A Complete Recovery

הַמַּכֶּה רַק שִׁבְתּוֹ יִתֵּן וְרַפֹּא יְרַפֵּא

"he shall, however, pay for his lost work-time, and he shall provide for his cure. [Mishpatim 21:19]

A man once came to R' Baruch Mordechai of Koidanov. Signs of intense suffering were etched on the man's face.

"Rebbe", said the man, "I have been suffering terribly for a long time. Please give me a bracha that I should recover from my illness."

"I will give you some advice" responded the Rebbe.  "Be extra careful to avoid Shabbos violations, and try your utmost to honor the Sabbath. Do so and Hashem will grand you a speedy recovery."

The man did as the Rebbe had instructed.  Shortly thereafter, the excruciating pain that he had been feeling began to subside. Finally, it went away altogether.

"Do not think that I performed a miracle" the Rebbe later told his students.  "It is a 'treatment' that the Torah itself recommends, as the verse states: "Rak shivto yiten v'rapo yerapei'.  The word 'shivto' can also be read "shabato", meaning "his Shabbos".  The verse can therefore be read as follows:

"Let him give his Shabbos, and he will surely be healed."

That is, if a person pay attention to his Shabbos observance and honors it properly, then Hashem will provide him with a complete recovery.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

The Unique Healing Prayer

Source: Daily Tehillim

There is a time-honored tradition to recite sections of Psalm 119 after a loved one's passing and each year on the yahrtzeit. Additionally, in situations of serious illness, God forbid, it is customary to recite segments from this chapter on behalf of the ill patient. The sections chosen for this recitation correspond to the spelling of the name of the deceased or the ailing patient.

Tehillim 119 is unique not only in its length (consisting of 176 verses), but also in terms of structure. It is arranged as an alphabetical series of twenty-two stanzas, each of which consists of eight verses. The first stanza contains eight verses that begin with the letter alef, the second stanza features eight verses beginning with the letter bet, and so on.

Upon the passing of a loved one, or in the case of an ill patient, Heaven forbid, it is customary to recite the stanzas of Psalm 119 that correspond to the letters of the name of the deceased. Thus, for example, if the individual's name is Moshe (משה), the recitation begins with the eight verses that begin with the letter מ   - and then continues with the stanza devoted to the letter ש  and the stanza featuring the letter ה. This recitation is then followed by the stanzas corresponding to the word “ben” (“son of”) for a male, or “bat” (“daughter of”) for a female, followed by the name of the individual’s mother. (Some have the practice to use the name of the father). If the patient’s name is Moshe and his mother was Yochebed, then one would recite the stanzas of the letters ב and נ (which spell the word “ben”), followed by the stanzas of י,ו,כ,ב,ד (“Yochebed”).

In some communities, after reciting the stanzas for somebody who has passed on, one concludes by reciting the stanzas that correspond to the letters of the Hebrew word neshama ("soul") – נשמה.

When reciting this chapter for an ill patient, it is customary to add the stanzas corresponding to the letters ק,ר,ע,ש,ט,ן, which spell the phrase, “kera Satan” (“tear the Satan”).

For either situation, one can use the tool on our website  [click here] to automatically generate the proper recitation.

Psalm 119 features some of the famous and beautiful prayers in the Book of Tehillim, focusing primarily on the supplicant's yearning for Torah knowledge and spiritual perfection. Throughout this chapter, David speaks of his burning desire to achieve knowledge and fulfill Misvot, and how he is not driven by the ambitions that consume most other people, such as the desire for wealth and prestige. The most meaningful way to bring merit to a loved one's soul, or to accrue merit on behalf of an ailing friend or relative, is to reassess one's priorities and redirect his attention and focus onto the pursuit of Torah and Misvot. Chapter 119 is perhaps the clearest and most inspiring expression of this commitment to making Torah and Misvot one's priority, rather than the endless of pursuit of wealth, fame and physical gratification. By reciting Psalm 119 and internalizing its fundamental message for a loved one, a person brings merit to the deceased's soul, or to the patient in desperate need of divine compassion.

