"For I Am Hashem your Healer"
Part I
Telolei Oros presents sources relating to doctors and
patients, the permission that is given to the doctor to heal
and to the patient to see the doctor, the proper effort we
should make in medical matters, the mitzvah of visiting the
sick, the prayers of the sick, and more. May it be Hashem's
will that the verse be fulfilled in us: "The entire malady
that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon you, for
I am Hashem your Healer" (Shemos 15:26).
With Negative Side Effects
As cited in the Pesach Haggodoh, Rabbi Yossi HaGalili,
Rabbi Eliezer, and Rabbi Akiva disagreed concerning how many
plagues Hashem inflicted upon the Egyptians at Yam Suf.
Kol Eliyahu cites the Gra who asks: What was the point
of this argument? It would seem that whatever happened,
happened. He answers based on what is written: "The entire
malady that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon
you for I am Hashem your Healer" (Shemos 15:26).
Similarly, it is written: "Hashem will remove from you every
illness; and all the bad maladies of Egypt that you
knew—He will not put them upon you, but will put them
upon your foes" (Devorim 7:15). According to Rabbi
Akiva there were three hundred plagues altogether, and all
these Hashem promised us that they would not come upon
Yisroel.
However, more explanation is needed. In Heaven it is known
without any doubt how many plagues there were in Egypt,
whether as Rabbi Akiva said, or as Rabbi Eliezer or Rabbi
Yossi said. The promise was made for whichever plagues
actually occurred. If so, since Heaven surely knows, again
what was the point of their disagreement?
In every malady there is the main part of the illness itself,
and also the side effects that accompany it, such as pains or
fever. The plagues and maladies of Egypt were accompanied
with many such pains and side effects. If one minimizes the
plagues in Egypt, this means that he considers "the entire
malady that I inflicted upon Egypt" to include only the root
cause of the malady, but not the side effects that
accompanied it. One who interprets the verses to include more
plagues counts the negative side effects as well, and thus
also about these the Torah promises: "I will not inflict upon
you."
The Tannaim did not disagree about the historical reality.
Rather, they disagreed in interpreting the verses as to which
events were root causes and which were secondary side
effects. This is a matter that was handed over to the Sages.
Then, which events are included in the promise and which are
not is decided according to whom the Halochoh in interpreting
the verse is decided.
This is seen from a careful analysis of their words. "Rabbi
Eliezer said: How do we know that each plague HaKodosh
Boruch Hu brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt consisted
of four plagues . . . Rabbi Akiva said: How do we know that
each plague HaKodosh Boruch Hu brought upon the
Egyptians in Egypt consisted of five plagues?" This indicates
that each plague was composed of categories of events that
resembled the root cause of the plague itself. (My father
zt'l in his sefer Tziyonei Derech).
*
From Here We Learn That a Doctor May Heal
The Shulchan Oruch writes: "The Torah gave permission
to a doctor to heal. It is a mitzvah, and is considered in
the category of saving a life. If he withholds his aid he is
considered as if he shed blood, even if there is someone else
to heal the sick person, because not from everyone does a
person merit to be healed" (Yoreh Deah 336,1).
The Taz raises a difficulty: At first the Shulchan
Oruch wrote that "the Torah gave permission" and
afterwards he wrote: "it is a mitzvah."
The answer is that true healing comes from beseeching mercy
from Hashem, when the sick person asks Hashem to help him and
send him a cure, as it says: "I struck down and I will heal"
(Devorim 32:39).
However, a person may not have the merits to be healed by
Hashem, and he may need to supplement his requests to Hashem
with natural medical techniques. And in fact, HaKodosh
Boruch Hu agrees that he should use natural medicine and
gives power to the medicine to heal. This is the meaning of
the Sages' statement: "From here permission is given" —
from HaKodosh Boruch Hu — "for the doctor to
heal."
Once the person has come to use this level there is an
obligation for the doctor to use his training faithfully and
apply it to his cure.
The Chazon Ish writes: "For myself I consider the natural
efforts regarding health to be a mitzvah and an obligation,
as one of the obligations for the completion of a person's
form that the Creator, blessed be He, cast in the natural
order of the world. We find Amoraim who went to gentile
doctors and heretics to be healed (see Avodoh Zora
27). Many of the plants, living creatures, and minerals were
created for medicinal purposes, and gates of wisdom as well
were given for everyone to think, understand, and know.
"However, there is a path in the way of G-d to vault over
nature, and certainly to avoid exerting many efforts in
natural means. In any case this necessitates careful
balancing, because straying from the line of truth in either
direction is not proper—whether to trust more than the
level of trust in G-d that I have truly achieved, or whether
to believe in natural efforts too much" (Kovetz
Igros).
*
The Doctor and One Who Does the Will of Hashem
The Ramban (Vayikra 26:11) writes of the blessing the
Jewish people will receive if they walk in the Torah's
statutes: "The general principle is that when Yisroel is
whole in their fulfillment of the Torah and on a high
spiritual level they will not be directed by natural means at
all, not in the health of their bodies and not in the matters
of their land; not as individuals and not in their community.
Hashem will bless their bread and water, and will remove any
maladies from their midst, unto the point where they will not
require doctors, nor will they be required to exercise
caution in medicinal matters at all, as it is written: `For I
am Hashem your Healer' (Shemos 15:26).
"This was what the tzaddikim did in the period of
prophecy. Even if they sinned and that caused an illness,
they did not seek out doctors, rather, only the prophets . .
. One who seeks Hashem with a prophet will not seek out the
doctors. What is the place for doctors in a home where they
do Hashem's will? For Hashem promised: `And He shall bless
your bread and your water, and He shall remove sickness from
your midst...' (Shemos 23:25). The doctors need only
advise concerning food and drink . . . This is the statement
of the Sages (Brochos 60a): `The way of people is not
with medicine. Rather, they accustomed themselves to it.' For
if their way were not with medicine, a man would become sick
only as a punishment for his sin, and he would recover by
direct means of Hashem's will. But since they accustomed
themselves to the practice of medicine, Hashem left them to
the natural outcome.
"This is the intention of the Sages' statement: `"Verapoh
yerapei" — from here is given permission to the
doctor to heal' (Bava Kama 85a). The Sages did not say
that permission was given to the sick person to be healed.
Rather, since the sick person came to the doctor for healing,
that is, because he seeks medicinal help and he is not one of
the special congregation of Hashem whose portion is in Life,
still, the doctor should not withhold his healing him.
"However, when Hashem approves of a man's way he has no need
for doctors."
