Welcome to Daily Bitachon as we continue to discuss Shaar Habechina in the benefits of the sun. There are a lot of misunderstandings on how the sun is beneficial to us. People always think that you catch a cold in the winter and even the term catch a cold means well it's cold outside so I caught the cold. Cold is not the problem, the enemy is not the cold. Why do we get sick in the winter and not in the summer? It definitely has to do with sunlight more than cold and we'll explain. And we go back to our hero vitamin D. That again as we explained yesterday, sunlight causes vitamin D to be released by your skin. Vitamin D strengthens your immune system helping fight infections. It activates immune cells and produces antiviral peptides to fight germs. It modulates inflammation to prevent overreaction and creates a defense system against the germs. So it's not that in the cold there's some kind of poison in cold, it's the lack of vitamin D that does not give your immune system the ability to fight. That's one reason why we catch a cold in the winter and not in the summer, but there's another important reason. And that is, and again, this is all wonder of wonders, we have to just be so excited by what Hashem has done for us from millions of miles away from the sun all the way up there, somehow gets all the way down here. So big powerful God is able from all the way up there, not the sun, that's God, who's sending down rays to create vitamin D in your body. Now what does sunlight also do? It kills bacteria. Ultraviolet rays have radiation. We know radiation, we'll see, we know in a moment that radiation's not a great thing. Radiation causes mutations. It damages your DNA, RNA. Too much time in the sun, chas v'shalom , can cause cancer. That's true. But sunlight also kills out germs because germs are alive, they're real. They also have DNA and RNA and they also would replicate. But the sun reduces the germ population over time and it makes surfaces cleaner and reduces infection risks indoors as well. So wonder of wonders we have a one-two punch in the summertime. The sun raises our immune system and the sun gets rid of germs. So therefore people don't get as sick in the summertime and get sicker in the wintertime. Nothing to do with the cold. Now the way this works again, everything is on, this is another one of the things the Chovot Halevavot tells us to always be conscious of, everything's happening on a very small microscopic level that this, these lights create energy that's absorbed by the DNA and RNA in the bacteria and it causes certain lesions in this, microscopic lesions in the bacteria and that damages the genetic code which stops them from reproducing. Now this type of mutation and damaging is also dangerous as we said for skin cancer and cells have repair mechanisms to fix them. And that's why there is always a constant balance. My father is a dermatologist and as we said, the USDA raised their need for vitamin D, but we always have this tug of war which is on one hand too much sunlight can cause cancer, but too little sunlight you don't have enough vitamin D. That's why many doctors are believe in vitamin D supplements versus the sun due to the cancer risk. Now I want to make this clear that Hashem created a perfect world and if we would spend the right amount of time in the sun we'd have the perfect balance. Now we don't really do that. We don't work outdoors in the fields and stay outdoors. We stay indoors and then we go and sit on the beach. And the truth is, this is interesting, that once you reach the amount of vitamin D you're supposed to have in your skin, extra time in the sun doesn't give you more vitamin D. We don't have a vitamin D thermometer to tell us when and that's why, like I said, my father is a dermatologist suggested vitamin D supplements because that's measurable, you know the exact dose that you can take every single day and Hashem gave us that advantage now. Now that he knows how our lifestyles have changed, he gave us vitamin D supplements. I have a theory that is if you dressed more modest, you probably get the right amount of sun that you're supposed to get, but that's just my theory. Anyway, getting back to our story, in our appreciation of sun, that's this week's theme, we further appreciate our sunlight for protecting us from germs with the one-two punch of helping our immune system and getting rid of germs. And also an important thing to know is that even sunlight through the windows will get rid of germs. That's why, open up the shades in the summer, in the wintertime, to let the sun in is a very smart idea. And we're not going to get into getting ready for bris milah when the kid has too much bilirubin, leaving them in the sunlight helps the skin because sunlight causes chemical reactions and so on. So this is the wonder of wonders of all these triggers that are happening due.