Click here for: Daily Tehillim: Psalm 119

The Best Type of Doctor

"Then any of the diseases that I placed in Egypt, I will not bring upon you, for I am Hashem, your healer" [Beshalach 15:26]

The Rambam was the personal physician of the king of Egypt. Under his care, the king never took ill and always remained in the best of health.

"How can I be sure" said the king to the Rambam, "that you are truly a proficient physician? After all, my health never falters. What if I would take ill - would you be adept at healing me?"

"The best type of doctor", answered the Rambam, "is one who is able to prevent the patient from getting sick in the first place - and not the one who proves capable of healing him once he has taken ill.  This is as it states in our holy Torah: "Then any of the diseases that I placed in Egypt, I will not bring upon you, for I am Hashem, your healer" - I am Hashem your healer, who will make sure that all of the diseases that were prevalent in Egypt will not come upon you to begin with."

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Healing: Doctors, Rebbes and Relying on Miracles

Following up a comment on Emunah and C-Sections regarding Rebbe Nachman's aversion to doctors.... I wanted to clarify things, not only for myself but for the readers of this blog who may also be wondering about all this.

I found this almost instantly, (it's long but worth the read): Rebbe Nachman and the Doctors

"It is a positive obligation and a mitzvah to turn to the doctor at a time of sickness, and the Torah itself accepts that healing can come about through natural means. For the Torah penetrated the innermost recesses of man's mind and knows that his merit will not be sufficient to enable him to be healed through a miracle from heaven."  [Turey Zahav on Yoreh Deah #336, and see Birkhey Yosef ad loc]

Emunah and C-Sections

My trust in rabbis was eroded long ago, and several internet rabbis have done nothing to improve that situation.   I was unfortunate enough to have to learn several lessons the hard way, because I listened to certain rabbis giving advice that they had no right to give - and which I later discovered was totally wrong information.

For this reason, I feel it necessary to respond to Lazer Beam's latest blog post Emunah and Childbirth where a guest female writer (RF) pleads with women around the world to cease having babies via C-section.  She then equates having caesarean sections to a lack of emunah.  By publishing her rant, Rabbi Brody acknowledges his agreement with it, and - (worse) - implies that such an opinion is endorsed by Breslov and the great Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

I find the entire blog post to be (1) misleading and (2) insulting.

There are many reasons why a woman needs to deliver her baby via caesarean section:

Here are the most common indications for cesarean birth:

•Previous surgery on the uterus makes a cesarean necessary

•Placenta previa, to prevent excessive maternal bleeding that may affect the fetus.

•Abruptio placenta, to prevent rapid blood and oxygen loss to the baby as a result of the placenta separating.

•Herpes infection, a cesarean will prevent the possibility of passing it on to the baby through the birth canal.

•Severe toxemia, to prevent fetal complications.

•Fetal distress, as identified through ultrasounds and/or fetal monitoring.

•Abnormal fetal position, making it impossible for the baby to pass through the birth canal. An example would be a breech or transverse presentation.

•Diabetic mother, if the disease results in a very large baby, or poor blood flow to the placenta.

•Prolapsed cord, to prevent loss of oxygen to the baby.

•Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), when the baby’s head is too large to pass through the birth canal.

•Failure of labor to progress, or if oxytocin has not been effective.

•Forcep or vacuum failure.

 

Having emunah doesn't mean you ignore your doctor's advice and run straight for your prayer book and rely on a miracle.  Having emunah means that you understand Hashem gave us doctors and operating theatres, anaesthesia, and miraculous ways of bringing babies into the world - unlike past generations where the mother and baby would both die.

 

Providentially, an email just arrived, showing an (old) amazing photo of a baby in the womb, being operated on.  The baby is holding the doctor's hand, almost as if saying "thank you doctor".   Rabbi Brody, it's time to think before you publish your misleading articles.......
 

