
And the truth is known to all: the Torah gives us the direction and the 'recommendation' - and you chose life. A believing Jew has the right to struggle every time with the choice - whether to keep the commandments and laws or, God forbid, be tempted by lust.
For those who are not observant, however, there are no rules and they are enslaved only to whims and trends. And addictions.
Yes. Addictions.
So I decided: On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, with the time of Elul upon us, I will try to regain the power of choice. I will stop smoking and learn to control myself. To choose what is good for me or bad for me.
And the truth? Because I was so focused on it, the editor reminded me that it was already Wednesday and I missed the column.
So I sat down to write. Quickly. Before Thursday and the next column arrived.
•
Two days without smoking. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the move was worth it. The mucus has already started to disappear, the smell is completely gone, and I'm busy choosing whether to continue to stay clean or indulge in addiction again.
Keep your fingers crossed for me. Logging out of WhatsApp was easier.
I highly recommend that you stop smoking. It's not easy, but it's good.
Yours, Micah.
Comments, clarifications, ideas, questions, complaints, etc. can be sent to my personal email:
