ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף תהילים 90:1

The meaning of our opening aggadah is as follows. If you refrain from contact with your wife during the seven days of the menstrual cycle, tum-ah, you will merit the blessing of the eighth day, i.e. circumcision, which symbolises ascendancy over the spirit of impurity, attainment of purity. Since "seven days" represent the "creation cycle," the number seven always reminds man both of his duties and of his limitations on this planet.

These are but a few of the problems that trouble theologians and philosophers concerning the term neshamah, soul. The subject is swept under the rug for fear that it would produce mass desertions from (organized) religion. Job expressed his intellectual anguish about this in the words "I am at an end, I do not know my soul, I despise my life" (Job 9,21). Silence on the subject only deepens doubts and frustration. Discussion is apt to lead others astray who had never been alert to the fact that a problem existed, due to the shallowness of their thinking. Uttering doubts to oneself only, maybe a means to find solutions without having a negative impact on others. David, who had wanted to know the date of his death, wanted to find out if his task on earth could be completed in the time span allotted to him. He who lives one day at a time, not knowing how much time he has to complete a project, surely must be in constant terror lest all his work be in vain.

" O Lord, a dwelling art Thou. Thou abidest with us