Photo: 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas

emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life." Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person" Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Healing Through Torah

Every aspect of creation is governed by an angel. Even trees and plants (especially those with healing properties) have angels supervising their growth. As the Sages said [Bereishit Rabbah 10:6] "There is nothing below, not even a common herb, which does not have an angel on high that strikes it and tells it to grow". Each of these angels receives its life force from the particular Utterance which is the source of its creation. It then transmits a measured amount of this life force to its particular charge.

This power of the angels to receive and transmit life force is referred to as the power of the "hands". (The Hebrew word for power is ko'ach, numerically equal to 28, the number of bones contained in the fingers of both hands). With its "right hand" an angel receives life force. With its "left hand", it dispenses the exact amount needed to its charge below. This is the meaning of the Sages' statement: "he strikes it and tells it to grow". "Striking" is done with the angel's left hand (for the left side represents Gevurah, judgment).

The Torah tells us [Proverbs 4:20-22] "My son attend to my words, incline your ear to my utterances.... For they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh." We learn from this that all healing flows from G-d, through His Torah. The Torah is the source of the [healing] power of the angels, who in turn transmit it to all the various herbs in their charge. This power is manifest when one accepts the Torah and has faith in the Sages who reveal it, for the Torah was given over to the Sages, and one who deviates from their teachings is called "he who causes a breach in the wall [of faith].

This is the meaning of the injunction [Deut 17:11] "Do not deviate, neither to the right nor to the left, from what they teach you". If you deviate to the right (tending towards unnecessary zealousness), your angel's "right hand" (ability to receive from its corresponding archangel and Utterance) will be hindered. If you deviate to the left (by transgressing the Torah), the angel's "left hand" (ability to transmit) will be hindered.

Of course, the removal of your angel's hands means that you cannot receive your healing, for without an angel to bestow the life force upon it, the herb upon which your healing depends loses its power to heal. Thus, the degree to which a person is attached to Torah determines the degree to which he is able to be healed.

"Anatomy of the Soul" - Chaim Kramer

from the teachings of Rebbe Nachman

Spiritual Healing

Dr. Arnie Gotfryd interviews kabbalist/healer Rabbi Ofer Elfassy :

AG: I know about physical energies - heat, light, chemical, electric, kinetic, atomic - but you work with spiritual energy. What is that exactly?

OE: To understand spiritual energy, we should first understand the concept of give and take. There are those that are givers and others that are takers. For example, someone may be wise and scholarly, even a genius in Torah, but not have the merit to give, to share. The Creator is a giver, His kindness and care are infinite.

My definition of spirituality is giving. If we are to access true spirituality, we must becoming giving people ourselves. Once we tap into G-d's grace, we can then access His healing energy and transfer it to others. That's how I work with spiritual energy.

AG: What does it take to access this energy?

OE: The most important thing is bitul. One must put aside the ego entirely. A selfish person can never be a spiritual healer. The extent to which one negates his sense of self is the extent to which s/he can be successful in this mode of healing. The person with the greatest bitul is the greatest healer.

Read complete article at: Chabad World

Hat Tip: Dovid Chaim

Tikkun for an Evil Eye



Art: Linda Boucher

 "He who possesses a beneficient eye shall be blessed." [Proverbs 22:9]

There is a “beneficient eye” and an “evil eye”. Both terms have been used for several millennia and are found in the Talmud as indicators of the measure of a man.

Abraham was the paradigm of one who possesses a “beneficient eye”. He always looked for good in others, and felt neither jealousy of, nor hatred for, his fellow man. Bilaam, on the other hand, epitomized the possessor of an “evil eye” – one who always looks for fault or is jealous of another’s possessions or status.

The Talmud, when referring to the evil eye, credits it with almost mystical powers. Looking at another’s possessions with jealousy in your eyes can cause evil to befall that person. For this reason Talmudic law forbids us to build our homes too close to that of our neighbours. Privacy is very important, lest we look upon our neighbours’ possessions with a covetous eye. Neighbours should maintain a reasonable distance between one another, or, at the very least, homes should be built with a separation and a space between them.

