ADRENALINE IN ACTION

*An 8-year-old girl was playing with friends in North Carolina. She saw a rottweiler dog jump on her 3-year-old neighbor and ran to the child's aid, pulling the child from the jaws of the vicious animal.

*An emergency medical technician in New Jersey reported that he witnessed a woman lift a car to rescue her child who was pinned underneath.

*Two couples traveling together along the interstate in Montana saw a mobile home behind them with a tire on fire. They stopped their car and waved down the motor home. One couple rushed to put out the fire, while the other pair ripped the mobile home's door off its hinges, freeing the passengers seconds before the vehicle burst into flames.

THE POWER TO PUMP YOU UP

What enables people to do these incredible feats?

Adrenaline is a hormone that helps your body respond to stressful situations.

When the brain senses danger, fear, or anger, it signals the adrenal glands (located above the kidneys) to release large amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream. The adrenaline causes changes in your body, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and increased blood flow to muscles.

These changes give your body extra energy and make it ready for action, enabling you to run away quickly, meet a challenge head-on, or perform unusual feats of strength. This is often referred to as the "fight or flight" response, in which the body prepares itself to attack or flee.

SPIRTIUAL ADRENALINE
Courage doesn't only mean performing superhuman feats like lifting cars or ripping doors off their hinges. Any time we choose what is right over what is easy, stand up for what we believe in, or resist negative peer pressure, that is also courage. According to the Rambam, a 13th century Jewish scholar and leader, God does not test a person unless that person can overcome the test. Thus, each of us already has the tools to overcome the challenges we face. We just have to learn how to tap into the spiritual adrenaline called ometz lev, literally, "strength of heart," that is already inside each of us.

THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN GEVURAH AND ADRENALINE
Adrenaline is the tool the body uses in service of heroic decisions that people make. Heroic behavior, however, begins with a choice. It takes gevurah, heroism/courage, to consciously choose a Jewish value as a guide for our conduct, especially when other temptations - such as greed and envy - pull us in a different direction.