Short Story: The pipe-smoking Rabbi

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Rabbi Anton Bresneth, loved to smoke a pipe. He had indulged in this habit for many years, when it finally caught up with him, this unhealthy habit. He got a mouth cancer, and he died. On his deathbed, he said. "In my day, smoking was not seen as unhealthy, as it is today. This is no excuse for me, though, as, as a Rabbi, l should not have so indulged in such a habit." "As a matter of fact, a few years back now, l had a dream that warned me against it, but l still did not heed the dream's meaning." And then, he shared his dream. He had been smoking his pipe in his dream, when Elijah, the prophet, appeared to him, and told him that smoking gives you the breath of the Devil, himself. "Breathe only the fresh air that God provides you with, and do not pollute your breath, as you pollute your life then too, he was told." The Rabbi could not break with his habit, though, and he continued to smoke his pipe. A Christian priest had also once pointed out to him this verse from the New Testament, which is good advice, for anyone to follow too. Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 12. “Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything.” The Rabbi kept smoking, and suffered the consequences. Afterword: Such habits stop one from being consciously alive, as all you see is the smokescreen of this habit. The habit controls you, and stops you from growing past it, consciously so. Perhaps Satan was responsible for its introduction into the World, to bring even more chaos to the world. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com Smoking a pipe cloudens your consciousness, and destroys your health.