Having an “evil eye” is usually understood as looking at another person with the intent that evil should befall him. It also includes coveting another’s possessions, being annoyed at his success (as if his success somehow impinges on our ability to succeed in life), pettiness and so on.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that an evil eye leads to an increased breathing rate. Somehow, jealousy and rage at another’s success causes one to draw breath at an accelerated pace.The Talmud therefore teaches “The cup of benediction at the conclusion of a meal should be given to one with a good eye. It is thus written (Proverbs 22:9) “He who possesses a beneficient eye shall be blessed.” Do not only read “shall be blessed” but shall bless….”

Conversely, one should beware of people with stingy and jealous eyes, as King Solomon cautions (Proverbs 23:6) “Do not break bread with [one who possesses] an evil eye”.

It is not merely a matter of superstition. As much as a good eye blesses, an evil eye takes. The source of the power of the evil eye is greed. When one looks upon another's possessions with greed, and the other is in any way guilty of mis-using his money, or is otherwise unworthy of the wealth he possesses, he might lose his possessions, G-d forbid. Clearly the way we look upon another's possessions can arouse Divine judgment against him. In the same vein, when we view the possessions of others generously, we can with a mere look of our eyes, bring blessing upon them.

When we realise that the eyes are the "windows to the mind" the significance of "evil eye" increases.

Rebbe Nachman taught: Memory depends upon the eyes, as in (Exodus 13:9) "[the tefillin shall be as] a remembrance between your eyes". In order to guard one's memory, one must first guard oneself from an evil eye - from evil thoughts about others, from jealousy, and from all forms of negativity. The evil eye can cause harm not only to the one being focused upon, but also to the one who is focusing, to an even greater degree. Conversely, maintaining an evil eye goes hand in hand with forgetfulness."

Yet we needn't live in constant fear of the evil eye, of others who may wish us harm. Rebbe Nachman teaches that if we feel incapable of guarding ourselves against an evil eye, then we should flee from it. However, if we can come to understand the essence of the evil eye, our actions can be far more effective: we can rectify it.

For example, a person might have an evil eye against another's position in life. This evil eye stems from the fallen attribute of Malkhut (kingship) which, when blemished, leads to low self-esteem and the need to put others down in order to get ahead. To correct one's own fallen Malkhut, one should strive to elevate G-d's Malkhut - by learning Torah or by otherwise disseminating G-d's Name in the world. In this way, one demonstrates one's allegiance to G-d, rather than to one's own need for self-aggrandizement. This serves to rectify the evil eye of the fallen Malkhut at its root.

Source: "Anatomy of the Soul" - Chaim Kramer - from the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

The Book of Remedies

by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

At one of the most critical junctures of Jewish history, with Assyrian King Sennacherib's vast army closing in on Jerusalem, Hezekiah King of Judah suddenly fell mortally ill. His entire body was covered with horrible sores. The prophet Isaiah came to him and said, "Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you will die and not live" (Isaiah 38:1; Kings II, 20:1).

With God's prophet telling him to make his will and prepare to die, a lesser man might have given up the fight. Not Hezekiah. He had a tradition from his ancestor, King David: "Even if a sharp sword is pressing on your neck, don't despair of pleading for God's mercy" (Berakhot 10a).

The Midrash throws light on the meaning of Hezekiah's illness. "Rabbi Levi said: Hezekiah mused, `It isn't good for people to enjoy constant good health until the day they die. This way they'll never think of repentance. But if they fall sick and then recover, they'll come to repent their sins.' God said to Hezekiah, `This is a good idea. And I'll start with you!'" (Bereshit Rabbah 65:9).

Hezekiah saw that illness can have a positive side if it prompts us to examine ourselves. What have we been doing with our lives? How have we been using our bodies? What is our true purpose in this world? How can we attain it?

As Hezekiah lay in mortal danger, he asked the prophet where he had gone astray. Isaiah explained that he had failed to carry out the first commandment of the Torah, to be fruitful and multiply. Hezekiah said this was because he had seen with holy spirit that his offspring would be unworthy. But Isaiah said this was not his business: he had an obligation to have children. Hezekiah understood his mistake and undertook to marry and have children.

