HaRav Yeruchom Levovitz zt"l
One who is ill finds himself weighed between the Heavenly attribute of Mercy and that of Justice, with the stronger being the victor.
Chazal revealed a significant secret, said the Mashgiach HaRav Yeruchom from Mir. In the event of a fire, firemen rush to the rescue, but by the same token, robbers may rush for spoils. If the fire is small and can be doused without outside help, the matter is kept quiet so as not to attract potential thieves, but if it has grown out of hand, there is no choice but to shout for help, even though this will also publicize the fact to thieves. Whatever can be salvage either way will be worth the while.
Chazal tell us that Rava fell ill, on the first day, he asked that the fact not be revealed lest his enemies tip the scale of Middas Hadin. But when his sickness intensified, he allowed the fact to be publicized for there was no alternative. Whoever would have mercy upon him, would pray for him and at this point, the battle would be pitched between Din and Rachamim.
They revealed an awesome principle that whoever visits a sick person can take way one sixtieth of that illness upon himself. We tend to relate to this teaching as a segulah, a kind of working charm, whereas Chazal maintain that it is a secret nostrum.
We understand the principle of sharing another's burden or sorrow, which are so important in the Torah, as through empathy or maybe through some deed. But this is also erroneous. Emotions alone are not significant, the Torah does not teach about such things.
Rather one must shoulder the other's pain together with him. It must be more than just sympathy, and rather, actual pain. One must actually feel and share the pain and suffering, be under yoke, as his own. It is along the lines of what it says about Hashem: In all their suffering He also suffers.
This is the meaning of removing one sixtieth of the illness. The ill person is under an obligation to the Middas Hadin, which rules here and makes a demand upon the victim to be "paid" by his illness. But Chazal enlighten us with the idea that just as a friend can pay up a monetary debt for another, that is, if a person owes a thousand shekel, ten friends can pay 100 shekel apiece in his stead, and then the debt is completely cancelled.
In the same manner, one who visits a sick person who is under judgment, can assume part of the liability upon himself so as to remove it from the patient. The more compassion the visitor feels, the less is the hold of the Middas Hadin upon the sick one since the Middas Hadin collects the debt from the visitor instead of the patient.
Chazal further illustrated that when two people are born under the same mazal, they share that mazal, and if one shares and shoulders the suffering of a friend, it is as if he is equated under the same mazal, and he more naturally participates in the patient's suffering and thus can remove the claim upon him. Herein lies the true yardstick of empathy: one must actually feel the pain and assume it upon his own shoulder for him to nullify a prosecution of the Middas Hadin.