That sickness is a prompt from God to examine ourselves was a lesson Hezekiah, spiritual leader of his people, had long wanted to teach. The point is brought out in a rabbinic comment on Hezekiah's prayer as he lay sick: "I did what is good in Your eyes." Enumerating Hezekiah's achievements during his reign, the Rabbis said he was alluding in his prayer to two major innovations: he "joined Redemption to Prayer, and he put away the Book of Remedies" (Berakhot 10b; Pesachim 56a).

"Joining Redemption to Prayer" literally refers to Hezekiah's institution of the rule that during the daily prayer services no interruption may be made between recital of the blessing of Redemption that follows the Shema and commencement of the silent Amidah prayer. But what about the Book of Remedies? What was it, and why did Hezekiah ban it?

Extant clay tablets and papyruses indicate that the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt possessed a vast body of medical knowledge. Hundreds of therapeutic plant, mineral and animal substances were in use, as well as a wide variety of surgical and other treatments. It would be easy to speculate that the Book of Remedies included medical techniques borrowed from other cultures with which the Jews had contact.

On the other hand, Rabbi Shimon bar Tzemach (the TaShBaTz, 1361-1444) states that the source of the book was supernatural: when Noah was in the ark during the flood, destructive spirits injured his sons, but an angel took one of them to the Garden of Eden and taught him all the remedies in the world (Seder HaDorot #1657).

The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman of Girondi, 1194-1270) opines that the Book of Remedies was composed by Hezekiah's ancestor, King Solomon, whose God-given wisdom enabled him to deduce the healing properties of the various trees and plants from allusions buried in the Torah (Ramban, Commentary on the Torah, Introduction).

By any account, the Book of Remedies contained the accumulated healing wisdom of the Jewish People. Why then did Hezekiah put it away? It was not that the remedies were ineffective. On the contrary, in Hezekiah's view they were too effective! "When a person became sick, he would follow what was written in the book and be healed, and as a result people's hearts were not humbled before Heaven because of illness" (Rashi on Pesachim 56a). In the words of the Rambam (ad loc.): "They did not have trust that it is the Holy One, blessed be He, Who heals and binds up wounds."

Resort to the Book of Remedies turned sickness and healing into nothing but a mechanical process. Hezekiah was not seeking to withhold medical expertise because of some morbid desire to make people suffer their sicknesses to the full so as to somehow expiate their sins. Far from wanting them to be sick, Hezekiah saw that reliance on the Book of Remedies actually prevented people from being truly healed. While the remedies it contained might alleviate their bodily ailments, the very effectiveness of these physical cures allowed those who used them to avoid confronting the underlying spiritual flaws to which their bodily ailments pointed.

King Hezekiah wanted the people to understand that illness, terrible as it may be, is sent by God for a purpose. It is to prompt us to examine ourselves and our lives, to ask ourselves where we have strayed from our mission and what steps we must take in the future in order to attain genuine self-fulfilment. Concealing the Book of Remedies would encourage people to take their lives in hand and actualize their latent spiritual powers, playing an active role in their own healing process.

Putting away the Book of Remedies was thus intimately bound up with King Hezekiah's second innovation, "joining Redemption to Prayer." This was more than a technical rule of religious ritual. Hezekiah redeemed prayer itself! He taught people how to pray again. Prayer brings us to the ultimate connection with God. And precisely because prayer is so exalted, it is surrounded by endless obstacles. For many people it seems like a meaningless, tiresome burden: prayer is in exile. Hezekiah sought to tear down the barriers and reveal the new-old pathway of prayer in its true splendor.

Prayer is not just a matter of asking God for favors. It is our way to channel divine power and blessing into ourselves, our lives and the whole world. Through prayer the soul rises to God and is healed, and in turn sends healing power into the body. By truly redeeming prayer Hezekiah was able to put away the Book of Remedies. There was simply no more need for it.